CRED To Take On Zerodha? In Talks To Acquire Kuvera

SUMMARY

The acquisition talks are ongoing and a deal could be finalised in the coming weeks

Founded in 2016, Fidelity-backed Kuvera allows users to invest in Indian and US stocks, mutual funds, and fixed deposits

The development comes at a time when CRED, which reported a net loss of INR 1,347.4 Cr in FY23, has forayed into multiple new fintech services

Kunal Shah-led Cred is in talks to acquire investech platform Kuvera to enter the fast-growing stock and mutual fund broking market, currently dominated by the likes of Zerodha and Groww.

The acquisition talks are ongoing and a deal could be finalised in the coming weeks, TechCrunch reported.

Both Kuvera and CRED didn’t respond to Inc42’s queries on the development.

Founded in 2016 by Gaurav Rastogi, Neelabh Sanyal and Mayank Sharma, Kuvera allows users to invest in Indian and US stocks, mutual funds, and fixed deposits. It currently has assets under administration (AUA) of INR 51,500 Cr and over 2 Mn users. The startup reportedly has assets under management (AUM) of $1.4 Bn.

Kuvera last raised INR 37 Cr from Fidelity in September 2021. It has raised around $10 Mn in multiple rounds to date.

The acquisition talks come at a time when CRED, which initially started as a credit card payment platform, has forayed into several other fintech services.

Last month, the startup launched vehicle management platform CRED garage, which offers a single dashboard which includes priority access to concierge service, reminders, document management and insights on spending.

Over the past few years, CRED has launched multiple new products – curated travel platform CRED escapes, buy now pay later (BNPL) product Flash, tap to pay offering for retail payments, and scan & pay for UPI payments.

With the acquisition of Kuvera, CRED now wants to throw its hat in the ring of wealth management, where it will compete against giants such as bootstrapped unicorn Zerodha and Groww. INDMoney and Paytm Money are also present in the space. In August, GIC-backed PhonePe also announced the launch of its stock broking platform Share.Market.

Earlier today, Inc42 reported that Groww surpassed Zerodha in terms of active users as of September 2023. Groww had 6.63 Mn active investors at the end of September 2023 as against Zerodha’s 6.48 Mn.

CRED’s operating revenue rose to INR 1,400.6 Cr in FY23 from INR 393.5 Cr in FY22, while net loss saw a marginal rise to INR 1,347.4 Cr.