Inside Kunal Shah’s CRED: A $6.4 Billion Fintech Startup For India’s Top 1% Credit Users

In a country where fintech often means bringing banking to the masses, Kunal Shah built a different kind of empire – one that courted India’s top 1%.

CRED, his second startup after FreeCharge, didn’t follow the playbook of mass adoption.

Instead, he built a brand by betting on trust, exclusivity, and affluence.

And the payoff?

A $6.4 billion valuation, a growing suite of financial services, and a fiercely loyal user base.

Kunal Shah’s entrepreneurial journey began with FreeCharge, a mobile recharge and utility payments startup that became a household name. 

And in 2015, he sold it to Snapdeal for roughly $400 million — one of India’s biggest tech exits at the time.

But instead of resting on his laurels, Kunal Shah spent time reflecting on systemic inefficiencies in India’s economy.

“India doesn’t lack wealth; it lacks efficient distribution,” he often says. 

With CRED, he set out to build a system that rewards financial credibility, flipping the conventional approach of targeting underserved segments.

CRED - A Fintech Brand for India’s Top 1% 

In 2018, Kunal Shah launched CRED with a clear vision: create a high-trust ecosystem for financially disciplined individuals.

He was met with a lot of scepticism.

The app initially focused on a single use case – rewarding users for paying their credit card bills on time.

The catch? Only users with a credit score of 750 or above could join!

The idea was bold, even counterintuitive, in a market obsessed with volume.

But Kunal Shah had a different thesis. “India is not a poor country; it’s a country of poor distribution,” he said. Shah’s insight was clear: the top 10 million Indians accounted for a disproportionate amount of spending, borrowing, and financial activity.

CRED wasn’t trying to solve for everyone — just those who valued convenience, design, and financial trust.

"Most startups are built for scale. We’re built for depth," he said in a 2022 interview.

Trust as a Business Model

The foundation of CRED’s growth is trust.

 "If you solve for trust, you solve for business. That’s our model," Shah said at a fintech forum in 2023.

Users need a credit score of 750 or above to join, automatically filtering in a premium audience. This credibility became CRED’s biggest asset — creating a community that brands, banks, and investors wanted to tap into.

The platform started with a simple promise: pay your credit card bills, earn rewards. But the real genius was how CRED turned user trustworthiness into a marketable commodity.

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Expanding the Ecosystem: From Payments to Lending

When CRED launched, its focus was singular — credit card bill payments. 

But true to Kunal Shah’s philosophy of solving for trust first and scaling later, the platform steadily expanded its offering.

Today, CRED has evolved into a full-fledged fintech ecosystem, offering members lending, payments, and shopping experiences — all anchored around the idea of rewarding financial credibility.

Each new product not only deepens user engagement but also strengthens CRED’s position as the go-to platform for India’s most trusted consumers.

• CRED Mint allows members to lend money to fellow high-trust users and earn interest.

• CRED Cash offers instant personal loans.

• CRED Pay enables fast payments at popular brands.

• CRED Store curates premium products and offers for its members.

Each product reinforces CRED’s core philosophy — financial credibility should unlock exclusive value.

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A Masterclass in Branding

Building a great product is just part of the equation; building a brand is what creates lasting dominance.

Beyond product innovation, CRED is a masterclass in branding.

CRED’s advertisements, including retro Bollywood icons, ironic humour, and slick visuals, appeals to the aspirational Indian. CRED’s design-first approach reflects Kunal Shah’s belief that user experience is a business strategy, not just aesthetics.

“Every transaction is a signal. Brands that understand that build more than products - they build meaning,” Kunal Shah once posted on X. 

It’s this brand-first approach that allows CRED to charge a premium, attract top-tier partners, and retain users who feel a sense of belonging.

FY24’s Rs 2500 Crore Revenue Generation 

For years, critics questioned CRED’s burn rate. 

Lavish ad campaigns, generous rewards, and slow monetisation drew scrutiny. But Shah has always positioned CRED as a long-term bet.

“You can’t build a brand like Apple or Amex overnight. You have to keep showing up with quality, consistency, and conviction,” Kunal Shah said at a startup conclave.

That patience is now paying off.

In FY24, CRED crossed ₹2,500 crore in revenue.

Products like CRED Mint and CRED Cash are generating income, while user growth continues among India’s digitally savvy elite. It pared operational losses by 41 per cent to ₹609 crore, compared to ₹1,024 crore in the previous year.

Contrast this with FY21, when CRED reported less than ₹100 crore in revenue, making it the butt of internet jokes, considering it had just raised over a billion dollars from global investors and spent heavily on ads during the popular cricket series, IPL.

A company valued at around $6 billion, reporting less than ₹100 crore in revenue, raised eyebrows.

However, Kunal Shah, a serial entrepreneur and a prolific angel investor, managed to shut down critics with his latest financials.

But how does CRED, one of the most valued fintechs in the country, make money?

It has been one of the most enduring mysteries in India’s startup ecosystem. 

Today, the business has five major revenue engines:

• Bill Payments: Small commissions on credit card and utility bill payments, plus a cut from UPI plug-ins.

• Lending: The largest revenue contributor. CRED Cash, CRED Flash (BNPL), and the now-paused CRED Mint help build a loan book that reportedly hit ₹15,000 crore.

• Insurance: Through CRED Garage, facilitating motor insurhelpedance renewal and fuel cashback offers.

• Shopping and Travel: D2C brands and travel packages promoted through the CRED Store.

• Wealth & Investment: Recently acquired Kuvera allows CRED to offer mutual funds, FDs, SIPs, and financial planning tools.

The company currently monetises only a third of its 1.1 crore monthly transacting users, signalling ample headroom for revenue growth. 

With a planned IPO on the horizon and consistent year-over-year growth, profitability may be closer than many had predicted.

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Backed by Big Names

CRED’s valuation hit $6.4 billion as of 2024, backed by marquee investors like Sequoia Capital, DST Global, Tiger Global, and Falcon Edge. 

But beyond capital, it’s the strategic confidence in Shah’s long-term playbook that keeps these investors committed.

Kunal Shah’s success with FreeCharge, which he sold for $400 million in 2015, gives him credibility. But with CRED, he’s building something far more enduring — a financial institution shaped like a lifestyle brand.

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What’s Next for CRED?

The road ahead is promising. As India’s affluent class grows, CRED is poised to ride the wave. While IPO chatter has grown louder in recent quarters, Shah remains non-committal. He wants to ensure the fundamentals are solid before going public.

Plans likely include deeper plays into wealth management, credit products, insurance, and possibly even banking services. But regardless of the vertical, the focus will remain the same - design-led innovation for India’s most financially responsible citizens.

While most startups obsess over the next 500 million users, CRED is proof that depth can be more powerful than breadth.

Kunal Shah took a leap that few dared to take - and turned it into a thriving fintech empire.

In doing so, he’s not just created a profitable business. He’s redefined what it means to build for India’s digital elite. And in a world driven by speed and volume, that kind of patience is rare - and priceless.