MENLO PARK, California — Meta Platforms has appointed Indian fintech entrepreneur Kunal Shah to lead WhatsApp, the company announced this week, marking a major leadership change at one of the world's largest messaging platforms. Shah, founder of Bengaluru-based fintech company CRED, will succeed Will Cathcart, who is stepping down after nearly seven years overseeing the service and will move to a new product-building role within Meta.
The appointment was announced on Monday alongside Meta's plan to invest about $900 million in CRED through a minority stake transaction, according to company statements and reports by Reuters. Shah is expected to leave his executive position at CRED while remaining a shareholder in the company.
Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg praised Shah's track record as an entrepreneur in announcing the move.
"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," Zuckerberg said in a statement.
Shah is best known for founding CRED in 2018 after previously building payments startup FreeCharge, which was acquired by Indian e-commerce company Snapdeal. He has also been an active investor in Indian technology startups.
The leadership transition comes as WhatsApp continues expanding beyond personal messaging into business communications, digital payments and commerce services. India is WhatsApp's largest market, with more than 500 million users, making the country central to Meta's efforts to grow revenue from the platform.
Reuters reported that Meta executives viewed Shah's experience in consumer payments and financial technology as relevant to WhatsApp's ambitions in financial services and commerce, particularly in markets such as India, Brazil and Indonesia.
Under Cathcart's leadership, WhatsApp's global user base expanded to more than 3 billion users, according to Meta. The platform also introduced a range of privacy, business messaging and artificial intelligence-related features during his tenure.
Meta said Cathcart will remain with the company in a new role, while CRED's strategy and finance head, Miten Sampat, will serve as interim chief executive as the fintech company reviews its long-term leadership structure.
