Kunal Shah to Lead WhatsApp; Meta Backs CRED With $900M
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- Meta appointed CRED founder Kunal Shah to lead WhatsApp, succeeding Will Cathcart, who is stepping down after nearly seven years (since 2019) to take a new product-building role at Meta.
- Meta is leading a $900 million financing round in CRED through primary and secondary share purchases, valuing the fintech at about $4.5 billion post-money — below its 2022 peak of $6.4 billion but above the $3.6 billion round from May 2025.
- Kunal Shah will step down as CRED CEO while retaining his personal shareholding; CRED's strategy and finance head Miten Sampat, in the role since 2020, takes over as interim CEO immediately as the company works toward an eventual IPO.
- WhatsApp has 3 billion-plus global users with more than 500 million in India, its largest market, where CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Shah's "builder mentality and global perspective" can unlock the app's next phase of growth.
- WhatsApp Pay gained traction in India but the source notes it "struggled to replicate the scale and engagement" of local rivals PhonePe and Google Pay, leaving significant room in one of the world's largest payments markets.
- CRED, founded by Shah in 2018 after he previously built FreeCharge, has 17 million monthly active users and had raised more than $1 billion before this Series F; the new capital will fund its payments, lending, insurance, and wealth businesses.
Why it matters: Meta installed an India fintech operator — Shah built CRED to 17 million MAUs — to run WhatsApp, which has lagged PhonePe and Google Pay in payments. The $900M CRED round values it at $4.5B, still about 30% below its 2022 peak but up from $3.6B in May 2025.
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