It All Began With a Question

Why is it that people who pay their bills on time, who act responsibly with money, and who maintain good credit scores don’t get rewarded for it? This was the fundamental question that kept bothering Kunal Shah, the founder of CRED and previously, FreeCharge. After exiting FreeCharge and taking a deep dive into behavioral economics and global systems of trust, Kunal came to a realization that the Indian economy penalizes bad financial behavior but doesn’t reward the good.

What if trust could be quantified and rewarded? What if there was a system where people with good credit scores were given exclusive benefits, offers, and financial products? That idea became the seed for CRED, launched in 2018 with a radical concept: build a platform exclusively for financially responsible people.

A Club Only for the Trustworthy

From the very beginning, CRED set itself apart from other financial platforms by choosing exclusivity over mass reach. It only accepted users with a credit score of 750 or higher. This wasn’t just a gimmick. It was a strategic positioning to build a community of high-trust individuals. CRED didn’t want everyone; it wanted only the most financially responsible people.

Once inside, users could pay their credit card bills through the app, and for each payment, they earned what CRED called “CRED Coins.” These coins could be redeemed for a wide range of brand offers — from coffee shop vouchers to discounts on gadgets and lifestyle products. But more than the tangible rewards, what made the app stand out was how it made the user feel. The interface was sleek, minimalist, and elegant. The tone was intelligent, almost elitist but in a way that made users feel proud to be part of something exclusive.

The Deeper Strategy

At first glance, CRED looked like a bill payment app with some rewards layered on top. But look deeper and you’ll see a much more ambitious engine powering it. Kunal Shah wasn’t just creating a rewards program, he was building a massive database of high-trust individuals with excellent credit behavior. These are people with a proven track record of financial discipline, making them the ideal audience for premium financial products.

With access to this data, CRED could eventually branch into offering loans, credit lines, insurance, investment products, and more. All with better interest rates or terms because the risk was low. In simple terms, while other fintech startups were solving “pain” (like credit access for underserved users), CRED was solving “potential.” It was betting on India’s growing class of creditworthy consumers.

The Ads That Got Everyone Talking

CRED became a household name not just because of its features, but because of its advertising. During the IPL seasons, the brand launched some of the most talked-about campaigns in Indian marketing history A famous ad showed Rahul Dravid, who is known for being calm, getting angry in traffic and shouting, “Indiranagar ka gunda hoon main!” The ad went viral in hours. And that was just the beginning.

CRED’s ads featured everything from 90s Bollywood stars to spoofs on game shows. They didn’t sell the product directly instead, they sold curiosity, coolness, and club culture. People downloaded CRED not just to pay bills, but because it felt like being part of a modern movement; something intellectual, aspirational, and premium.

The Critics and the Questions

With all the buzz, CRED also attracted a fair share of criticism. One of the biggest questions in the startup ecosystem was: “How does CRED make money?” After all, it was giving away rewards, running expensive ad campaigns, onboarding only a small section of users, and wasn’t charging any subscription fee. Was this sustainable?

Many experts and analysts questioned the unit economics of the company. CRED’s expenses seemed massive while the revenue model was unclear. Even more controversial was its valuation — by 2021, CRED became a unicorn, and soon after, its valuation crossed $6 billion. This raised eyebrows because the company’s revenue was still relatively modest.

Kunal Shah responded to the criticism with clarity. He explained that CRED was building infrastructure, a verified community, a deep data layer, and brand trust. Revenue would come in layers, over time, through monetization avenues like lending, commerce, and subscriptions. But yes, in the short term, the losses were real, and so was the skepticism.

Evolution of the Platform

CRED didn’t stop at rewards and bill payments. Over time, it expanded into multiple verticals. CRED RentPay allowed users to pay house rent using credit cards, unlocking more reward points. CRED Mint offered peer-to-peer lending, where trusted users could lend money and earn interest. CRED Cash introduced pre-approved loans at competitive rates, based on credit behavior. CRED Store became a curated marketplace of premium brands and deals.

Each of these offerings built upon the original principle: only for the trustworthy, only for those who passed the gate. Over time, CRED began to resemble a lifestyle and fintech ecosystem rather than a simple app.

Business Challenges on the Road

Despite its glamour, CRED had to overcome tough challenges. First was user retention, once users paid their bills and collected rewards, what would make them stay? CRED had to keep innovating to ensure that users returned month after month.

Then there were competitive pressures. Traditional banks, new-age fintech apps, and digital wallets all wanted a slice of the same market. Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, and even banks like HDFC and ICICI were offering cashback and rewards on credit card bill payments. CRED had to prove that its exclusivity and experience justified user loyalty.

On top of that, regulatory scrutiny also increased as financial services got more complex. As CRED dabbled in credit, lending, and investment, it needed to align with RBI guidelines and maintain transparency with its users.

The Turning Point

In late 2022 and 2023, CRED began to show signs of monetization success. CRED Mint and CRED Cash started gaining traction. The CRED Store’s curated marketplace model began driving sales for D2C brands. Investors started noticing how loyal CRED’s user base was, and how much data it was sitting on.

Most importantly, CRED managed to do what very few Indian startups could build a premium brand in finance. Finance is often seen as boring, complex, or scary. CRED made it modern, elite, and even entertaining. It built habit. It built trust. And now, it’s building monetization.

What Businesses Can Learn from CRED

CRED’s journey teaches us several powerful lessons:
First, it’s okay to start narrow targeting just a niche audience. As long as your long-term vision is big; by focusing on high-credit-score users, CRED built a clean, high-quality customer base.
Second, brand is not a luxury, it’s a moat. CRED proved that investing in design, language, and storytelling can set you apart even in a crowded, price-sensitive market.
Third, user trust is a currency. If you have it, you can build anything on top of it like from products to partnerships. And lastly, sometimes the biggest opportunities lie not in solving visible pain, but in tapping hidden potential.

Conclusion

CRED’s story is still unfolding. It’s bold, unconventional, and often criticized but undeniably impactful. Whether or not it becomes a long-term success, it has already changed how Indian startups think about brand, trust, and financial products.
For business owners, the takeaway is “Sometimes, it pays to play the long game, build deep, and bet on trust.”