Any news about CRED, and the question is always the same: what exactly is the business model? So persistent is this query that Kunal Shah himself took a dig at it on social media, while announcing Meta's landmark investment in his company, and his own appointment as global CEO of WhatsApp. Type "CRED" into Google, and the search engine pre-empts you, jumping straight to questions about how the fintech startup works and makes money. Reddit threads devoted to explaining it are too many to count.
What Is CRED's Business Model?
Founded by Shah in 2018, CRED was built to reward creditworthy Indians for responsible financial behaviour. What began as a credit card bill payment platform has since grown into a broader fintech ecosystem, spanning UPI transactions and lending services. Today, the company processes over 40 per cent of all credit card bill payments in India.
Its lending business has expanded significantly, with managed assets under management reaching Rs 24,000 crore. The platform counts around 1.7 crore monthly active users, all with strong credit profiles, and claims the highest average revenue per user among India's payments players.
The company's latest financial performance points to improving unit economics. In FY25, operating losses declined by 51 per cent to Rs 298 crore, while overall losses reduced by 11.5 per cent to Rs 1,457 crore. During the same period, consolidated operating revenue increased 16 per cent year-on-year to Rs 2,735 crore. And now, with Meta's investment, Cred's valuation stands at $4.5 billion. This Series H round, says the company, is aimed at accelerating growth, building institutional capacity and strengthening Cred's position across product categories, while it prepares for an IPO.
Why Did Meta Invest In CRED?
The numbers offer an interesting backdrop. In India's crowded UPI market, CRED ranks eighth by transaction volume. WhatsApp Pay - which Shah will now oversee as global head, ranks ninth. Meta's $900 million investment secures a roughly 20 per cent minority stake in CRED, consolidating its foothold in India's digital payments landscape.
Is Meta After The Data?
Shah has denied it. But alongside questions about CRED's business model, a persistent murmur surrounds its growing valuation -- the real asset, many argue, is its user data.
That may be the fuller answer to why Meta invested. A minority stake today, but what prevents Meta from increasing it, gradually, or not so gradually? With WhatsApp under Shah's stewardship, Meta will push to unlock the platform's full potential in India, not just retaining its 500 million-plus users, but aggressively expanding its UPI business. For that, access to CRED's high-quality user data is invaluable. As for data protection laws, the data, in theory, never needs to leave Indian shores.
Why Is Kunal Shah Leaving His Own Company?
That remains the biggest question of all.
Shah succeeds Will Cathcart as global head of WhatsApp. The question many are asking: why would a founder walk out of his own company to take up a job? Comparisons to other Indians leading global tech giants make for compelling social media posts, but most of those executives climbed corporate ladders to reach the top. They did not step away from the startups they spent years building.
That is what makes Kunal Shah's story singular and worth watching -- a founder who became an employee.
(The author is Executive Editor at NDTV)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
