Kunal Shah’s Cred scales biometric UPI users to near 10 million
Bengaluru: Cred is close to crossing 10 million users on its biometric authentication feature for UPI payments, according to an internal message shared by founder
Bengaluru: Cred is close to crossing 10 million users on its biometric authentication feature for UPI payments, according to an internal message shared by founder Kunal Shah with employees, as the fintech startup expands its payments play. Mint has seen an internal message from Shah to employees saying Cred is close to 10 million users using biometric authentication for payments. The company launched biometric authentication for UPI payments in March, allowing users to approve transactions using fingerprint or face recognition instead of entering a personal identification number (PIN). Since then, other apps, including PhonePe and Amazon Pay, have also rolled out biometric UPI authentication, as more fintech players move to make payments faster and easier at merchant checkout. The milestone comes as Cred looks to widen the use of its payments products beyond credit card bill payments. Previous media reports indicated Cred had about 13 million monthly active (MAUs) users in June 2024, while its monthly transacting users (MTUs) rose 14.5% to 12.6 million in FY25.
Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) first rolled out on-device biometric authentication for UPI in October 2025, saying it would simplify payments, reduce PIN-related friction and make transactions more secure. The feature was seen as a key UPI upgrade because it moved authentication into the device itself, with an initial cap of ₹5,000 per transaction and Aadhaar-based face authentication also added for setting or resetting UPI PINs. Cred’s latest FY25 update also showed the company’s payment stack growing in scale. Its total payment value rose to ₹8.5 trillion, while transaction frequency increased 34% to 14.4 transactions per user per month. The fintech unicorn reported operating revenue of ₹2,735 crore in FY25, up 16% year-on-year, while operating losses declined 51% to ₹298 crore, according to its January press release. Cred’s payments push comes as the company is back in the fundraising spotlight. Moneycontrol reported on Friday that Meta has discussed investing in the startup at a $4 billion valuation, according to people familiar with the matter.
Also Read | Visa bets on cheaper tech and consumer choice to take on the UPI juggernaut The reported valuation is above Cred’s marked-down $3.5 billion price tag in 2025, but still below the $6.4 billion it commanded in its last major round in 2022. The report said Meta has also weighed other possibilities, including a full acquisition, though the discussions are still ongoing. In the internal message seen by Mint, Shah also addressed reports of fresh fundraising, writing, “Just woke up to some news on CRED getting new capital. As always you’ll hear from me first when something credible is happening.” Founded in 2018, Cred started as a members-only app for credit card bill payments and has since expanded into UPI, lending, insurance and other financial products. It has also moved into newer offerings such as gold-backed credit cards and, more recently, biometric UPI authentication.
The BriefWire