Kunal Shah-led fintech unicorn Cred is raising $140 million in a Series F round led by GIC and existing investors, the company said in a statement on Friday.
The latest fundraise, which includes a primary and a secondary component, will value Cred’s parent entity Dreamplug Technologies Pvt Ltd at around $6.4 billion, the firm said.
Existing Cred investors – Sofina, Tiger Global, FalconEdge, and Dragoneer have also participated in this round.
Cred said that the round is not yet closed.
Mint first reported GIC’s interest in Cred on April 7. https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/gic-leads-fresh-round-in-cred-at-a-valuation-of-6-5-billion-11649268709752.html
GIC, which invests in both public and private markets, also owns a stake in other Indian fintech businesses, including Razorpay and Paytm.
With this investment, Cred is also seeing a significant jump in its valuation. It last raised $251 million at a valuation of $4 billion, when Tiger Global and Falcon Edge joined its cap table.
Founded by serial entrepreneur Shah in 2018, Cred started as an app that lets users pay credit card bills and rewards them in the form of “Cred” coins, which can be redeemed across many partner businesses. Since then, the firm has diversified into lending and e-commerce.
Cred has also been acquisitive. In October 2021, Mint reported that it had acquired liquor delivery startup HipBar Pvt Ltd to enter wallet payments business. https://www.livemint.com/companies/start-ups/cred-enters-wallets-via-hipbar-purchase-11634753679891.html
Later in December, Cred acquired corporate expense platform Happay.
Cred’s total user base grew to 7.5 million in 2021, the company said in March this year, adding that it facilitates over 25% of credit card bill payments. The company reported a 45% increase in its net loss for FY21 after marketing expenses soared during the year, according to an official document shared by the Cred in March. Cred’s loss widened to ₹524 crore for FY21 from ₹360 crore in the previous year. Its FY22 could not be ascertained.
In FY21, the company spent ₹222 crore on marketing against ₹57 crore in the previous year. However, the company’s revenue from operations grew to ₹88 crore from ₹52 lakh a year earlier, taking its total income to ₹95.53 crore for FY21 from ₹18.16 crore in the year earlier.
