Meta has named CRED founder Kunal Shah as WhatsApp’s next global CEO, succeeding Will Cathcart, who steps down after nearly seven years at the helm. Alongside the leadership change, Meta is investing $900 million in CRED through a Series H round structured as a mix of primary and secondary share purchases.
CRED is an Indian fintech platform Shah founded in 2018 to reward members for paying credit card bills on time. It has since expanded into lending, insurance, commerce, wealth management, and credit cards, processing over 40% of India’s credit card bill payments with 17 million monthly active members.
The round values CRED at a post-money valuation of $4.5 billion (Rs 43,239 crore), up from $3.6 billion in a May 2025 funding round but below its 2022 peak of $6.4 billion. The investment translates to roughly Rs 8,550 crore. Meta becomes a minority investor in CRED, with no access to member data, according to Shah.
Cathcart moves to a new product-building role within Meta after leading WhatsApp for nearly seven years. At CRED, Miten Sampat, who has headed strategy and finance since 2020, takes over as interim CEO with immediate effect. Shah steps down as CRED’s chief executive but retains his shareholding in the company.
India remains WhatsApp’s largest market, with more than 500 million users out of a global base exceeding 3 billion, making the appointment significant for Meta’s messaging and business-payments ambitions in the country.
Leave a Reply