Fintech platform CRED in talks to acquire Dineout, Wint Wealth

Kunal Shah-led fintech platform CRED is in talks to acquire two startups - Dineout and Wint Wealth, as it seeks to offer more services to its over 7.5 million users.

While Times Internet-owned Dineout helps users discover restaurants, offers discounts and complimentary dishes with Dineout Passport, Wint Wealth is an alternate investment platform which offers users better stable returns than a Fixed Deposit but less than the stock market.

Wint's investors include Zerodha's Rainmatter Capital fund, CRED's Shah, Better Capital and Raise Financial's Pravin Jadhav as investors. The Dineout deal is pegged at a valuation of $25-50 million, while Wint Wealth could be acquired for about $50 million

To be sure, these talks are at an early stage and a deal is not certain, although the discussions do signify both CRED's ambitions and its financial ammunition. When contacted, Dineout co-founder and CEO Ankit Mehrotra denied the development and said there is no such conversation taking place. Wint Wealth founder and CEO Ajinkya Kulkarni too categorically denied any talks of a sale. A CRED spokesperson declined to comment on what they termed speculation

CRED's talks to acquire these startups comes weeks after it raised $251 million, doubling its valuation to $4 billion in barely six months. It started out in 2018 as a credit-card payment platform rewarding users with points for paying their bills but has since added products such as rent payments and personal loans, as it seeks to become a full-fledged financial services provider.