Cred initiates ESOP buyback worth $1.2 million as part of Series C fundraise

Cred has raised $81 million in its Series C round at a post-money valuation of $806 million. Existing Cred investor DST Global led the round, along with Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, and General Catalyst. In addition, Sofina, Coatue and Satyan Gajwani of Times Internet also invested in this round. Existing and former employees have liquidated their ESOPs, collectively worth $1.2 million (Rs 9 crore). The ESOP buyback was completed on 1 January 2021.

This is the first ESOP liquidity program initiated by Cred, just two years into its operations. Employees who hold vested stocks were eligible to sell up to 50 percent of their vested ESOP shares in the company.

“As we raise funds to support our next phase of growth, it’s important to acknowledge the role that employees have played in our success. We are committed to enabling wealth-creation opportunities for them and have allocated 10 percent of our capital allocated for ESOPs even at the Series C stage. I am grateful for their conviction, as well as that of our investors, and am focused on creating value for them as the product and business evolves,” says Kunal Shah, Founder, Cred.

This comes weeks after Cred raised over $80 million in series B funding in December. The funding was led by DST Global, Ribbit Capital, Sequoia Capital, and Tiger Global.

Cred processes 20 percent of all credit card bill payments in India. Over 35 percent of premium credit cardholders in India are on Cred, with members spending two times the average credit card user in India.

Launched in 2018, Cred is an app that helps users pay and manage their credit card. It offers rewards and incentives linked to the credit card payment. It is for people who have a minimum credit score of 750 or above.

CEO of Cred, Kunal Shah was also the co-founder of Freecharge which is currently owned by private lender Axis Bank.

Last year, Cred also announced an official partnership with the Indian Premier League (IPL). In the early stages of the pandemic, Cred announced a new feature called Cred RentPay where users could pay their rent using their credit cards. Another feature announced was Cred Stash, an easy and digital way of obtaining credit in India.