Cred founder Kunal Shah to lead WhatsApp as Meta invests ₹8,550 crore in fintech startup

Mumbai | 24 June 2026 

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. 

Meta’s stake values Cred at ₹42,600 crore 

The investment gives Meta an approximately 20% stake in Cred, which operates an app that rewards users for paying 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 current WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart, who has run the messaging service for roughly seven years. Cathcart oversaw a period in which WhatsApp’s user base more than doubled in size. He will remain at Meta and move to a new role focused on developing consumer apps and products powered by artificial intelligence. The company has not disclosed details of his upcoming project. 

Shah to lead WhatsApp’s next growth phase 

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. 

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 markets, with millions of users. 

What Meta’s leadership said 

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. 

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive of Meta, also commented on the development. He said Kunal Shah will join Meta as WhatsApp’s next leader, adding that Shah built Cred into one of India’s most important technology companies and brings the kind of builder mentality and global perspective that will serve him well in running the world’s biggest messaging app. Zuckerberg said he looks forward to working with Shah to continue making WhatsApp the best service for billions of people and millions of businesses. 

Outlook 

Meta has used investment linked recruitment to bring entrepreneurs into the company before. Last year, it invested over $14 billion into Scale AI and recruited its founder, Alexandr Wang, to lead Meta’s newly created AI lab. 

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 said. 

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