Hello everyone, 

Welcome to the 128th edition of The Pattern, a weekly where we dive into the latest from the world of technology, finance and economy. Let’s get started. 

As a marketing professional in fintech, Cred is hard to ignore. Its strong branding game, legendary UI/UX, and accumulation of a loyal fanbase (built on and extending beyond founder Kunal Shah’s repute) is one for the books!  

And like many brands that have been subject to constant media spotlight, the brand has had its share of critics – with some on the sidelines dismissing it as overvalued and questioning its business model. This week, however, has put some of the criticism to rest (for a while, anyway). The fintech has reported a 66% rise in revenue in FY24, coupled with an 41% dip in losses! These impressive numbers urged me to look beyond the sheen of Cred’s branding. So off came my user/marketing lens as I donned my fintech hat! So here it is, a dissection of what I think Cred, the fintech is doing right:  

The bread and butter: Diversified use of Embedded Finance  

We’ve seen many a fintech / platform claim to be an all-in-one financial solution. But few have nailed this proposition like Cred has. The platform offers diverse financial offerings, with three products bringing in 90% of its revenue.  

• Payments: Today, Cred is the fourth largest UPI payments app ! It clocked 147 million payments in August, settling transactions worth ~INR 50,720 crore. In fact, the app has a higher average ticket size (INR 3,000) compared to its bigger UPI counterparts (INR 1,200-1,500)! This year saw a year-on-year surge of 55% in payments volume.  

• Lending (institutionalised): Credit is home ground for Cred, thanks to its entry into the market as a credit card management app for prime and sub-prime borrowers. The fintech’s second act in the credit space came in 2020 with paperless credit line offerings. By 2022, Cred had a INR 6000 crore-worth loan book. Today it is speculated to stand at ~INR 15,000 crore.  

• Insurance: A more recent addition to its offerings, Cred offers motor insurance payment and renewal services via Cred Garage. As of FY24, the platform manages 42 lakh vehicles, by September, this number has bumped up to 60 lakh. With its penchant for offering financial services for unique use cases (eg: Cred Garage), I wonder if the fintech may diversify (and bring in a unique flavour to) its insurance offerings beyond motor. Travel insurance, for starters, seems like a perfect fit (given that the platform also dabbles in the segment already with Cred Escapes). 

Apart from the above services, Cred also offers P2P lending services. Furthermore, with Cred Mint in the works, the platform will soon serve as an investment platform too.  

A solid foundation: Built on and Digital Public Infrastructure  

What fascinates me most about Cred (beyond marketing, of course) is its unique use of DPI. Take the platform’s use of Digilocker, for example: the document verification tool serves a simple use-case of digital document storage in its all-in-one vehicle management feature (Cred Garage). Similarly, Fastag doubles as both a tool booth fee recharge feature as well as a vehicle expense tracking mechanism. Then, of course, there’s the use of Account Aggregator to monitor users’ financials on Cred Money !  

Cred’s evolution as a fintech has indeed been a pleasure to watch. What began as a product positioned as an exclusive credit card-management club has now become true-blue financial super-app! While its branding and CX game has undoubtedly won hearts (and loyal users), it has managed to deliver on its promise with robust tech-use! It’s a perfect blend of marketing, UI/UX, technology, and DPI. Now, that’s what I call a product done right!  

This is all for this week. I will see you next week. As always, leaving some reading recommendations below. 

Reading List:  

• Early warning system: Why NBFCs must act now to keep the wells from running dry  

• Consumer-lending fintechs report surging numbers in FY24; slowdown emerging in current fiscal  

• India: The Next Frontier For Global Startups  

• ULI’s cyber risks  

Thank you for reading. If you liked this edition, forward it to your friends, peers, and colleagues. You can also connect with me on Twitter  here  and follow  FinBox on LinkedIn  to always get all updates. 

Cheers, Mayank