Credit card payment platform Cred has entered the unicorn club by raising $215 million (Rs 1,578 crore) in its Series D round led by new investor Falcon Edge Capital and existing backer Coatue Management.
New York-based Insight Venture Partners also came on board as part of the funding. Moreover, a clutch of existing backers participated in this round, namely, DST Global, RTP Global, Tiger Global, Greenoaks Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, and Sofina.
The transaction has valued the company at $2.2 billion, making it a unicorn.
In January this year the startup had got a valuation of around $800 million in a Series C round.
The firm has also proposed to buy back employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) shares worth $5 million from existing and former employees.
“With the credit card category in India expanding rapidly, we have a massive opportunity to shape responsible behaviour, imagine new use cases, and create a rewarding platform for members,” said Kunal Shah, founder of Cred.
Founded by Freecharge cofounder Shah in 2018, Cred is a members-only app that lets users pay credit card bills and rewards them with credit coins which can be redeemed across partner businesses including CureFit, Ixigo, BookMyShow and FreshMenu.
This also gives the app an insight into customer spends, which can be used for cross-selling and up-selling products.
According to the company, it has built a 5.9 million member base with a median credit score of 830 in two years. Cred claims that over 35% of premium credit card holders in India are on the platform today.
The broader fintech space has continued to get investor attention.
In October last year, Razorpay raised $100 million in a round that catapulted the online payment gateway provider to the famed unicorn group of startups with a valuation of at least $1 billion.
The same month, Uni, a fintech startup in stealth mode co-founded by former PayU India CEO Nitin Gupta, raised $18.5 million in its seed round.
Prior to that, Smallcase Technologies, a capital markets-focused startup, secured $14 million in a Series B round.
In August last year, FPL Technologies, founded by three former ICICI Bank executives last year, raised $10 million from new and existing investors in its Series A round.
In May, SME-focused Khatabook mobilised $60 million in its Series B round led by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin's B Capital.
