The current CEO of WhatsApp, Will Cathcart, reported in a post on the X platform that Kunal Shah, founder of Indian fintech company CRED, will take over as the new CEO of the Meta-owned app.
This announcement comes after CRED announced its intention to raise about $900 million from Meta.
This investment gives Meta a nearly 20% stake in CRED, which operates an application that rewards customers for paying credit card bills on time, according to a report by Bloomberg, viewed by Al Arabiya Business.
According to a press release, the company is currently valued at $4.5 billion after these investments.
Cathcart ran the popular messaging service for about seven years. Cathcart, who doubled the number of WhatsApp users during his tenure, will remain at Meta, but will move to a new role in which he will use artificial intelligence tools to develop applications and products for consumers.
This investment represents a new chapter for WhatsApp, one of the world’s largest messaging platforms.
The app has achieved significant growth in recent years, exceeding 3 billion monthly users by 2025, although it is still in the early stages of developing several new business lines, including advertising and subscriptions.
Shah, the 47-year-old founder of Cred, will be responsible for developing these revenue streams, as well as integrating AI agents into WhatsApp.
Shah was recruited by Chris Cox, chief product officer at Meta, who was looking for an entrepreneur from a country where WhatsApp had a strong presence.
Cox described Shah as “one of India’s most respected entrepreneurs, a serious thinker, and a remarkable person,” according to a statement from a Meta spokesperson.
The spokesperson added that Shah currently resides in Bangalore, but will move to the San Francisco Bay Area to work from Meta’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California.
