Cred (company)
Indian financial technology company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
CRED, legally known as Dreamplug Technologies Private Limited, is an Indian financial technology company headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka.[3][4][5] Founded in 2018 by Kunal Shah,[6][7] the company operates a platform for credit card bill payments, lending, and other payment services.[8][9]
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As of 2026, the company was valued at around US$4.5 billion.[10]
History
Cred was started in 2018 by Kunal Shah. Cred posted losses of ₹360.31 crore in fiscal year 2020,[11] caused primarily due to high expenditure on marketing and advertising.[12] By 2021, the company reported having 5.9 million users.[13]
In March 2026, Cred received authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India to operate as a payment aggregator. At the time, the company and its subsidiaries also held licences and registrations from the Reserve Bank of India, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, and the National Payments Corporation of India.[14]
Partnerships
In May 2022, Cred partnered with Mastercard to enable rent and education-related payments for Mastercard credit cardholders through the Cred app.[15] In August 2024, the company partnered with L&T Finance to offer unsecured personal loans through its CRED Cash product.[16] In August 2025, Cred partnered with Razorpay and Visa to launch “CardSync”, a payment solution based on card tokenization[17] In September 2025, Cred partnered with IndusInd Bank to launch a co-branded RuPay credit card.[18]
Acquisitions
In 2021, Cred acquired expense management startup Happay and a liquor delivery startup HipBar.[19]
In December 2021, the company acquired the expense management platform Happay in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at approximately US$180 million.[20] In November 2024, the company sold Happay to MakeMyTrip for an undisclosed amount.[21][22]
In September 2022, Cred acquired a minority stake in NDX P2P Private Limited, the parent company of LiquiLoans, a peer-to-peer lending platform.[23]
In December 2022, the company acquired a 100% stake in CreditVidya that offers lending as a service to customers who do not have a credit score.[19]
In July 2023, Cred acquired savings and investment platform Spenny.[24] In February 2024, the company acquired online wealth management and mutual funds startup Kuvera for an undisclosed amount.[25]
Funding
Cred raised funding from DST Global,[26] Sequoia Capital (India),[27][28] and Tiger Global,[29] among other investors, through the four rounds of private funding so far.[30]
In October 2021, Cred started to seek new investors, reporting a $5.5 billion valuation, up from $2.2 billion recorded in April 2021.[31][32]
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.[33]
| Investor | Transaction name | Fund raised[34] | 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 |
| Lathe Investment, RTP Global, Sofina, and QED Innovation Labs | Series G | $72 million[35] |
Marketing and reception
Cred became the official sponsor for the Indian Premier League for four years from 2020 to 2023.[36] In 2021, Cred's advertising content and videos, made in-house featuring Indian celebrities,[37][38][39] generated significant discourse in news and social media[40][41][42][43] due to its peculiarity, which was both criticized[44] and praised. Cred has received criticism for being overvalued and lacking a sound monetization strategy.[45][46]
