Cred (company)
Indian financial technology company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dreamplug Technologies Pvt. Ltd., doing business as CRED, is an Indian fintech company, based in Bangalore.[3][4][5] Founded in 2018 by Kunal Shah,[6][7] it is a reward-based credit card payments app.[8] CRED also allows users to make house rent payments[9] and provides short-term credit lines.[10]
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As of 2022, the company was valued at around $6.4 billion.[11]
History
Cred was started in 2018 by Kunal Shah. Cred posted losses of ₹360.31 crore in fiscal year 2020,[12] caused primarily due to high expenditure on marketing and advertising.[13] By 2021, the company reported having 5.9 million users.[14]
In 2021, Cred acquired expense management startup Happay and a liquor delivery startup HipBar.[15] In December 2022, Cred acquired a 100% stake in CreditVidya that offers lending as a service to customers who do not have a credit score.[15]
In July 2023, Cred acquired savings and investment platform Spenny.[16] In February 2024, Cred acquired online wealth management and mutual funds startup Kuvera for an undisclosed amount.[17]
In June 2024, Cred reported having 13 million monthly active users (MAUs). Its market share in UPI transaction volume was 1% in 2024.[14]
In November 2024, the company sold Happay to MakeMyTrip for an undisclosed amount.[18]
Funding
Cred raised funding from DST Global,[19] Sequoia Capital (India),[20][21] and Tiger Global,[22] among other investors, through the four rounds of private funding so far.[23]
In October 2021, Cred started to seek new investors, reporting a $5.5 billion valuation, up from $2.2 billion recorded in April 2021.[24][25]
In June 2022, CRED raised $80 million in a Series F funding round led by Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, GIC, valuing the company at around $6.4 billion.[26]
| Investor | Transaction name | Fund raised[27] | Valuation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sequoia Capital India | Seed | $30 million | Undisclosed |
| Sequoia Capital, RTP Ventures, and 25 others | Series A | $636,000 | |
| Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, and seven others | Series B | $120 million |  $450 million |
| DST Global, Tiger Global Management, and seven others | Series C | $81 million | $806 million |
| Coatue, Insight Partners, and nine others | Series D | $215 million | $2.2 billion |
| Tiger Global Management, Marshall Wace, and eight others | Series E | $251 million | $4.01 billion |
| GIC Singapore, Tiger Global Management, and three others | Series F | $80 million | $6.4 billion |
Marketing and reception
Cred became the official sponsor for the Indian Premier League for four years from 2020 to 2023.[28] In 2021, Cred's advertising content and videos, made in-house featuring Indian celebrities,[29][30][31] generated significant discourse in news and social media[32][33][34][35] due to its peculiarity, which was both criticized[36] and praised.[37] Cred has received criticism for being overvalued and lacking a sound monetization strategy.[38][39]
