Monthly Archives: January 2021

News: Discovery+ launches in the US today

• January 4, 2021
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The new year is kicking off with the launch of a new streaming service — Discovery+, which offers programming from Discovery’s networks including HGTV, Food Network, TLC, ID, OWN, Travel Channel, Discovery Channel and Animal Planet. Discovery+ actually launched in the United Kingdom and Ireland last fall through a deal with Sky, but the company

The new year is kicking off with the launch of a new streaming service — Discovery+, which offers programming from Discovery’s networks including HGTV, Food Network, TLC, ID, OWN, Travel Channel, Discovery Channel and Animal Planet.

Discovery+ actually launched in the United Kingdom and Ireland last fall through a deal with Sky, but the company is treating today as the big launch, as the service becomes available in the United States.

Despite the crowded field of competing streaming services (including the similarly named Disney+, ESPN+, Apple TV+ and upcoming Paramount+), Discovery+ is aiming to stand out with a focus on documentary and reality content — it bills itself as “the definitive non-fiction, real-life subscription streaming service.”

Plus, it’s priced at just $4.99 per month, or $6.99 if you want to go ad-free. And it will be free to some Verizon and Vodafone subscribers. (Verizon owns TechCrunch.)

At launch, original shows available on Discovery+ include several “90 Day Fiancé” spinoffs, “Amy Schumer Learns to Cook: Uncensored,” “Bobby and Giada in Italy” with Bobby Flay, “House Hunters: Comedians on Couches Unfiltered” (in which comedians watch classic episodes of “house Hunters”), the nature documentary “Mysterious Planet,” “Judi Dench’s Wild Borneo Adventure and a whole lineup of preview episodes for the upcoming Magnolia Network.

Discovery says the service includes more than 55,000 total episodes, with plans to launch 1,000 hours of original in the first year. And the content goes beyond Discovery-owned brands, with nature documentaries from the BBC and programming from A&E, The History Channel and Lifetime.

Discovery+ is available on Amazon Fire TV devices, iOS devices, Google TV/Android TV/Chromecast devices, Microsoft Xbox One and Series S/X, Roku and Samsung smart TVs (2017 and later models). The plan is to launch in 25 markets this year, including the Nordics, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, as well as parts of Latin America and Asia.

“As we go live with discovery+ today in the U.S., we are thrilled to be working with best-in-class partners to make it available everywhere our fans are,” said Discovery President and CEO David Zaslav in a statement. “Our ambition is simple: bring consumers the definitive and most complete destination for real life entertainment at a price point that makes this the perfect companion for every household’s streaming and TV portfolio. There is nothing like it in the market today.”

News: Hulu’s live TV service gains 14 new channels as result of ViacomCBS deal

• January 4, 2021
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A new agreement between Hulu and ViacomCBS will bring 14 new channels to Hulu’s live TV streaming service, while also renewing the deal that allows Hulu to carry various CBS broadcast stations and Showtime. According to ViacomCBS, the new multi-year distribution deal will for the first time allow Hulu + Live TV subscribers to stream

A new agreement between Hulu and ViacomCBS will bring 14 new channels to Hulu’s live TV streaming service, while also renewing the deal that allows Hulu to carry various CBS broadcast stations and Showtime. According to ViacomCBS, the new multi-year distribution deal will for the first time allow Hulu + Live TV subscribers to stream cable networks like BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, VH1, CMT, Nick Jr., TV Land, BET Her, MTV2, NickToons, TeenNick and MTV Classic.

With the Hulu agreement in place, the two top live TV streaming services available in the U.S. will now carry the ViacomCBS channel lineup. Hulu with Live TV is the largest of the two, with 4.1 million subscribers as of Disney’s Q4 earnings. Meanwhile, YouTube TV has 3 million subscribers, as of Alphabet’s Q4 earnings.

ViacomCBS had forged its agreement with Google-owned YouTube TV earlier in 2020, which introduced the same channel lineup and had allowed the streamer to keep carrying CBS broadcast stations and the premium subscription channel Showtime.

Hulu + Live TV will now also be able to continue to carry CBS stations including CBS Sports Network, Pop TV, Smithsonian Channel, and The CW, as well as Showtime.

