BackCred to acquire lending-as-a-service firm CreditVidya
The deal to buy Kalaari Capital and Matrix Partners-backed CreditVidya is a mix of cash and stock and will be completed only after required approvals
PremiumTiger Global-backed fintech unicorn Cred on Tuesday said it will acquire a 100% stake in CreditVidya, a Kalaari Capital and Matrix Partners-backed company that offers lending as a service, for an undisclosed amount.
The deal is a mix of cash and stock and will be completed only after required approvals, the company said in a statement. The financial details of the deal weren’t disclosed.
CreditVidya’s acquisition comes about two months after the Kunal Shah-led fintech said it is looking to pick a minority stake in its Mumbai-based lending partner LiquiLoans. Last year, it acquired expense management startup Happay in December and liquor delivery startup HipBar Pvt Ltd in October.
“Expanding access to credit is a key driver for financial progress. CreditVidya's patented tech stack uncovers signals of trust among under-served cohorts," said Shah, founder, Cred, in a statement.
The acquisition allows Cred to expand its customer base and ecosystem as CreditVidya, which caters to customers who do not have a credit score.
“We’ve invested in building products that bring financial services to credit under-served Indians through our partners, transforming how risk is assessed and trust measured to drive financial inclusion," Abhishek Agarwal, co-founder and chief executive of CreditVidya, said.
Hyderabad-based CreditVidya was founded in 2012 by Agarwal and Rajiv Raj. It offers a software-as-a-service platform that allows businesses to embed customised credit products. Since inception, the company has raised about $10 million in funding, and was last valued at $30 million.
“In our next phase of our growth, as we build brand and scale distribution, we are excited to learn from the CRED team," Agarwal added.
As a part of the acquisition deal, the two firms will continue to operate independently. CreditVidya’s 200+ team members will get all the benefits extended to Cred team members, including its employee stock-option program.
Founded by serial entrepreneur Kunal Shah in 2018, Bengaluru-based Cred started as an app that lets users pay credit card bills and rewards them in the form of “Cred" coins, which can be redeemed across many partner businesses. Since then, the firm has diversified into lending and e-commerce.
Last month, the company launched ‘Scan and Pay’ under the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platform, foraying into the wider payments business, to compete with the likes of PhonePe, GooglePay (Gpay), Paytm and government-backed Bhim UPI mobile applications, among others.
It is backed by marquee investors such as Singaporean wealth fund GIC, Tiger Global, FalconEdge, Sofina Ventures, Insight Partners, Coatue and Dragoneer among others.
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