CRED is a fintech startup and India’s first application that rewards its users for paying their credit card bills on time. It was founded by Kunal Shah, former founder of FreeCharge, in April 2018.
Kunal Shah started CRED with a vision to create an exclusive community for India’s most trustworthy and creditworthy individuals.
CRED App helps to manage your multiple credit cards in one place. It also reminds us about payments, offers on your credit card, and monitors your spending.
CRED Tagline: pay your credit card bills & earn rewards.
History of CRED- How CRED Started?
After selling Freecharge in 2015 (for 400M dollars to Snapdeal), Kunal Shah started researching his next idea. Something that could genuinely make people’s lives easier.
While researching, he found that so many things are automated in the developed nations, like supermarkets with no cashiers, petrol pumps with no attendants, etc.
But in India, one major problem still existed.
There was no simple, trustworthy system that helped people manage their credit card bill payments correctly and on time, with zero hidden charges.
In one of his interviews with YourStory, Kunal Shah pointed out a harsh truth. Even if you pay ₹1 less than your full credit card bill, you can end up facing 30+ hidden charges and heavy interest costs.
As he put it, the system has taken good, responsible users for granted for far too long. And he believes creditworthy individuals deserve better.
This led to the idea behind CRED: Reward people who already pay their credit card bills on time.
With this approach, CRED was launched in April 2018. It’s an exclusive platform for creditworthy Indians. The app is designed for users with a CIBIL score of 750+. This technically represents the top 10% of financially disciplined users in the country.
These users have already paid their bills on time. And CRED simply decided to acknowledge that. So every time you pay your credit card bill through the app, you earn reward points and benefits.
Products and Services Offered By CRED
CRED lets you manage all your credit cards in one place. It shows all your credit card bills together, so you don’t have to open different bank apps just to check your dues.
Whenever you pay your credit card bill through CRED, you earn CRED Coins. These coins can be used to get discounts, brand vouchers, cashback, and exclusive deals from CRED partner brands.
CRED also analyses your total spending, tracks hidden charges, monitors credit limits, and sends reminders, helping you avoid late fees and extra interest.
Apart from this, CRED offers a few more useful features:
CRED Protect
CRED Protect is an AI-backed feature that tracks your complete credit card journey. It reads your statements from emails and shows details like balance, due dates, bank charges, spending patterns, and expense breakdown.
CRED Pay
CRED Pay works with Visa and Razorpay to enable quick and secure payments on third-party websites. You don’t need to enter your card details every time. Just select CRED Pay, use saved details, and earn rewards or cashback on each payment.
CRED Garage
CRED Garage is an all-in-one vehicle management feature. You can store your car’s important documents like RC and pollution certificates, track fuel usage, check traffic challans, and recharge FASTag. It also integrates with DigiLocker.
CRED Store
CRED Store is a members-only marketplace for CRED users. It offers products and experiences from 500+ premium brands, including personal care and lifestyle items. You can use CRED Coins to unlock special deals and rewards.
Other Utility Payments
CRED allows you to pay your electricity bill, mobile postpaid, DTH, water bill, gas bill, education fees, loan EMIs, and insurance premiums directly through the app, with cashback offers on select payments.
CRED Funding Rounds
CRED has raised a total of $942 million across 11 funding rounds. This includes 1 seed round, 3 early-stage rounds, and 7 late-stage rounds.
Its biggest funding came in October 2021, when CRED raised $251 million in a Series E round, led by Tiger Global Management. As of 2025, CRED’s valuation is $3.5 billion.
Below is a complete list of CRED’s funding rounds.
