Meta Platform Inc. is investing $900 million in Indian fintech startup Cred, and has announced the appointment of its founder Kunal Shah as the new leader of WhatsApp.
Shah replaces current WhatsApp chief Will Cathcart, who has been running the popular messaging service for nearly seven years. He will step down from his current role at Cred.
Bloomberg reported that Cathcart, who saw WhatsApp’s user base more than double in size during his tenure, is staying at Meta but will step into a new role using artificial intelligence tools to develop consumer apps and products.
Kunal Shah was recruited by Chris Cox, chief product officer of Meta, who was looking for an entrepreneur from a country where WhatsApp already had a strong foothold.
Cox called Shah “one of India’s most respected entrepreneurs, a profound thinker and a very nice human being,” according to a statement shared by a Meta spokesperson. Shah is currently based in Bengaluru, but will be relocating to the Bay Area of the US to work from Meta’s Menlo Park, California, headquarters.
“Kunal brings a deep understanding of how WhatsApp is woven into people’s daily lives, along with a fresh perspective from outside Meta and the mindset of the founder who built WhatsApp in the first place,” Meta said in a statement announcing the move.
It describes him as “one of India’s most respected entrepreneurs” with a record of “creating products that appeal to mass audiences”.
Cathcart wrote on
Kunal Shah made a long post about his past career and future plans.
investment route for recruitment
The Cred investment gives Meta a roughly 20% stake in Cred, which operates an app that rewards customers for paying their credit card bills on time. According to a press release, the company is now valued at $4.5 billion post-money.
This investment represents a new chapter for WhatsApp, one of the world’s largest messaging platforms. The app has grown significantly in recent years, surpassing 3 billion monthly users in 2025, although it is still early in developing many new business lines, including advertising and subscriptions.
Building those revenue streams, as well as integrating AI agents into WhatsApp, will now be up to Shah, Cred’s 47-year-old founder.
Meta has employed this investment-recruitment strategy before to fill key leadership roles within the company. Last year, the company invested more than $14 billion in Scale AI and hired its founder Alexander Wang to take over Meta’s newly created AI lab.
“Kunal built Cred into one of India’s most important technology companies, and he brings the kind of builder mentality and global perspective that will serve him well at running the world’s largest massage app,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a post.
Meta’s statement read, “Chris Cox approached Kunal directly in search of a leader who understands the global product opportunity for WhatsApp and can represent the needs of the people who rely on it every day. A prolific writer and commentator, Kunal has long had strong views about how WhatsApp can become even more useful in people’s lives.”
what did kunal shah say
The statement quoted Kunal Shah as saying: “While it has come a long way, the gap between WhatsApp and its full potential remains huge. I look forward to working with Mark, Chris, and Meta’s leadership on the next step in WhatsApp’s journey.”
On his departure from CRED, he said, according to a statement from the company: “I started CRED in 2018 with the belief that credibility should be rewarded. In less than eight years, that belief has translated into a new category: millions of members,~ ₹₹3,200 crore (~US$325M) in revenue, profitability, a whole heap of licenses and a strong brand. On this basis, with additional capital and an exceptionally talented team, CRED is poised to become an enduring institution for decades to come. I step back with gratitude and confidence that the team will continue to raise its standards.”
Meta’s India focus
Meta has made several investments over the years in India, one of its most important markets and a key hub for WhatsApp. The social media giant invested $5.7 billion in Jio Platforms in 2020, taking a 10% stake in the company to help grow commerce on WhatsApp. It also announced a deal to lease its first AI data center in India earlier this month.
Founded in 2018, Cred offers consumers benefits and rewards associated with their credit card payments. Its app, which has 17 million monthly users, according to its website, can also analyze and track spending. The company last year raised $75 million in a Series G funding round led by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, according to IBS Intelligence.
According to the press release, as part of its investment, Meta will provide both primary and secondary capital, meaning it will purchase shares from some of Cred’s existing investors.
what happens next in cred
Shah will join Meta full-time, moving from Cred, although he will remain a shareholder. Miten Sampath, the executive who leads the company’s strategy, will take over as interim CEO while the board reviews Cred’s leadership structure with an “eventual IPO in mind,” the press release said.
According to the Indian company, Meta is not taking a board seat and will not get access to Cred customer information.
Miten Sampath, interim CEO of CRED, said 17 million creditworthy Indians trust CRED to improve their relationship with money. “We have a generational opportunity to carry forward Kunal’s vision and continue to move toward becoming a public company. I’m excited to lead CRED into its next chapter. We’re just getting started.”
(Bloomberg inputs)
