Draft:Prefr
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Comment: See WP:ORGTRIV and WP:NPOV Sulfurboy (talk) 22:39, 21 July 2026 (UTC)
| Formerly | Infocredit Services Private Limited (2012-2013) CreditVidya (2013-2022) |
|---|---|
| Type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Financial technology |
| Founded | May 29, 2012 |
| Founder | Abhishek Agarwal Rajiv Raj |
| Headquarters | Maharashtra, India |
| Products | Personal loans (Prefr app) B2B credit-scoring platform (CreditVidya) |
| Parent | CRED (Dreamplug Technologies Private Limited) |
| Website | prefr |
Prefr is an Indian financial technology company that offers unsecured personal loans directly to individuals through its mobile application. It operates as a Lending Service Provider (LSP) under the Reserve Bank of India's digital lending framework, with loans disbursed through regulated NBFC and bank partners.[1][2]
The company was incorporated in May 2012 as Infocredit Services Private Limited and operated under the brand CreditVidya from 2013, offering alternative credit-scoring services to banks and NBFCs.[3][4] In 2022, the company launched Prefr as a direct-to-consumer lending platform. In November 2022, CRED (Dreamplug Technologies Private Limited) acquired the company, and Prefr has since operated as a subsidiary of CRED.[5][6]
Products and services
[edit]Prefr (consumer lending application)
[edit]Prefr is a mobile application that offers unsecured personal loans directly to individual consumers in India. The application does not require applicants to have a CIBIL score; credit assessment instead relies primarily on banking transaction data.[1]
Loan amounts range from ₹10,000 to ₹5,00,000, with interest rates between 18% and 36% per annum and repayment tenures of 6 to 48 months. The application is available on Android and iOS and had over one million downloads on the Google Play Store as of 2024.[1][7]
Prefr operates as a Lending Service Provider (LSP) under the Reserve Bank of India's digital lending guidelines and does not hold a separate NBFC licence. Loans are disbursed through regulated NBFC and bank partners, including Poonawalla Fincorp, Aditya Birla Financial Solutions, and SMFG India Credit.[2]
CreditVidya (B2B credit-scoring platform)
[edit]CreditVidya was a business-to-business software-as-a-service platform used by lenders to assess the creditworthiness of applicants with limited or no formal credit bureau records. The platform drew on alternative data sources, including banking transaction history, payment behaviour, and device data, to generate credit risk assessments, incorporating more than 10,000 data points per applicant.[4]
As of 2022, more than 55 banks and NBFCs had used the platform, including Axis Bank, DBS Bank, IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank, IIFL, Tata Capital, and InCred.[4][8] CreditVidya also served as one of five initial NBFC technology partners for Xiaomi's Mi Credit personal loan service in India.[8] Following the acquisition by CRED, the CreditVidya B2B platform was transitioned away from active operations.[5]
Technology
[edit]Prefr uses an internal artificial intelligence and machine-learning platform called Medhas for credit underwriting, assessing creditworthiness using alternative and transactional data. The company also developed FeatGen, a natural language processing framework for processing unstructured financial data, which received a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office.[9][better source needed]
History
[edit]Founding (2012-2016)
[edit]Infocredit Services Private Limited was incorporated on 29 May 2012 in the state of Maharashtra, India, under the Companies Act.[3]
The company was co-founded by Abhishek Agarwal and Rajiv Raj, who had both previously worked at Experian PLC's India operations. Agarwal holds a degree in computer science and mathematics from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and London Business School.[10] Rajiv Raj has over two decades of experience in retail banking and SME lending and was part of the team involved in introducing bureau scoring to India through CIBIL.[better source needed]
The company launched publicly in 2013 under the brand name CreditVidya, offering an alternative credit-scoring service for borrowers who lacked sufficient credit bureau histories, a segment sometimes referred to as "new-to-credit" customers.[4]
Growth and funding (2016-2022)
[edit]In June 2016, CreditVidya raised $2 million in a Series A funding round led by Kalaari Capital.[11][12] In September 2017, the company raised a Series B round of $5 million led by Matrix Partners India (now Z47).[13] In January 2019, CreditVidya extended its Series B with an additional $3 million from Bharat Innovation Fund, a deep-technology venture fund affiliated with IIM Ahmedabad's CIIE, along with participation from Falcon Edge Capital.[14][15]
In 2019, CreditVidya entered into a partnership with CRIF High Mark, described by the companies as the first integration of its kind in India between an alternative data credit-scoring platform and a credit bureau.[16]
In March 2022, CreditVidya entered a partnership with Flipkart Wholesale to provide buy now, pay later credit facilities to approximately 150,000 merchants, backed by a capital pool of $100 million.[17]
Acquisition by CRED (2022)
[edit]On 29 November 2022, CRED announced the acquisition of CreditVidya in a combination of cash and stock. The specific financial terms were not disclosed publicly. CreditVidya's last known post-money valuation prior to the acquisition was approximately $30 million.[5][6]
CRED (Dreamplug Technologies Private Limited) is a Bengaluru-based fintech company founded by Kunal Shah, valued at approximately $6.4 billion at the time of the acquisition.[6][18]
Following the acquisition, Prefr continued to operate as a subsidiary of CRED, focusing on direct-to-consumer digital lending.[5]
Funding
[edit]| Round | Date | Amount | Lead investor(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Series A | June 2016 | $2 million | Kalaari Capital |
| Series B | September 2017 | $5 million | Matrix Partners India (now Z47) |
| Series B extension | January 2019 | $3 million | Bharat Innovation Fund, Falcon Edge Capital |
| Venture debt | December 2021 | Undisclosed | Stride Ventures |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Personal Loan". Prefr. Retrieved 2026-07-21.
- ^ a b "Lending Partners". Prefr. Retrieved 2026-07-21.
- ^ a b "Infocredit Services Private Limited". India Filings. Retrieved 2026-07-21.
- ^ a b c d "CreditVidya". LinkedIn. Retrieved 2026-07-21.
- ^ a b c d "CRED acquires CreditVidya". TechCrunch. 2022-11-29.
- ^ a b c "India's CRED set to acquire SaaS start-up CreditVidya". Fintech Futures. 2022.
- ^ "Prefr: Instant Personal Loan". Google Play Store. 2024.
- ^ a b "Digital Lending Partnership". DBS Bank India. Retrieved 2026-07-21.
- ^ "Personal Loan". Prefr. Retrieved 2026-07-21.
- ^ "Abhishek Agarwal". India AI. Retrieved 2026-07-21.
- ^ "CreditVidya raises $2 million in funding from Kalaari Capital". Business Standard. 2016-06-08.
- ^ "CreditVidya Portfolio Page". Kalaari Capital. Retrieved 2026-07-21.
- ^ "CreditVidya raises $5 mn in Series B from Matrix, Kalaari". Business Standard. 2017-09-07.
- ^ "CreditVidya raises extended Series B from Bharat Innovation Fund". Entrackr. January 2019.
- ^ "Bharat Innovation Fund led extended Series B in CreditVidya". Inc42. 2019.
- ^ "CRIF High Mark and CreditVidya seal first-of-its-kind partnership in India" (Press release). CRIF High Mark. March 2019.
- ^ "CreditVidya and Flipkart Wholesale collaborate to offer Buy Now Pay Later credit to merchants". India Info Line. March 2022.
- ^ "Matrix Partners India-backed CreditVidya acquired by CRED". Z47. 2022.
Category:Companies established in 2012 Category:Companies based in Maharashtra
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