Cred raises $80 million from GIC in series F funding led by GIC, others

Credit card payment platform Cred has raised $80 million as a part of its Series F funding round led by Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC, along with participation from existing investors, the company's filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) showed.

Existing investors Tiger Global, Sofina Ventures, Alpha Wave Ventures and DF International also participated in the funding round. The regulatory filings further showed that Cred may raise more funds as a part of its Series F funding round.

In a statement, Cred said that it is raising its Series F investment, which will value the company at around $6.4 billion. The fintech unicorn said it plans to raise $140 million in this round with GIC leading it, along with existing investors Sofina, Tiger Global, FalconEdge, and Dragoneer. The round will also have a secondary component, Cred said, without disclosing further details.

As a part of the transaction, Cred has allotted 42,308 Series F compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS) of face value of Rs 100 each at a premium of Rs 1,47,746 for consideration of Rs 617 crore ($79.25 million) in cash.

The company will use the funds for expanding its business and for 'future growth' including meeting long-term and short-term funding requirements and general corporate purposes, according to the regulatory filings.

News agency Entrackr reported the development first saying that the company has raised funds at a valuation between $6.2-6.5 billion.

Cred, founded by serial entrepreneur Kunal Shah, started in 2018 for India's most credit-worthy individuals to pay their credit card bills and earn points. It has since expanded into lending, e-commerce payments, advertising for brands, and providing short-term credit via Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) options.

In the last one and a half years, Cred has built a loan book of over Rs 2,000 crore, likely with low defaults since it caters to highly credit-worthy customers. Its payments business Cred Pay also processes transactions worth $500 million a year - Gross Merchandise Value on which it doesn't make money yet.

Cred is also pitching to investors that it can become like Affirm, the US-based company which allows BNPL for online transactions. Affirm is currently trading with a market capitalization of a little over $6 billion. The company, however, had got listed at a market capitalization of $24 billion.

Cred was valued at $4 billion in October last year when it raised $251 million from its existing investors.