Offering the ViacomCBS cable lineup to live TV streamers represents a different strategy than Viacom had in the past, before the 2019 merger with CBS. In previous years, it allowed a deal with Hulu to fall through as well as those with other streamers, like the now-shuttered PlayStation Vue. In the meantime, the company focused on more traditional carriage agreements with pay TV operators.

During its first full year as a newly combined company, ViacomCBS in 2020 has pursued a different course. It got the major carriage deals done with Comcast, Dish, Verizon (TechCrunch’s parent), Nextstar, Meredith, Cox and Sinclair, but it also hashed out agreements with YouTube TV and Hulu for incremental revenues.

For streaming service customers, however, these deals aren’t always welcome. While it’s nice to gain access to new channels, agreements like this have also resulted in increased subscription prices. YouTube TV, for example, hiked its price 30% in June 2020 due to the addition of the ViacomCBS channels.

Hulu had announced in November 2020 that it would also raise the prices of its Live TV service to $65 per month starting on Dec. 18, 2020, due to the rising costs of programming. It didn’t attribute the price hike to any specific deal at the time, but it now seems clear the ViacomCBS-led expansion of its Live TV service was a factor in that decision.

The ViacomCBS deals with YouTube TV and now Hulu do raise the question as to how the company plans to attract customers to its own forthcoming streaming service, Paramount+. The service, which will be an expanded and rebranded version of CBS All Access, is set to launch in 2021. Though ViacomCBS channels are not its only draw, they do make up a far bit of its offering, in addition to the library content, CBS channels, and original series, like the new “Star Trek” shows.

“We are excited to have reached an expanded agreement with Hulu that underscores the value of our powerful portfolio of brands to next-generation TV platforms and viewers,” said Ray Hopkins, President, U.S. Networks Distribution, ViacomCBS, in a statement about the new deal. “Hulu continues to be a great partner, and this agreement ensures that Hulu + Live TV subscribers are now able to enjoy the full breadth of our leading content across news, sports and entertainment for the first time.”

News: It’s not just you, Slack is struggling this morning

• January 4, 2021
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Slack did its best to ease the working world back into their jobs this morning by breaking, ensuring that everyone’s return to the grind would be as chaotic and unproductive as possible. Precisely when the downtime began is not clear, though problems amongst the TechCrunch staff began a little after ten o’clock in the morning.

Slack did its best to ease the working world back into their jobs this morning by breaking, ensuring that everyone’s return to the grind would be as chaotic and unproductive as possible.

Precisely when the downtime began is not clear, though problems amongst the TechCrunch staff began a little after ten o’clock in the morning. Slack itself posted at 10:14 am Eastern Time that there was a problem:

Downtime issues are not new for the workplace chat application that went public in mid-2019, before announcing a deal to sell itself to Salesforce towards the end of 2020. TechCrunch covered the service’s uptime issues in 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and so forth.

The downtime is embarrassing as Slack is in the midst of selling itself for a hefty check. For a service designed to help folks work, falling apart precisely when the users — customers! — you serve are trying to gear back up for a working year is simply awful.

I suppose we can call one another until Slack is back up.

To close, here’s the view from Redmond, with its competing Teams product:

Update: Slack sent TechCrunch a statement, saying the following:

“Our teams are aware and are investigating the issue. We know how important it is for people to stay connected and we are working hard to get everyone running as normal. For the latest updates please keep an eye on @slackstatus and status.slack.com.”

News: Teledyne to acquire FLIR in $8 billion cash and stock deal

• January 4, 2021
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Industrial sensor giant Teledyne is set to acquire sensing company FLIR in a deal valued at around $8 billion in a mix of stock and cash, pending approvals with an expected closing date sometime in the middle of this year. While both companies make sensors, aimed primarily at industrial and commercial customers, they actually focus

Industrial sensor giant Teledyne is set to acquire sensing company FLIR in a deal valued at around $8 billion in a mix of stock and cash, pending approvals with an expected closing date sometime in the middle of this year. While both companies make sensors, aimed primarily at industrial and commercial customers, they actually focus on different specialties that Teledyne said in a press release makes FLIR’s business complimentary to, rather than competitive with, its existing offerings.

FLIR’s technology has appeared in the consumer market via add-on thermal cameras designed for mobile devices, including the iPhone. These are useful for things like identifying the source of drafts and potential plumbing leaks, but the company’s main business, which includes not only thermal imaging, but also visible light imaging, video analysts and threat detection technology, serves deep-pocketed customers including the aerospace and defense industries.

