WhatsApp finds its next CEO in India’s Kunal Shah

WhatsApp-parent company Meta has announced a major leadership shakeup, naming Kunal Shah as the new Head of WhatsApp. Shah, the founder and CEO of the Indian fintech giant CRED, succeeds Will Cathcart, who has led WhatsApp through its most significant period of global growth since 2019. Cathcart will remain at Meta to transition Shah into the role before taking on a new position focused on building next-generation products from the ground up.

Read Kunal Shah's full post on LinkedIn

It’s been a minute. 2015–2018- Exited FreeCharge. Spent time learning and investing.- Pondered about: Why can't trust be rewarded? Started with $1M of personal capital.- Launched CRED to reward people for paying credit card bills on time.2019–2025- Built a system run by a team that values ownership, judgment, and craft.- Grew from 0 to 17M members by aligning incentives with behaviour.- Built several products during COVID lockdowns.- Raised $900M+ from global investors. Did 4 ESOP buybacks.- Made Indiranagar and IPL ads slightly more interesting. - Received a full stack of regulatory licences.- Lost 35 kilos.- Scaled from 0 to ~$325M ( ~₹3,200 crore) in annual revenue across payments, lending, insurance, commerce, wealth, and credit cards.2026- First profitable quarter (yet occasionally asked what our business model is)- Raised another $900M from Meta in primary and secondary capital.- Announcing our 5th ESOP buyback.TodayCRED is ready for its next phase. I am stepping back and Miten Sampat steps in as interim CEO, partnered with an incredibly talented team. He has been heading strategy and finance and suffering me since 2020. I’m stepping away from the operating role and will continue as a shareholder. My commitment doesn’t change. Just the role. Extremely grateful to our members, partners, regulators, and investors who made this possible. And to our board, Shailendra, Micky, Saurabh for their extraordinary conviction. Team CRED, I’ll still expect you to be a 10x version of yourselves.As for me, I’ll be joining Meta to lead WhatsApp globally.Meta comes in as a minority investor in CRED. No access to member data. While it’s come very far, the delta between WhatsApp today and its full potential is massive. I look forward to working with Mark, Chris, and the leadership across Meta for the next step in WhatsApp’s journey. Will, thank you for scaling something the world relies on quietly, and for making this transition smooth.Onwards.(Developing story...)