Kunal Shah’s CRED buys back shares worth $1.2 million from its employees

• The share buyback completed on January 1, 2021, was a part of the startup’s $81 million Series C round.
• With the latest fundraise, CRED is now valued at $806 million.
• The startup claims that it has 5.9 million users and processes 20% of all credit card bill payments in India.

Indian fintech startup CRED, an app that helps you pay and manage your credit card bills in exchange for a bunch of rewards, has bought back shares worth $1.2 million from its employees. The share buyback completed on January 1, 2021, was a part of the startup’s $81 million Series C round.

The startup founded by serial entrepreneur Kunal Shah is now valued at $806 million. The latest round was led by partners of DST Global and also saw participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital India, Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, and General Catalyst. Others who participated in the round were Sofina, Coatue, and Satyan Gajwani of Times Internet.

“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% of our cap table 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,” said Kunal Shah, Founder, CRED.

The two-year old startup allowed eligible employees to sell up to 50% of their vested ESOP shares in the company.

Launched in November 2018, the credit card payments startup has been in the news for its fast grown popularity among users. The startup claims that it has 5.9 million users and processes 20% of all credit card bill payments in India. “Over 35% of premium credit card holders in India are on CRED, with members spending 2X of the average credit card user in India,” said the company.

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