Teledyne also serves aerospace and defense customers, including NASA, as well as healthcare, marine and climate monitoring agencies. The company’s suite of offerings include seismic sensors, oscilloscopes and other instrumentation, as well as digital imaging, but FLIR’s products cover some areas not currently addressed by Teledyne, and in more depth.

News: Venmo adds a check cashing feature, waives fees for stimulus checks

• January 4, 2021
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Venmo this morning announced it will begin to offer a new check cashing service, “Cash a Check,” in the Venmo mobile app. The feature, which is being rolled out to select users starting today, can be used to cash printed, payroll and U.S. government checks, including the new stimulus checks, the company says. Though typically

Venmo this morning announced it will begin to offer a new check cashing service, “Cash a Check,” in the Venmo mobile app. The feature, which is being rolled out to select users starting today, can be used to cash printed, payroll and U.S. government checks, including the new stimulus checks, the company says. Though typically there will be fees associated with the Cash a Check feature, Venmo says these are being waived on stimulus funds for a limited time.

To be eligible to use Cash a Check, Venmo customers will need to have either Direct Deposit or a Venmo Debit Card enabled on their account, location services turned on, and a verified email address.

Customers who gain access to the feature will then be able take a picture of their endorsed check and send it to the Venmo app to review, much like they would if cashing a check in a mobile banking app. The check will be reviewed in a few seconds, though in special circumstances, the review may take several minutes or even up to an hour before the approval decision is made.

If approved, the money will be immediately transferred to the customer’s Venmo account.

Venmo will temporarily waive fees on stimulus checks rolling out now and over the next couple of weeks, but eventually 1% fees will apply to any government or payroll check cashed in the app with a pre-printed signature, with a minimum fee of $5.00. Other checks, including hand-signed payroll and government checks, will have a 5% check cashing fee, or $5.00 minimum, according to PayPal’s terms.

At launch, the Cash a Check service is provided by partners First Century Bank, N.A. and Ingo Money, Inc. Ingo Money already offers a similar feature to Venmo parent company, PayPal, to allow users to cash checks in the PayPal app. 

“We’re always looking for new ways to make it easier for our community to access and manage their money, especially as people continue to experience financial hardships amidst the global pandemic,” said Darrell Esch, Venmo SVP and GM, in a statement about the new service.

“We know that with health and safety top of mind for many, having a safe way to access stimulus payments is essential for many of our customers, especially those who are receiving paper checks and traditionally would have to visit a physical check-cashing location,” he said. “By introducing the Venmo Cash a Check feature, we are not only enabling our customers to access their money quickly and safely from the comfort of their own homes but are also waiving all fees for cashing government issued checks to ensure customers can use their stimulus funds to pay for the things they need most,” he added.

The company’s move into check cashing doesn’t make the peer-to-peer payment app an alternative to online banking, however. Instead, it serves largely as a way for Venmo to benefit from the influx of stimulus payments that are rolling out now to its U.S. users.

Fintech companies have been scrambling to prove their worth to customers by offering faster and easier access to stimulus payments. Banking startups like Current and Chime, for example, began sending out payments to customers ahead of other traditional banking institutions.

In addition, the stimulus funds can help boost Venmo’s bottom line beyond just the fees it charges. As Venmo users gain access to their stimulus payments or payroll in the app, they may then use that money to make transactions with online merchants or with their Venmo debit card. This transactions allow Venmo to make money through transaction fees, as well.

Venmo said the feature is rolling out now to mobile app users on iOS and Android. The company recommends users download the latest version of the app and updated to the latest operating system on their mobile device for the best performance.

News: Equity Monday: Unionization at Alphabet, Tesla’s delivery achievement, and CRED raises $81M

• January 4, 2021
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Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.

This is Equity Monday, our weekly kickoff that tracks the latest private market news, talks about the coming week, digs into some recent funding rounds and mulls over a larger theme or narrative from the private markets. You can follow the show on Twitter here and myself here — and don’t forget to check out the second of our two holiday eps, the most recent looking at what we think might happen this year.

