Meta gets Kunal Shah to lead WhatsApp globally, but what's next for Cred?

Cred founder Kunal Shah on Monday stepped down as CEO of the fintech startup to take over as the global head of WhatsApp, marking a major leadership transition for the company as it also secures a ₹8,550 crore (approximately $900 million) investment from Meta.

The deal deepens Meta's presence in India's fintech sector while opening a new chapter for Cred without its founder at the helm.

With fresh funding, a new interim CEO and plans to eventually go public, the startup best known for rewarding users for paying their credit card bills on time must now prove it can continue to grow without its founder in charge.

Meta's stake in Cred

Meta's investment in Cred is structured through a combination of primary capital and secondary share purchases from existing investors, giving Meta a roughly 20% minority stake in the fintech startup.

Cred's valuation stands at ₹38,819 crore ($4.03 billion). Now that Meta will invest in the company, the company's post-money valuation will be ₹43,239 crore ($4.5 billion). The Indian company has also said that Meta will come as a minority investor and will not receive access to Cred's customer data.

The Series H fundraising round will fuel Cred's plans to accelerate growth, build institutional muscle and extend its leadership across categories.

PeakXV Partners MD Shailendra Singh, who backed Cred at the seed stage, said the company "has created a category, amassed millions of highly engaged users, and built a sound economic engine”, and expressed confidence it would "go from strength to strength in the years ahead”.

Kunal Shah's exit from the firm he built from scratch

Shah, who started Cred in 2018 on the simple premise that creditworthiness should be rewarded, said the company has grown over the past eight years into something far more durable. He added that Cred is now ready for its next phase.

“In under eight years, that belief has turned into a new category: millions of members, ~ ₹3,200 crore in revenue, profitability, a full stack of licences and a strong brand,” he said in an official statement.

Shah will replace the current boss of WhatsApp, Will Cathcart, who has been running the popular messaging service for roughly seven years.

WhatsApp is one of the world's largest messaging platforms, crossing 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. Building out those revenue streams and integrating AI agents into WhatsApp will now fall to Shah.

The Cred founder 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 WhatsApp's largest market, with millions of users.

Who will lead Cred for now?

Though Shah is joining Meta in a full-time position, he will continue to remain a shareholder in Cred. Meanwhile, Miten Sampat, who has been leading strategy and finance at the company, will take over as interim CEO with immediate effect, announced Shah.

“We have a generational opportunity to build on Kunal's vision and compound consistently towards becoming a public company,” Sampat said. "I'm excited to take CRED forward in its next chapter. We are just getting started.”

CRED eyes eventual IPO

Alongside the latest changes, the company's board is reviewing its broader leadership structure, with the stated goal of preparing Cred for an eventual IPO.

“The board and leaders are in the process of constituting the right leadership structure towards eventual IPO," the company said in a statement.

Cred processes over 40% of credit card bill payments in India and its lending book has grown to ₹24,000 crore in managed assets under management. The platform has 1.7 crore monthly active users, all of whom have high credit scores. This positioning has allowed it to command the highest average revenue per user in India's payments ecosystem, the company said.

Heightened competition in UPI segment

The leadership transition comes at a time when competition in India's UPI segment is intensifying, with players such as PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm, Navi, BHIM, super.money and WhatsApp Pay vying for market share.

Cred, which started with credit card bill payments and later expanded into UPI and lending, has been trying to prove that it can stay relevant as the market becomes more crowded. This competition is particularly noteworthy given that WhatsApp Pay, now under Shah's leadership, is also trying to gain traction.

According to NPCI data for May 2026, WhatsApp Pay ranked ninth in UPI transaction volume, just behind CRED in eighth place. Meta’s investment in Cred and Shah’s move to WhatsApp bring together two platforms seeking growth in digital payments: one built by a fintech startup and the other backed by one of the world's largest messaging apps.