Meta Platforms (META) has named Kunal Shah, the Indian entrepreneur, as the new head of WhatsApp, taking over from Will Cathcart, who is stepping down after nearly seven years to focus on product development within the company.
This leadership transition comes with a $900 million funding round led by Meta in the Indian fintech company CRED. This investment, which includes both new and existing share purchases, gives Meta a minority ownership stake in CRED, which is now valued at around $4.5 billion. Although Shah will resign as CRED's CEO, he'll keep his personal shares in the company.
Meta's move underscores how crucial India is for WhatsApp's growth. It's the platform's largest market, boasting over 500 million users, and plays a key role in Meta's plans to boost digital payments, commerce, and business messaging.
During his tenure since 2019, Cathcart has overseen major growth and rolled out features like Communities, Channels, and AI integrations. Still, WhatsApp's payment services have been facing tough competition in India from established players like PhonePe and Google Pay.
Shah launched CRED in 2018 after previously creating the digital payments platform FreeCharge, and he's well-known as a startup investor.
Meta is confident that his background in consumer technology and fintech will help propel WhatsApp into its next growth phase as it looks to branch out from just messaging.
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