What did we get into today? A great question. Here’s the rundown:

• Tesla reported pretty strong deliveries, as did smaller electric vehicle companies. What the strong figures could mean for startups, however, remains to be seen.
• Bitcoin had a pretty good end to the year, which could bolster Coinbase’s impending IPO.
• Hundreds of workers at Alphabet want to unionize.
• Didi could go public this year, which means we could see a third ride-hailing company provide us access to its numbers. Please!
• CRED raised $81 million in a huge Series C. Our reporting indicates that the company is now worth more than $800 million.
• Disco, a legaltech startup, has raised $40 million in debt to cap off a $100 million round.
• And here’s the Seed link, as promised.

Mostly we’re still making sure that our brains still work and that the return of work really is here. Taking a break was nice. Now the news is coming back, so we are as well. Hugs, and chat Thursday.

News: Google and Snap in talks to invest in India’s ShareChat

• January 4, 2021
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ShareChat, an Indian social network which added Twitter as an investor in 2019, is in talks to add two more American giants to its captable. The Bangalore-based startup is in advanced stages of talks to raise money from Google and Snap, three sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The new financing round — a

ShareChat, an Indian social network which added Twitter as an investor in 2019, is in talks to add two more American giants to its captable.

The Bangalore-based startup is in advanced stages of talks to raise money from Google and Snap, three sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch.

The new financing round — a Series E — is slated to be larger than $200 million with Google alone financing more than $100 million in it, the sources said, requesting anonymity as the talks are private. The round values ShareChat at more than $1 billion, two of the sources said.

Twitter as well as a couple of other existing investors are also engaging to participate in the round. ShareChat, Google, and Snap did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ShareChat has raised about $264 million to date and was valued at nearly $700 million last year.

The terms of the deal could change and the talks may not materialize into an investment, the sources cautioned. Local TV channel ET Now reported last year that Google was in talks to acquire ShareChat.

ShareChat’s marquee and eponymous app caters to users in 15 Indian languages. In an interview with TechCrunch last year, Ankush Sachdeva, co-founder and chief executive of ShareChat, said the app was growing “exponentially” and that users were spending, on an average, more than 30 minutes on the app each day.

If the deal goes through, it would be the first investment from Snapchat’s parent company into an Indian startup. Google, on the other hand, has been on a spree of late. The Android-maker last month invested in DailyHunt and InMobi’s Glance, both of which operate short-video apps.

Like the two, ShareChat also operates a short-video app. Its app, called Moj, had amassed more than 80 million monthly active users as of September last year, the startup said at the time.

Last year, Google said it would invest $10 billion in India over the course of five to seven years. Days later, the company invested $4.5 billion in Indian telecom giant Jio Platforms.

More to follow…

News: UK judge denies US request to extradite WikiLeaks’ founder, Julian Assange

• January 4, 2021
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A UK district court judge has refused to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the US. In a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court this morning, Judge Vanessa Baraitser denied the extradition on grounds that Assange is a suicide risk and extradition to the US prison system would be oppressive, given the likely impact on his

A UK district court judge has refused to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the US.

In a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court this morning, Judge Vanessa Baraitser denied the extradition on grounds that Assange is a suicide risk and extradition to the US prison system would be oppressive, given the likely impact on his fragile mental health.

The US, which has been seeking to bring Assange to the country to put him on trial for conspiracy to hack as well as a number of charges under the controversial Espionage Act, has said it will appeal.

The case has been seen as a pivotal test of press freedoms and freedom of expression vs state power.

In the judgement Baraitser dismissed a number of other defence arguments against Assange’s extradition but concurred with clinical testimony that he is a suicide risk and that he possesses the intellect to circumvent measures that could be taken to prevent him taking his own life.

“I am satisfied that the risk that Mr. Assange will commit suicide is a substantial one,” she writes in the 132-page judgement, discussing the testimony of a number of psychiatrists during last year’s extradition hearing.

“I accept that oppression as a bar to extradition requires a high threshold. I also accept that there is a strong public interest in giving effect to treaty obligations and that this is an important factor to have in mind. However, I am satisfied that, in these harsh conditions, Mr. Assange’s mental health would deteriorate causing him to commit suicide with the “single minded determination” of his autism spectrum disorder.

“I find that the mental condition of Mr. Assange is such that it would be oppressive to extradite him to the United States of America,” she added.

