CRED ‘too young’ for IPO, says Kunal Shah

New Delhi: Fintech platform CRED has ruled out an initial public offering (IPO) in the near term, with Founder and CEO Kunal Shah saying the company is “too young” for the public markets. He added that the current focus is on building institutional strength and widening products for India’s affluent, creditworthy consumers.

“Should a company think about IPO in the right time? The answer is absolutely yes. But at this point in time, I would say we are too young to be thinking about it,” Shah said.

CRED recently raised USD 75 million in a Series G round led by Singapore’s GIC. Shah said the funds will be used to deepen engagement with high-value users and launch new products.

“When we are looking at the capital, the goal has been consistently on two dimensions. How do we increase our concentration and market share on users who are creditworthy? And the second theme is, how do we create more and more products? … we are launching a bunch of new products,” he said.

On Monday, CRED unveiled several offerings for its members, including an asset tracking and net worth monitoring tool that integrates mutual funds, stocks, NPS, fixed deposits, digital gold and bank balances.

The company said early users have shown a 6-14% rise in investment activity.

It also introduced curated fixed deposit portfolios with RBI-regulated institutions, insured digital gold redeemable in physical form, and two new credit cards: the CRED IndusInd Bank RuPay credit card and Sovereign, an invite-only 18-karat gold card.

Backed by DST Global, Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital India, RTP Global and others, CRED reported a 66% rise in revenue to Rs 2,473 crore in FY24, while operating losses narrowed 41% to Rs 609 crore.

Shah said the company’s long-term priority is to become the most trusted financial services brand.
“When you play with financial services, you are dealing with the business of trust. Trust means you have to be respected, compliant, and do all the things that are right for the consumers. And we have been focused on that,” he said.