CRED raises $251 Mn in Series E at over $4 Bn valuation

Credit card payment app CRED has raised $251 million in its Series E round, valuing the fintech startup at $4.01 billion. The round was co-led by existing investors Tiger Global and Falcon Edge. 

The company also added two new investors to its captable in London-based Marshall Wace and Steadfast Venture Capital. The round also saw participation from DST Global, Insight Partners, Coatue, Sofina, RTP and Dragoneer. 

This financing round almost doubles CRED’s valuation after it had raised $215 million in its Series D round at a valuation of $2.2 billion in April. Before that, the company had raised $80 million in its Series C round led by DST Global Partners in December last year. 

It’s worth noting that the Kunal Shah-led company has closed its three funding rounds within a year and it will join the likes of DealShare, Apna, CityMall, Spinny and OfBuisiness which have also raised or are in the process of closing three funding rounds within a year.

CRED is a members-only credit card bill payment platform that rewards its members for clearing their credit card bills on time. With over 1,300 brand partners, CRED claims to have a customer base of 7.5 million and 20% share of all credit card bill payments in India. 

Recently, CRED had projected a 208X growth in its operating revenues to Rs 108 crore during the fiscal year ending March 2021. According to Fintrackr, the two-and-a-half-year-old company’s operating expenses are estimated to surge by about 79% to Rs 677 crore in FY21 from Rs 378.4 crore in FY20.

As per the projections, annual losses are slated to be around Rs 562 crore in FY21, growing by 55% as compared to Rs 363.2 crore in FY20. These figures are not from the audited statements as CRED is yet to file them for FY21.