Dreamplug Technologies Pvt. Limited, which operates fintech unicorn Cred, on Friday said it is looking to pick up a minority stake in its Mumbai-based lending partner LiquiLoans with an investment of up to $10 million (around Rs 79 crore), pegging the latter's valuation close to $200 million, the companies said in a statement.
Last year, Cred had entered into ties with LiquiLoans, operated by Trillionloans Fintech Pvt. Limited, to roll out Cred Mint, a service that allows Cred customers to lend to one another at an annual interest rate of up to 9%.
According to a statement by Cred, that the investment will cement Cred’s ties with Liquiloans. It will also further give boost to LiquiLoans’ technology capabilities.
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.
Cred has also been acquisitive. In October 2021, Mint reported that it had acquired liquor delivery startup HipBar Pvt. Ltd to enter wallet payments business.
Cred’s total user base grew to 7.5 million in 2021, the company said in March this year, adding that it facilitates over 25 percent of credit card bill payments. The company reported a 45 percent increase in its net loss for FY21 after marketing expenses soared during the year, according to an official document shared by the Cred in March. Cred’s loss widened to Rs 524 crore for FY21 from Rs 360 crore in the previous year.
"LiquiLoans has innovated in creating trust-centered financing products and is a leader in peer-to-peer lending with a strong management team. Their work has helped expand access to credit, and we look forward to partnering with them in their next phase of growth and innovation," said Shah.
LiquiLoans was founded by Gautam Adukia and Achal Mittal with a vision to provide individual retail investors direct access through a technology platform to millions of retail borrowers and in doing so build a robust consumer lending platform.
“Our goal has been to build a trusted and credible P2P lending platform. To this end, we have partnered and will continue to partner strategically with entities that share a similar ethos. Our long-term relationship with Cred and this investment will accelerate our goal of creating efficiencies for seamless borrowing and investments,” said Mittal.
In 2019, LiquiLoans had raised an undisclosed amount of funding from existing investor Matrix Partners India.
