Newsletter
We've heard the legendary stories of Indians leading Google, Microsoft and Adobe. This time, an Indian founder isn't just getting a top global job, he's taking his homegrown company along for the ride.
In one of the biggest developments for India's startup ecosystem, Cred founder Kunal Shah will become the new global CEO of WhatsApp, while Meta is investing $900 million (around ₹8,550 crore) into Cred.
That's not all. The deal values Cred at around $4.5 billion (₹43,239 crore) and ranks among the largest funding rounds ever raised by an Indian fintech startup.
What's going on: Meta is leading a massive investment into Cred through a mix of fresh capital and purchases of existing shares.
As part of the deal, Kunal Shah will step down from day-to-day leadership at Cred and take over from Will Cathcart as the global head of WhatsApp.
Cred's operations will now be led by Miten Sampat, currently one of the company's senior-most executives.
Why Kunal: Mark Zuckerberg's statement offers a clue.
He called Shah a founder with a strong "builder mentality" and global perspective.
In simple terms, Meta is hiring someone who has spent years building products, understanding consumers and scaling a technology company from the ground up.
And WhatsApp is becoming much more than a messaging app. Meta increasingly wants WhatsApp to become a platform for payments, commerce, business communication and AI-powered services.
That's where someone with fintech and product experience could be valuable.
