CRED vs Deel: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
CRED had ~$317.3M of annual revenue in FY2025 and a net loss of ~$169M. A full-year revenue figure is unavailable here for Deel.
Latest financial snapshot
Financial summary
CRED
CRED's revenue has climbed from ~$11 million (₹95 crore) in FY21 and ~$49 million (₹422 crore) in FY22 to ~$172 million (₹1,484 crore) in FY23 (total income), ~$287 million (₹2,473 crore) in FY24 and ~$317 million (₹2,735 crore) in FY25. Growth slowed to 16% in FY25, but the company cut its operating loss by 51% to ~$34.6 million (₹298 crore) and reported gross margins of about 70%. Total loss, which includes ESOP costs and depreciation, narrowed 11.5% to ~$169 million (₹1,457 crore). Funding history tracks the same arc: the valuation peaked at $6.4 billion in 2022, fell to about $3.5 billion in a $72 million GIC-led round in May 2025, and recovered to about $4.5 billion post-money when Meta led a $900 million Series H in June 2026 (roughly $500 million primary and $400 million secondary). Kunal Shah said at the time that annual revenue had crossed ~$371 million (₹3,200 crore), without naming the period.
Deel
Deel is private and does not publish audited financials, but it discloses ARR milestones. ARR rose from about $57 million at the end of 2021 to $295 million at the end of 2022 (TechCrunch), $800 million by December 2024, more than $1 billion by June 2025, and more than $1.5 billion in the first half of 2026. Deel says it recorded its first $100 million revenue month in September 2025 and describes itself as profitable, without disclosing margins. Funding includes a $425 million Series D at $5.5 billion (October 2021), a $12 billion valuation in May 2022, a $12.6 billion secondary sale in early 2025, and a $300 million Series E at $17.3 billion (October 2025) led by Ribbit Capital with Andreessen Horowitz and Coatue. In November 2025 it hired former Intuit executive Joe Kauffman as CFO, a move widely read as IPO preparation.
Revenue and profit by year
Where the revenue comes from
CRED
- Lending distribution
Not formally reported
Fees on CRED Cash personal loans and other credit underwritten by partner banks and NBFCs.
- Payments
Not formally reported
CRED Pay checkout, UPI and bill payments, where merchants and partners pay processing or marketing fees.
- Financial product distribution
Not formally reported
Insurance, mutual funds through Kuvera and other products.
- Brand partnerships and commerce
Not formally reported
Advertising, rewards and the CRED Store. Total revenue was ~$317 million (₹2,735 crore) in FY25.
Deel
- Employer of Record (EOR) fees
Not disclosed
Monthly per-employee fees (list price from $599) for employing staff abroad through Deel's local entities.
- Contractor management subscriptions
Not disclosed
Monthly per-contractor fees (from $49) for contracts, compliance, and payouts; Deel Shield is priced on top.
- Global Payroll and HR modules
Not disclosed
Per-employee fees for payroll on clients' own entities, plus paid HR, immigration, and PEO services.
- Deel IT, payouts, and FX
Not disclosed
Equipment provisioning fees and income from currency conversion and worker payout products such as the Deel Card.
Business model and strategy
CRED
How it makes money
Paying a credit card bill on CRED is free, and members earn CRED Coins and rewards for doing it. The bill-pay habit is the acquisition engine; revenue comes from what CRED sells to that audience. The largest streams are: (1) lending distribution, where CRED acts as a lending service provider and earns fees on CRED Cash personal loans and other credit underwritten by partner banks and NBFCs;
Growth strategy
CRED grows by selling more products to the same affluent members rather than chasing mass sign-ups. Bill payments bring users in; lending (CRED Cash), UPI and CRED Pay drive frequency; insurance, Kuvera mutual funds and travel raise revenue per user. Acquisitions have filled gaps: HipBar (a prepaid payment licence) and Happay in 2021, CreditVidya for underwriting data in 2022, and Kuvera for wealth in 2024.
Competitive advantage
CRED's edge is the quality of its audience. Membership is gated by a 750+ credit score, so every user is a proven, card-holding borrower. That makes CRED an efficient channel for lenders, insurers and premium brands, who pay to reach customers with high spending power and low default risk.
Deel
How it makes money
Deel sells recurring, per-worker services. When a company wants to hire someone in a country where it has no legal entity, Deel's local entity becomes the Employer of Record: it signs the employment contract, runs payroll, withholds taxes, and provides statutory benefits, while the client directs the work and pays Deel one invoice.
Growth strategy
Deel is expanding from international hiring into running payroll and HR for a company's whole workforce. Levers include Global Payroll for clients' own entities (strengthened by buying Safeguard Global's enterprise payroll business in March 2025), domestic US payroll and PEO services, a free HRIS that pulls in small and mid-size companies, and acquisitions;
Competitive advantage
Deel's advantage is owned coverage plus product breadth. It operates its own entities and payroll capability in most of the countries it serves, so it can onboard workers quickly and control compliance instead of relaying work to local partners.
Questions about CRED vs Deel
Which company has higher revenue — CRED or Deel, Inc.?
CRED had ~$317.3M (FY2025). A comparable annual revenue figure for Deel, Inc. was unavailable here.
How does revenue per employee compare for CRED and Deel, Inc.?
CRED generates $264k / employee in revenue per employee. A comparable figure for Deel, Inc. requires matching employee and revenue data from the same reporting period.
How do CRED and Deel, Inc. make money?
CRED and Deel, Inc. generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. CRED: Paying a credit card bill on CRED is free, and members earn CRED Coins and rewards for doing it. Deel, Inc.: Deel sells recurring, per-worker services.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the CRED vs Deel overview