The judgement orders Assange’s immediate release although at the time of writing the WikiLeaks founder remains in custody — pending a bail hearing.

The US has 14 days to lodge an appeal.

Assange, who (self) incarcerated in the Embassy of Ecuador in London between 2012 and 2019 to avoid a warrant against him, was arrested last year after Ecuador withdrew his diplomatic asylum.

He was found guilty in a UK court of breaching bail conditions and sentenced to 50 weeks.

The US immediately said it would seek his extradition on its separate roster of charges — which relate to how the WikiLeaks founder obtained and published classified information leaked to it by former army intelligence analyst and whistleblower, Chelsea Manning.

News: Google, Alphabet employees seek to form a union

• January 4, 2021
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A group of more than 200 Google and Alphabet workers have announced their efforts to form a union. With the help of Communication Workers of America Union’s Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE-CWA), the Alphabet Workers Union seeks to be open to both employees and contractors. Of the roughly 227 workers who have so far

A group of more than 200 Google and Alphabet workers have announced their efforts to form a union. With the help of Communication Workers of America Union’s Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE-CWA), the Alphabet Workers Union seeks to be open to both employees and contractors.

Of the roughly 227 workers who have so far signed on to support the union, they have all committed to set aside 1% of the yearly compensation to go toward union dues. The bulk of the workers who have signed on are mostly based in offices in the San Francisco Bay Area and one in Cambridge.

“This is historic—the first union at a major tech company by and for all tech workers,” Dylan Baker, a software engineer at Google, said in a statement. “We will elect representatives, we will make decisions democratically, we will pay dues, and we will hire skilled organizers to ensure all workers at Google know they can work with us if they actually want to see their company reflect their values.”

Efforts to unionize at Google and Alphabet come following the creation of unions at tech companies Kickstarter and Glitch early last year. Additionally, workers at HCL Technologies workers who contract for Google in Pittsburgh and tech company cafeteria workers in the Bay Area formed unions last year.

“You have an industry of workers — the new generation of workers and the industry, especially tech and games, has been growing exponentially with young people,” CODE-CWA union organizer Wes McEnany previously told TechCrunch about why we’re seeing more tech companies organize. “Some of them make a lot of money and are working at companies that do really bad things. I think they’re at a position socially where they’re like enough is enough.”

Google has been at the center of a plethora of labor issues over the past few years. Between the the Google walkout, the reported retaliation against organizers of the walkout and the recent departure of Dr. Timnit Gebru, it should come as no surprise that folks at the company decided to make their organizing efforts more official.

In a press release, workers also pointed to how more than half of the people who work at Alphabet companies are contract workers and therefore lack many benefits. Additionally, workers take issue with hefty payout packages to executives accused of harassment, as well as with some of the company’s government contracts, such a s the one around military drone targeting.

Meanwhile, just last month, the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against Google alleging the company violated parts of the National Labor Relations Act by surveilling employees, and generally interfered with, restrained and coerced employees in the exercise of their rights guaranteed by Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act.

The NLRB also alleges Google discouraged “its employees from forming, joining, assisting a union or engaging in other protected, concerted activities,” the complaint stated.

Those are just some of the reasons why workers want to unionize and gain the legal right to collectively bargain over workplace conditions. Still, there is a lot that needs to happen before Alphabet Workers Union fully comes into fruition. As of right now, the 227 or so workers still need to get other Google and Alphabet workers on board in order to reach a strong majority of people in favor the union. As of September 30, 2020, Alphabet employed 132,121 people. The next step is then seeking recognition from Alphabet.

That last part can be difficult. Case in point: Kickstarter. When workers asked for voluntary recognition from Kickstarter in 2019, the company’s leadership refused to do so, despite workers having majority support. Instead, Kickstarter leadership forced workers to have a formal election with the National Labor Relations Board. It all worked out for Kickstarter workers in the end but it took about ten months from going public with its efforts to being recognized as the Kickstarter Union. Once official, Alphabet Workers Union will be part of CWA Local 1400.

“This union builds upon years of courageous organizing by Google workers,” Nicki Anselmo, a program manager at Google, said in a statement. “From fighting the ‘real names’ policy, to opposing Project Maven, to protesting the egregious, multi-million dollar payouts that have been given to executives who’ve committed sexual harassment, we’ve seen first-hand that Alphabet responds when we act collectively. Our new union provides a sustainable structure to ensure that our shared values as Alphabet employees are respected even after the headlines fade.”

