Meta has appointed the founder of fintech platform CRED, Kunal Shah, as the global CEO of the messaging platform, WhatsApp.
Shah will retain his personal shareholding in CRED and the firm will raise ₹8,550 crore (approximately $900 million) in a funding round led by Meta, the Bengaluru-headquartered company said in a statement.
"Team CRED, I'll still expect you to be a 10x version of yourselves. As for me, I'll be joining Meta to lead WhatsApp globally. While it's come very far, the delta between WhatsApp today and its full potential is massive," mentioned a post by Shah on X (formerly Twitter).
Talking about his personal milestones, Shah mentioned how, between 2015 and 2018, he exited FreeCharge and launched CRED to reward people for paying credit card bills on time.
He also mentioned how the CRED community grew from 0 to 17M members between 2019 and 2025. During this period, he raised more than $900 million from global investors, did 4 ESOP buybacks, received a full stack of regulatory licences and more. In 2026, CRED announced its 5th ESOP buyback and raised another $900M from Meta in primary and secondary capital.
"Kunal Shah will join Meta as WhatsApp's next leader. Kunal built CRED into one of India's most important technology companies, and he brings the kind of builder mentality and global perspective that will serve him well in running the world's biggest messaging app. I look forward to working with Kunal to continue to make WhatsApp the best service for billions of people and millions of businesses," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post.
Miten Sampat has been appointed as the interim CEO with immediate effect. He has been heading strategy and finance for the company since 2020.
"CRED will raise Rs 8,550 crore (~USD 900 million) in its Series H round led by Meta, as part of its acceleration plans, structured through a combination of primary and secondary share purchases. CRED will raise this round at a post-money valuation of Rs 43,239 crore (USD 4.5 billion) and a pre-money valuation of Rs 38,819 crore (USD 4.03 billion). Under the terms of the investment, Meta will join the CRED cap table as a minority investor and will not receive access to CRED customer information," the company said.
According to CRED, it currently processes over 40 per cent of credit card bill payments in India, with 1.7 crore members engaging with the platform monthly.
