CRED is rolling out a buy-it-now-pay-later service and pay-to-pay feature as the Indian fintech platform expands its offerings to drive engagement and monetization on the platform.
Cred flash, the Bengaluru-based startup’s foray into the buy now, pay later category, will enable customers to checkout seamlessly on the app and at over 500 partner merchants, including Swiggy, Zepto and Urban Company. , and pay the invoice free of charge in 30 days .
The personalized credit given to customers will allow them to make bill payments, top-ups and other expenses all at once and without having to wait for an OTP authentication code, said the startup, which is valued at over of $6 billion. The service, powered by RBI-registered NBFC Parfait Finance and Investments Pvt Limited, will initially be rolled out to a select group of customers, the startup said.
The BNPL product is the latest in a series of new offerings from CRED in recent years as it strives to make its eponymous fintech app a bigger part of the lives of its customers.
The startup, which also offers its customers the ability to lend to each other on the platform at “inflation-beating” rates, last year launched Scan and Pay, its UPI QR quick payments that enable customers to earn rewards for every transaction they made to merchants and also protect their identity by using pseudonyms.
CRED, which has 16 million users, started life as a utility tool for tracking and paying credit card bills. It serves some of India’s most trusted customers, as the application only onboards those with at least a credit score of 750. This threshold has made CRED a more feasible test bed for additional financial services, even though these offers have existed on other platforms for years.
A handful of startups in India offer buy-it-now and pay-later services, but many big names in the category, including Zip-backed ZestMoney, are struggling financially as they primarily cater to an audience with a track record. thin credit bureau.
CRED said it is also rolling out a pay-by-touch feature that will allow users to make credit card payments with their phone by tapping the terminal. The feature, first rolling out to NFC-enabled Android smartphones, will require members to unlock their phone before tapping the merchant’s PoS machine.
“Tap to Pay meets CRED members’ need for a fast, simple and secure offline payment experience. Tap to Pay uses secure card tokenization technology to store card tokens on the device. said the startup.
The startup, backed by Sequoia India, QED, Tiger Global and Ribbit, is aggressively focused on growing its revenue by launching more monetization engines, its founder and chief executive Kunal Shah said earlier this year in an interaction. . “Members are engaged in several products. And monetization kind of puts us in the right direction,” he said.