| Announced Date | Funding Round Type | Money Raised | Lead Investors |
| May 14, 2018 | Seed Round | $999k | QED Innovation Labs |
| September 28, 2018 | Series A | $24.2M | Multiple investors |
| July 25, 2019 | Series B | $120M | Ribbit Capital, Gemini Investment Management, Peak XV Partners, Tiger Global Management, Dragoneer Investment Group, Hillhouse, Greenoaks, General Catalyst, RTP Global, Anxa Holding, QED Innovation Labs, Appoletto Asia, DF International Private Partners, HH DTPL Holdings |
| September 28, 2019 | Series B | $25.6M | Ribbit Capital, RTP Global, Gemini Investment Management, MVision, Amrish Rau, Future Shape, Credence Partners, Venture Highway, Rainmatter, ReDefine Capital Partners, Valiant Capital Management, SciFi, Mission Holdings, Whiteboard Capital, Ganesh Ventures, Ajit Mittal, Akshay Kothari, Mukesh Bansal, Alan Mamedi, Sriram Krishnan, Nami Zarringhalam, Sriharsha Majety, Morningside, Haresh Chawla, Gokul Rajaram, Jitendra Gupta, Peak XV Partners |
| November 30, 2020 | Series C | $82.1M | DST Global, Tiger Global Management, Ribbit Capital, Peak XV Partners, General Catalyst, Satyan Gajwani, Sofina, Coatue, Stak3 International |
| April 6, 2021 | Series D | $215M | Coatue, Alpha Wave Investors, Alpha Wave Global, Insight Partners, DST Global, Greenoaks, Sofina, Tiger Global Management, Dragoneer Investment Group, GRACE software, RTP Global |
| October 19, 2021 | Series E | $251M | Tiger Global Management, Alpha Wave Global, Marshall Wace, Sofina, RTP Global, DST Global, Insight Partners, Coatue, Dragoneer Investment Group, Steadfast Capital, SFSPVI, Insight Luxembourg |
| May 18, 2022 | Series E | $7.74M | Rise Global Capital, SF Roofdeck MA |
| June 3, 2022 | Series F | $140M | Multiple investors |
| May, 2022 | Series E | $7.74M | Rise Global Capital, SF Roofdeck MA |
| June, 2022 | Series F | $140M | Lathe Investment, GIC, Tiger Global Management, Sofina, Alpha Wave Global, Dragoneer Investment Group, Rise Global Capital, SF Roofdeck Capitall, DF International Partners |
| July 24, 2024 | Series F | ₹1.97L | Siddharth Parekh, Kalaari Capital, Z47, Bharat Innovation Fund, Rahul Mehta |
| May 29, 2025 | Series G | $75M | GIC, QED Innovation Labs, Sofina, RTP Global, Lathe Investment |
CRED Business Model: How CRED Works?
CRED’s business model did not start with a fixed or clear structure. In the early years, the focus was not on making money but on building a premium community of creditworthy individuals.
The goal was to bring together these highly disciplined users and give them a smooth and rewarding credit card experience.
By rewarding users for paying their credit card bills on time, CRED attracted a highly valuable audience. As more users joined for rewards, the platform grew through word-of-mouth and strong network effects.
Their long-term vision was clear. Build trust first, monetise later.
Some sources suggest that CRED may earn revenue by charging brands to list their offers in the CRED Coin redemption section. While this is not officially confirmed, it could become a revenue stream in the future.
There’s a prediction that CRED will use its data to monetise its business in the future. Currently, the app creates a database of users based on the bank details, bill payment history, rewards used, and interests, but does not share this data with any 3rd party.
Therefore, they can do multiple uses of users’ data in the future and can make a profitable business model around it.
CRED Revenue Model: How Does CRED Make Money?
CRED generates revenue through diverse streams:
Through Transaction Fees
CRED earns a small fee on transactions made through CRED Pay. For payments processed via the app, CRED charges a processing fee of around 1% to 1.5%.
CRED Store
CRED charges high-end brands massive commissions to get exclusive access to its high-spending, creditworthy users. In return, brands get visibility, and users get curated deals and offers.
Personal Loan and CRED Cash
CRED also earns by acting as a Loan Service Provider (LSP) for banks and NBFCs like IDFC First Bank, DBS Bank, L&T Finance, and Newtap Finance.
Using its highly creditworthy user base, CRED helps these partners offer personal loans and flexible credit products such as CRED Cash. CRED earns distribution fees and commissions from these partnerships.
User Data (Future Potential)
CRED works with the top 1% of credit card users in India (people with a credit score of 750+). The platform collects insights into spending behavior, usage patterns, and interests.
Currently, CRED does not sell user data to third parties. However, this data can be used in the future to build personalized financial products and services, which could become another revenue stream.
How does the CRED App work?
Step 1. Download the CRED App and register with your mobile no.
Step 2. Once the account is set up, the app scans the credit cards linked to the registered phone number.
Step 3. You get access to the app if your credit score is higher than 750; otherwise, you come under CRED’s waitlist.
Step 4. If you get the access, then the CRED app requires access to your email ID to read and scan your credit card transactions, like due dates, statements from the applicable services, etc.
Step 5. And then you can earn CRED coins after paying your every credit card bill. One CRED coin equals Rs 1. These coins can then be used to claim rewards.
Step 6. You can also choose to burn the coins to win cashback. The cashback is directly credited to your credit card.
CRED Competitors
- CheQ
- Mobikwik
- PhonePe
- Paytm
Also check out 👉🏻 Khatabook Business Model
FAQs: CRED Business Model
Who is the founder of CRED?
Kunal Shah is the founder of CRED.
What is CRED?
CRED is a rewards-based credit card payment app. It helps users manage their credit cards and rewards them for making payments on time.
Is the CRED app safe?
CRED app is trustworthy as the records of the founder are solid. Also, it does not ask for any important information, such as the date of expiry or CVV.
Is CRED profitable?
As per the Economic Times, CRED’s revenue saw a big jump of 66% to ₹2,473 crore in 2023-24. Though the startup still had an operating loss of ₹609 crore. However, the good news is that these losses have come down from ₹1,024 crore in the previous financial year.
How to contact CRED?
There’s no official contact number. Users can drop a mail to the email ID – [email protected].
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