Hajra Naz
Meta is placing a giant bet on India when it outlines how WhatsApp will grow in the years ahead. The company has also announced that Kunal Shah, an entrepreneur now, will be at the helm of the messaging platform. He takes over from Will Cathcart, who is leaving after just about seven years leading WhatsApp. Cathcart stays at Meta, stepping into a new role focusing more on the product.
The leadership change comes alongside a major investment deal. Meta is leading a $900 million funding round for Indian fintech company CRED. The transaction includes both primary and secondary share purchases. Once completed, Meta will become a minority investor in the startup.
CRED also announced that Shah will step down as the company’s chief executive as part of the transition. However, he will continue to hold his personal stake in the business.
India is WhatsApp’s biggest market by far. The platform has more than 500 million users in the country. Those users represent a large portion of WhatsApp’s worldwide audience, which now exceeds 3 billion people. India has also become one of Meta’s most important markets for business messaging, digital commerce, and online payments. These areas are expected to play a major role in WhatsApp’s future growth strategy.
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Cathcart has been leading WhatsApp since 2019. During his tenure, the platform experienced significant growth and expanded its reach across the globe. WhatsApp also crossed the milestone of more than 100 million users in the United States under his leadership.
During those years, WhatsApp evolved beyond being a simple messaging app. The company launched several new products and features, including Communities, Channels, and various AI-powered tools. It also increased its focus on business communication services and tools for companies.
Despite those successes, WhatsApp’s efforts in digital payments have produced mixed results. WhatsApp Pay gained some momentum in India and attracted a growing user base. However, it has not been able to match the scale or engagement levels achieved by local payment leaders such as PhonePe and Google Pay. As a result, there is still considerable room for expansion in one of the world’s largest digital payments markets.
Cathcart has run WhatsApp since 2019. The platform grew substantially over the course of his time there and propelled it to an international audience. Under him, WhatsApp also surpassed 100 million users in the U.S. as well.
In those years, WhatsApp has grown from a simple messaging application. They introduced numerous products and features such as Communities, Channels, and multiple AI-powered tools. These were business comms services and tools for companies.
However, WhatsApp chat and digital payments may have produced contradictory results. Solutions that worked: WhatsApp Pay launched in India and gained some traction, along with its growing user base. That said, it has not seen anywhere the scale or user engagement of local payment leaders PhonePe and Google Pay. That leaves significant headroom for growth in one of the world’s most electrifying digital payments markets.
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Meta believes Shah’s experience could help close that gap. The company is betting that his deep understanding of Indian consumers and his track record of building successful internet businesses can help unlock WhatsApp’s next phase of growth.
In a statement announcing the appointment, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg praised Shah’s accomplishments. He said Shah had built CRED into one of India’s most influential technology companies. Zuckerberg also highlighted Shah’s builder mindset and global outlook, saying those qualities make him well-suited to lead the world’s largest messaging platform.
The move aligns with Meta’s larger vision for WhatsApp to extend the messaging app beyond its original use case. The company sees big opportunities for payments, e-commerce, and business communications. And at the center of those plans is India, with its billions of users and burgeoning digital economy.
Shah founded CRED in 2018. Furthermore, the fintech platform today serves roughly 17 million monthly active users. Shah previously founded FreeCharge, one of India’s earliest and most successful digital payments startups before CRED.
Beyond his duties as founder and operator, Shah has established a strong name for himself as one of the most active startup investors in India. He has been an investor in more than 250 startups and held advisory leadership roles across the technology and financial services ecosystems of the country.
After the round of funding, Meta has put a valuation on CRED at about $4.5 billion. That is a substantial increase from the company’s valuation of approximately US$3.6 billion, reached in May 2025 at the completion of a funding round. Still, this is shy of the $6.4 billion market cap CRED commanded in 2022 at its peak.
CRED raised over $1 billion in total funding from investors before its Series F financing.
Miten Sampat will act as an interim chief executive as part of the leadership transition. Since 2020, Sampat has contributed as CRED’s strategy and finance head and will take up the role effective immediately.
While Shah will no longer have day-to-day management responsibilities at the company, he will stay on as a shareholder. He will stay on during the transition phase to continue supporting the business.
CRED said its board and senior management team are preparing for a more formal management structure due to the company’s increasing proximity to an initial public offering (IPO). The funds will primarily be used to expedite growth in payments, lending, insurance, and wealth management services.
