Meta is said to be in talks to invest in Kunal Shah-led Cred. The talks value Cred at around $4 billion (₹38,000 crore), marking a recovery from the company’s reduced $3.5 billion valuation in 2025, reports Moneycontrol. However, the proposed valuation remains well below the $6.4 billion valuation Cred commanded during the peak startup funding cycle in 2022. According to the report, the social media behemoth has explored multiple deal structures, including a direct capital infusion worth tens of millions of dollars, a strategic investment in Cred, and broader partnership opportunities between the two companies.
The discussions are strategically important because Meta has struggled to establish a meaningful presence in India’s digital payments ecosystem despite the massive reach of WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook. While WhatsApp Pay has been available for years, it remains a relatively small player in the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) market. Even Cred also remains a niche payments player, but it has built a strong presence among wealthy and creditworthy consumers.
The report suggests the Mark Zuckerberg-led firm sees Cred as a potential gateway into India’s rapidly expanding fintech ecosystem, allowing it to strengthen its position across payments, lending, commerce and financial services. According to available market estimates, WhatsApp Pay and Cred together account for less than 2% of UPI market share, showing the scale of opportunity Meta is trying to capture.
Notably, Cred initially gained popularity through its credit-card bill payment and rewards platform, targeting users with high credit scores. Over the years, it has transformed into a broader financial services company spanning consumer lending, loans against securities, insurance distribution, personal finance management, wealth-related products and merchant payments.
Financially, Cred has shown significant improvement over the past year, which is likely a key reason for Meta’s interest. In FY25, the company reported operating revenue of ₹2,735 crore, up 16% year-on-year, while operating losses narrowed sharply by 51% to ₹298 crore. Total losses declined 11.5% to ₹1,457 crore, and gross margins remained strong at around 70%. The company processed ₹8.5 lakh crore in total payment value during FY25, a 23% increase from the previous year. User engagement metrics have also strengthened considerably. Cred’s monthly transacting user base grew 14.5% to 1.26 crore, while transaction frequency jumped 34% to 14.4 transactions per user per month. Meanwhile, Cred’s lending business has emerged as a major growth engine, with assets under management rising to around ₹22,000 crore.
For Cred, a partnership with Meta would provide access to one of the world’s largest digital distribution networks. However, it is worth noting that no agreement has been finalized yet, and negotiations remain ongoing.
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Ashutosh is a Senior Writer at The Tech Portal, largely reporting on new tech, and intersection of technology and business. Ashutosh’s career spans across nearly a decade of technology writing across multiple platforms and languages.
