Fintech startup CRED said on Monday that it would raise Rs 8,550 crore in a fundraising round led by Facebook parent Meta.
As part of the transaction, founder Kunal Shah will step down from his position as CEO and join the social media giant to oversee WhatsApp worldwide.
According to a statement from the company, Shah will become a member of Meta’s global leadership team while keeping his personal stake in Bengaluru-based CRED.
Shah claimed he would be joining Meta to oversee WhatsApp when he announced the move on X. He also highlighted the messaging app’s enormous potential for future expansion.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, stated that Shah’s background in growing CRED into a significant technological business would enable him to oversee the biggest messaging service in the world.
Miten Sampat, the head of strategy and finance at CRED, has been named temporary CEO with immediate effect following the leadership change.
According to the firm, CRED is valued at a pre-money valuation of Rs 38,819 crore ($4.03 billion) and a post-money valuation of Rs 43,239 crore ($4.5 billion) in the Series H investment round. It further stated that Meta will no longer have access to CRED client data and will become a minority investor.
The firm said that the additional funding would be used to strengthen institutional capabilities, increase growth and broaden its reach beyond categories.
CRED was established in 2018 and claims to handle over 40 per cent of credit card bill payments in India, with over 1.7 crore active users each month. Approximately Rs 24,000 crore worth of assets are managed by its lending division.
