Cred in talks to raise $100 mn; CureFit may secure funding from existing investors

Cred, a fintech venture launched by FreeCharge co-founder Kunal Shah, is in advanced stages of discussions with Chinese investment group Hillhouse Capital and a few of its existing investors to raise $100 million (Rs 692.7 crore at current exchange rate), The Economic Times reported.

Its existing investor Sequoia Capital is likely to lead the round while Ribbit Capital and Russian billionaire Yuri Milner-backed Apoletto Asia are expected to double down on their investments in the company, the report said. Hillhouse Capital, founded in 2005 by Zhang Lei with seed funding from Yale University’s endowment, is an investor in top Chinese technology firms including Tencent and Baidu.

If the deal materialises, it will value the six-month-old startup at $400 million.

Serial entrepreneur Shah sold his payments platform FreeCharge to Snapdeal for $400 million in 2015, which was later bought by Axis Bank at a 90% discount.

Owned by Dreamplug Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Cred is a members-only platform that rewards users for paying credit card bills on time. Cred offers discounts on shopping, healthcare, travel and other services. For the rewards, Cred has partnered, among others, furniture rental platform Furlenco, travel booking site Ixigo, and healthcare platform CureFit.

Even before its launch in November 2018, Cred had raised $30 million in June last year from multiple investors including Sequoia Capital, RPT Global, and China’s Morningside Ventures.

CureFit may raise $75 mn

Health and fitness startup CureFit, led by Myntra co-founder Mukesh Bansal and former Flipkart executive Ankit Nagori, is in the process of raising $75 million (Rs 519.4 crore at current exchange rate) in fresh funding led by existing investors Accel Growth and Chiratae Ventures (previously known as IDG Ventures India), The Economic Times reported. The deal is expected to value the firm at about $500 million (Rs 3,462.4 crore at current exchange rate) post-money.

The fundraising could become a larger Series D round worth $125-150 million (Rs 865.6-1,038.7 crore at current exchange rate) later this year, fuelled by new investors.

CureFit is backed by venture capital firms Accel, Kalaari Capital and Chiratae Ventures, as well as veteran industry leader Ratan Tata.

In July last year, the startup had raised $120 million (around Rs 825 crore then) in a Series C round of funding.

The company formally launched the flagship CureFit mobile app in May 2017. Another offering is Cult.fit, which runs offline centres that offer equipment-less workouts including strength and conditioning exercises, spinning, boxing, mixed martial arts, zumba and yoga.

Eat.fit is its subscription-based food delivery vertical while Mind.fit focuses on yoga and meditation. Its latest offering Care.fit offers a digital platform for doctors and health checkups.

For the financial year 2017-18, CureFit’s net sales jumped to Rs 24.9 crore from Rs 3.1 crore the previous year. Net loss expanded to Rs 96.8 crore from Rs 18 crore during the period.

CureFit’s total expenditure jumped nearly six-fold to Rs 120.3 crore from Rs 21.9 crore during the period.