CRED’s valuation jumps to $6.4 bn with new funding round led by Singapore's GIC

Four-year-old fintech start-up CRED said it is raising $140 million in a mix of primary and secondary funding led by Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC. 

Returning investors in this on-going round include Belgium's Sofina, global alternative investments firm Tiger Global Management, New York-based alternative investments firm Falcon Edge, and San Francisco-based Dragoneer, the company said. 

The Series F round values the start-up at $6.4 billion, a significant uptick from the $4.01 billion it garnered in October 2021 when it secured $251 million, co-led by Tiger Global and Falcon Edge. 

The company declined to provide the primary and secondary mix of the transaction.

The round comes at a time when Indian start-up funding environment is moving to a rather conservative and cautionary phase resulting from global macro events including rising inflation, Ukraine War and public market turmoil. Several heavy-funded start-ups including Unacademy, Meesho, Vedantu, MFine and Cars24 have resorted to layoffs to cut costs and extend their runways as far as possible to tide over this downturn. 

Launched in 2018, CRED rewards credit-worthy individuals for their timely credit card bill payments with exclusive offers and access to brands. The company has since expanded its offerings to lending services in partnerships with IDFC bank and various non-banking financial corporations (NBFCs).
 
On Thursday, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) subsidiary NPCI Bharat BillPay on-boarded CRED as a key agent institution for providing easy bill payment solutions to CRED members.  An agent institution refers to an entity that either wishes to or currently offers the customers services like bill payment, collection and aggregation services via physical or digital channels. With this collaboration, CRED users will be able to make recurring bill payments like electricity, telecom, DTH, gas, education fees, water and municipal taxes conveniently. They will also be able to see updated transaction history, set transaction alerts and reminders and raise/track complaints online for Bharat BillPay transactions using the CRED app. As an agent institution, CRED will create member touch points, provide member assistance (registration, quick pay, complaint resolution), instant confirmation, awareness (payment and charges), BBPS visibility and more.  

Also read: NPCI Bharat BillPay on-boards CRED as key agent institution; bill payments to be made easier