The Series F financing values the company at $6.4 billion, a considerable increase from the $4.01 billion it raised in October 2021, when Tiger Global and Falcon Edge co-led a $251 million deal.

CRED, a four-year-old fintech startup, has announced a $140 million investment round sponsored by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC. 

Sofina, a Belgian investment business, Tiger Global Management, Falcon Edge, a New York-based alternative investment firm, and Dragoneer, a San Francisco-based firm, are among the returning investors in this round, according to the company.

The Series F round values the start-up at $6.4 billion, a significant uptick from the $4.01 billion it garnered in October 2021 when it secured $251 million, co-led by Tiger Global and Falcon Edge. 

The company declined to provide the primary and secondary mix of the transaction.

The round comes at a time when Indian start-up funding environment is moving to a rather conservative and cautionary phase resulting from global macro events including rising inflation, Ukraine War and public market turmoil. Several heavy-funded start-ups including Unacademy, Meesho, Vedantu, MFine and Cars24 have resorted to layoffs to cut costs and extend their runways as far as possible to tide over this downturn.

CRED, which was launched in 2018, rewards credit-worthy consumers with special deals and access to brands in exchange for timely credit card bill payments. Since then, the company has expanded its lending services through agreements with IDFC bank and other non-banking financial corporations (NBFCs). CRED was onboarded as a major agent institution by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) subsidiary NPCI Bharat BillPay on Thursday, giving seamless bill payment solutions to CRED members. An agent institution is a business that aspires to or already provides consumers with services such as bill payment, collection, and aggregation through physical or digital means. CRED users will be able to pay regular bills like as electricity, telecom, DTH, gas, education fees, water, and municipal taxes more easily as a result of this agreement.

They can also use the CRED app to view updated transaction history, create transaction alerts and reminders, and raise/track complaints for Bharat BillPay transactions. CRED will create member touch points, give member help (registration, quick pay, complaint resolution), rapid confirmation, payment and charge awareness, BBPS visibility, and more as an agent institution.