News: India’s CRED raises $81 million, buys back shares worth $1.2 million from employees

• January 4, 2021
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Bangalore-based CRED is kickstarting the new year on a high note. The two-year-old startup, led by high-profile entrepreneur Kunal Shah, said on Monday it has raised $81 million in a new financing round and bought shares worth $1.2 million (about 90 million Indian rupees) from employees. The Series C financing round, as first reported by

Bangalore-based CRED is kickstarting the new year on a high note.

The two-year-old startup, led by high-profile entrepreneur Kunal Shah, said on Monday it has raised $81 million in a new financing round and bought shares worth $1.2 million (about 90 million Indian rupees) from employees.

The Series C financing round, as first reported by TechCrunch in late November, was led by DST Global. Existing investors Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, and General Catalyst also participated in the round, and so did a few new names including Satyan Gajwani of Indian conglomerate Times Internet, Sofina, and Coatue.

The round gave CRED — which operates an eponymous app to reward customers for paying their credit card bill on time and offers deals from interesting online brands — a post-money valuation of $806 million.

In an interview with TechCrunch, Shah said that about 10 percent of CRED’s captable is currently allocated to employees and those who held vested stocks were eligible to sell up to 50% of their shares back to the startup in its first ESOP liquidity program. “We believe that startups should think about creating wealth for every shareholder, including employees.”

CRED has nearly doubled its customer base to about 5.9 million in the past year, or about 20% of the credit card holder base in India. The startup said that the median credit score of its customer was about 830, and about 30% of its customer base today holds a premium credit card. (On a side note, more than 50% of CRED customers pay their bills using UPI.)

CRED is one of the most talked about startups in India, in part because of the scale at which its valuation has soared and the amount of capital it has been able to raise in such a short period.

One of the biggest questions surrounding CRED today is just how it makes money, given how most fintech startups in the country today — and there are many of them — are struggling to find a business model.

Shah said CRED makes money by cross-selling financing products — for which it has a revenue-sharing arrangement with banks and other financial institutions — and levies a similar cut from merchants who are on the platform today. More than 1,300 brands including big names Starbucks, TAGG, Eat.Fit, Nykaa, and emerging premium direct-to-consumer brands such as The Man Company, Sleepy Cat, and Crossbeats have joined the platform in recent years.

Direct-to-consumer market in India is still in its nascent stage, though some estimates say it could be worth $100 billion by 2025.

“I don’t think we were very deliberate to make D2C happen. It just so happened that in the early days when we offered rewards for D2C brands, they started to see huge traction,” he said, adding that CRED drove more than 30% sales for some brands.

“We realized that we were able to solve the discovery problem for customers. We are approaching this with themes — work-from-home and coffee — and it’s working out well. We are now playing matchmaking role between customers and brands that otherwise had to spend a lot of money in marketing.”

One of the biggest propositions of CRED is that it has been able to court some of the most sought-after customers in India. Unlike many other startups and giants such as Google and Facebook, CRED is not going after the next billion users.

“About 20 million customers account for 90% of all online consumption in India. These are the customers we are focusing on,” said Shah, who previously ran financial services firm Freecharge and delivered one of the rare successful exits in the country. The core challenge in chasing customers in smaller cities and towns in India is that very few people have the financial capacity to buy things, Shah said.

For that model to work, the GDP of India — where the average annual income of an individual is about $2,000 — needs to grow. And for that, we need more participation from females, said Shah. Fewer than 10% of the female population in India are currently part of the workforce, compared to over 90% in China.

An interesting use case for CRED today is that it could potentially license data about the traction D2C brands are seeing on its platform to venture firms, who could use it as a signal to inform their investment decisions.

Shah cautioned that the startup is “extraordinarily sensitive about data” but said the team is thinking about ways to help venture firms discover these firms. “We are planning to create a newsletter to showcase many of these brands to the investor world,” he said.

And finally, will CRED launch a credit card? “Will we cross-sell every product that banks today offer? The answer is yes,” said Shah, though he cautioned that the startup is in no hurry to supercharge its offerings and will likely engage with other players in the industry to enable these services.