CRED lands ₹8,550 crore from Meta; founder Kunal Shah exits CEO role ahead of 'eventual IPO'

Fintech platform CRED on Monday said it will raise ₹8,550 crore (about $900 million) in its Series H funding round led by Meta, while founder Kunal Shah will step away from the chief executive role to join the global leadership team at the social media giant.

The company said the fundraise, comprising a mix of primary and secondary share purchases, values CRED at a post-money valuation of ₹43,239 crore (about $4.5 billion) and a pre-money valuation of ₹38,819 crore (about $4.03 billion).

Miten Sampat, who has overseen strategy and finance at CRED since 2020, has been appointed interim chief executive officer with immediate effect.

Meta will join CRED’s capitalisation table as a minority investor, the company said, asserting that the investment does not provide the US technology giant access to CRED customer information.

Founded in 2018, CRED offers products across payments, lending, insurance, wealth and lifestyle.

According to the company, 1.7 crore members engage with its platform every month.

The company said it currently processes over 40% of credit card bill payments in India, while its lending business has grown to ₹24,000 crore in managed assets under management for partner financial institutions.

CRED said the fresh capital will be used to accelerate growth, strengthen its organisational capabilities and expand its position across categories as it prepares for an eventual public listing.

“The board and leaders are in the process of constituting the right leadership structure towards eventual IPO,” the company said in a statement.

Shah said he had started CRED with the belief that creditworthiness deserved to be rewarded and that the platform had, in less than eight years, grown into a profitable business with around ₹3,200 crore in revenue, a full stack of licences and a strong brand.

“I’m stepping back with gratitude and with conviction that the team will keep raising the bar,” he said.

Sampat said CRED has a “generational opportunity” to build on the founder’s vision and move towards becoming a public company.