User Monetisation The Next Chapter For Cred, Says Shah

The next chapter for the company is to enhance its monetisation from existing users by offering them more products, even as it grows its community alongside. In the last FY, the company worked to scale the adoption of its existing products including RentPay, Cash, Pay among others. It also launched new products including Mint, which allows users to lend to other users among others. 

 “(Users) are engaging on all of these products at different scales and it’s only growing every month. They are (also) going and exploring more products," said Shah. “(This) creates both breadth and also depth in our relationship."

The startup, last valued at about $6.4 billion, widened its losses 2.4 times to ₹1279.6 crore in FY22. However, the Bengaluru-based fintech did not highlight its plans to achieve profitability. “We are only four years old. We make a conscious choice to invest in building the brand, building the community and eventually get to the monetization direction", Shah said. 

Comparatively, Cred’s revenue from operations grew at a larger pace by 4.4X to ₹393.6 crore during the year.

Cred’s member community grew nearly 50% to 11.2 million users in FY22. In the calendar year 2022, the company scaled this number to 16 million. The fintech unicorn, which last raised $140 million in a Series F in June 2022 at over 60% premium, is focused on the top 40 million households in the country. It helps users settle credit card bills, make utility, rent and school fee payments among other things. 

The company’s total expenses jumped 2.7x to ₹1702.1 crore in FY22. Cred spent about more than ₹975.8 crore on marketing and business promotion expenses, which accounted for more than 57% of its total expenses. 

“Investments on marketing dollars will always have its own reason and rationale," said Shah, adding that the company will be investing to build and sustain its brand. Cred, through the years, has spent extensively in marketing campaigns including its much-talked about advertisement for the Indian Premier League. 

However, for the now four-year old company, “it will be much more reasonable– doesn’t mean we have to stop. We will still keep building our community and brands," he said. 

The company spent ₹307.6 crore as employee benefit expense, its second largest cost after marketing during the year. It spent ₹158.7 crore in payment processing charges and ₹243.3 crore in other expenses, which include software and licensing costs of ₹104.9 crore. Cred claims to have high engagement and stickiness with over 90% of its members redeeming at least one reward on its app every month.