CRED raises $140m in new funding round, its fourth financing in the past year and a half, as the Indian fintech startup woos millions of high-credit customers and expands its offers.

GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, is leading the Bengaluru-based startup’s Series F funding round, which includes a secondary transaction, the startup announced on Thursday evening. Existing backers Tiger Global, Sofina Ventures, Alpha Wave Ventures and Dragoneer also participated in the funding, which values ​​CRED at $6.4 billion, up from $2.2 billion in April last year and $4 billion dollars in October.

CRED began having preliminary conversations with a group of investors for this round last year, TechCrunch reported earlier. (At the time, the proposed valuation was around $5.5 billion. CRED disputed this report.)

The investment comes at a time when CRED is finalizing the acquisition of Smallcase, an Amazon-backed startup. Early in the deliberation, CRED sought to invest in Smallcase instead of acquiring it, TechCrunch reported earlier this year.

A CRED spokesperson declined to comment on a deal with Smallcase.

The acquisition of Smallcase, which operates a platform to help a new generation of investors participate in Indian stock markets, should enable CRED to supercharge its offers to customers.

The startup, founded by fintech veteran Kunal Shah, helps and incentivizes individuals (by offering rewards such as cashback) to improve their credit score by encouraging them to pay their credit card bills on time. Over the past year and a half, CRED has significantly expanded its offering.

The startup today offers its customers discounts at high-end hotels and gives them access to dozens of high-end, direct-to-consumer brands. Last year, it also launched Mint, a peer-to-peer lending service that allows customers to lend to others on the platform at an “inflation-beating” rate.

The funding comes at a time when the Indian startup ecosystem, like those elsewhere, is experiencing a sharp reversal in pricing and the frequency of funding rounds. Venture capitalists have held back writing new checks as they become cautious in the face of declining global market conditions.