Meta Taps CRED Founder Kunal Shah To Lead WhatsApp As Will Cathcart Steps Down

Meta is making one of its biggest WhatsApp leadership changes in years, with longtime WhatsApp head Will Cathcart stepping down and CRED founder Kunal Shah set to lead the messaging platform globally.

TL;DR

• Will Cathcart is stepping down after leading WhatsApp for more than seven years.
• Kunal Shah, founder of Indian fintech startup CRED, will move to Meta’s global leadership team and lead WhatsApp.
• Meta is investing around $900 million in CRED’s Series H round, valuing the fintech company at about $4.5 billion post-money.
• CRED said Meta will join as a minority investor and will not receive access to CRED customer information.

Meta has confirmed a major leadership reshuffle at WhatsApp, as Will Cathcart steps away from the top role after more than seven years leading the messaging service.

Cathcart will remain within Meta and move into a new role focused on building new products from the ground up, according to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Kunal Shah, the founder of Indian fintech startup CRED, will take over WhatsApp’s global leadership at a time when the platform is expanding beyond consumer messaging into business services, payments, AI features, and new monetization models.

The leadership change arrives alongside Meta’s investment in CRED, which announced that it will raise ₹8,550 crore, around $900 million, in a Series H round led by Meta. The round values CRED at ₹43,239 crore, around $4.5 billion, post-money, and ₹38,819 crore, around $4.03 billion, pre-money.

CRED said the round will be structured through a combination of primary and secondary share purchases. The company also clarified that Meta will become a minority investor and will not get access to CRED customer information, a key point given the sensitivity around payments, lending, and financial data.

Founded by Shah in 2018, CRED has built a members-focused financial platform spanning payments, lending, insurance, wealth, and lifestyle services. The company said it now has 1.7 crore, or 17 million, monthly members, processes over 40% of India’s credit card bill payments, and manages more than ₹24,000 crore, around $2.5 billion, in lending AUM for partner financial institutions.

Shah will step away from his operating role as CRED CEO while retaining his personal shareholding in the company. Miten Sampat, who has driven CRED’s strategy and finance since 2020, will take over as interim CEO with immediate effect. CRED also said its board and leadership are working on the right structure for an eventual IPO.

“I started CRED in 2018 with a belief that creditworthiness deserves to be rewarded,” Shah said, adding that CRED had grown into a new category with millions of members, profitability, licenses, and a strong brand. He added, “I’m stepping back with gratitude and with conviction that the team will keep raising the bar.”

Sampat said, “1.7 crore creditworthy Indians trust CRED with improving their relationship with money,” adding that the company has a “generational opportunity” to build on Shah’s vision and move toward becoming a public company.

For Meta, the move underlines India’s importance to WhatsApp. Reuters reported that India is WhatsApp’s largest market, with more than 500 million users, and that the platform is expanding in the country across payments and business services.

WhatsApp’s own positioning remains centered on simple, reliable, private messaging and calling, while its business offerings help companies reach customers globally and build relationships through the platform. The leadership transition now puts Shah, one of India’s best-known consumer fintech builders, in charge of guiding the next phase of one of Meta’s most important global products.