In what seems to be the new-age funding playbook, Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta Platforms has put investments worth USD 900 million in Indian fintech startup CRED, valuing the venture at USD 4.5 billion, while tapping the company’s founder, Kunal Shah, in a surprising and high-profile move to head the popular messenger platform WhatsApp globally.
India has emerged as WhatsApp’s largest market, with the platform possessing more than 500 million users while expanding beyond messaging into payments and business services in the South Asian giant. As per Zuckerberg’s announcement, Will Cathcart, the current head of WhatsApp, will move to a new role within Meta after seven years leading the messaging service.
Announcing Shah’s appointment, Zuckerberg said, “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’s investment into Cred (formed in 2018) is also one of the largest into India’s fintech sector in recent years. While the valuation surpassed the USD 3.5 billion mark, registered by CRED in its last funding round in 2025, it came lower than its 2022 peak of USD 6.4 billion.
The deal gives Meta a minority stake in Bengaluru-based CRED without allowing the Silicon Valley tech giant access to CRED customer data. Talking about CRED, the latter operates a members-only platform for consumers with high credit scores, through which it offers products spanning payments, lending, insurance, wealth management, and lifestyle services.
As per the company, it serves 17 million members on a monthly basis, apart from processing more than 40% of India’s credit card bill payments and managing over 240 billion rupees (USD 2.5 billion) of lending assets for partner financial institutions.
While CRED will be using the freshly raised capital to accelerate its organizational growth, it will also strengthen its leadership and institutional capabilities, apart from expanding across product categories. Miten Sampat, who has led strategy and finance at CRED since 2020, has been appointed interim CEO.
Shah, who will be transitioning from fintech founder to the CEO of a popular global messaging platform, is known as an entrepreneur, angel investor, and one of the most influential figures in India’s startup ecosystem. He first came into prominence in 2009 by establishing a cashback promotions company, PaisaBack, which he later described as the key business model inspiring the formation of FreeCharge, which Shah, along with Sandeep Tandon, created in 2010.
In April 2015, Snapdeal announced the acquisition of FreeCharge in a cash-and-stock deal widely reported to be about 2,800 crore rupees (roughly USD 400–450 million). By 2022, as per the Mint, Shah was among India’s most active angel investors by number of deals during the year. Another 2021 Moneycontrol profile reported making more than 200 angel investments, including stakes in fintech companies such as Razorpay and BharatPe.
Shah, who also featured in Fortune India’s 40 Under 40 list in 2016, graduated with a degree in philosophy from Wilson College. He later got enrolled in an MBA program at Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies. However, he left the course midway to pursue entrepreneurship. Known best for his first-principles method of problem-solving, Shah’s interviews, speeches, and social media posts have earned him a cult status among Indian founders, investors, and business leaders.
Sha will be relocating to California’s Menlo Park, where he will work from Meta’s headquarters while shaping the future of WhatsApp.