Meta Platforms Inc. has appointed Cred founder Kunal Shah to lead WhatsApp as part of its ₹8,550 crore ($900 million) investment in the Indian fintech startup, according to an official announcement.
The investment gives Meta an approximately 20% stake in Cred, which operates an app that is known for rewarding users who pay their credit card bills on time. The deal values the company at roughly ₹42,600 crore ($4.5 billion) on a post-money basis, the press release stated.
Shah will replace the current boss of WhatsApp, Will Cathcart, who has been running the popular messaging service for roughly seven years.
“While it's come very far, the delta between WhatsApp today and its full potential is massive. I look forward to working with Mark, Chris, and the leadership across Meta for the next step in WhatsApp's journey,” Shah said, in response to the announcement of his appointment.
Cathcart, who oversaw a period in which WhatsApp’s user base more than doubled in size, will remain at Meta and transition to a new role focused on developing consumer apps and products powered by artificial intelligence, according to Bloomberg News.
The company has not disclosed details of his upcoming project. Bloomberg News reached out to a Meta spokesperson but they declined to comment further on Cathcart's next assignment.
WhatsApp is one of the world's largest messaging platforms and crossed 3 billion monthly users in 2025. While its user base has grown rapidly, Meta is still expanding newer businesses on the platform, including advertising and subscriptions, the news agency reported.
Building out those revenue streams, along with integrating AI agents into WhatsApp, will now fall to Shah, the 47-year-old founder of Cred. Shah was recruited by Meta’s Chief Product Officer Chris Cox, who was looking for an entrepreneur from a country where WhatsApp already enjoys deep user adoption. India is one of WhatsApp's largest market, with millions of users.
Cox called Shah “one of India's most respected entrepreneurs and a prolific voice for how the apps we build make a positive difference in people's lives,” according to a press release. Shah currently lives in Bangalore, but will relocate to the Bay Area to work out of Meta’s Menlo Park, California headquarters, a company spokesperson told Bloomberg News.
Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Meta, also commented on the development, saying: "Kunal Shah will join Meta as WhatsApp's next leader. 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 in running the world's biggest messaging app. I look forward to working with Kunal to continue to make WhatsApp the best service for billions of people and millions of businesses."
Meta has employed this investment-recruitment strategy to bring top entrepreneurs into the company.
Last year, the company invested over $14 billion into Scale AI and recruited its founder, Alexandr Wang, to take over Meta’s newly created AI lab.
