Indian Entrepreneur Kunal Shah to Lead WhatsApp in Major Meta Move

Meta platforms is making one of the biggest change in the industry. Now fintech startup Cred’s founder Kunal Shah will become the next head of Whatsapp. He is taking a bigger step towards the growth and now he will contribute to the country’s growing importance to the social media giant’s ambitions in payments, commerce and artificial intelligence.

The transaction gives Meta a roughly 20% stake in Bengaluru-based Cred and values the company at $4.5 billion. But the biggest development is Shah becoming one of the most influential leaders in global technology. Kunal Shah has become the global head and CEO of Whatsapp. The Indian Entrepreneur Kunal Shah will replace Will Cathcart, who has led Whatsapp since 2019 and expanded the platform that is now being used by more than 3 billion people across the globe.

Written by Shivi Bajpai, Sub-Editor at Consilva Magazine. India’s fastest-growing business publication covering startup founders and business leaders shaping the country’s future.

The new beginning of Kunal Shah’s Success Story

Kunal Shah has become the global head and CEO of Whatsapp. He is an indian entrepreneur who founded fintech startup CRED and now this position of Chief Executive Officer of Whatsapp is given to him because of his deep understanding of the technology.

Announcing the appointment, Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Shah’s entrepreneurial background and global outlook made him a natural fit for the role.

“Kunal built Cred into one of the most important technology companies, and he brings the active and stable mindset that will help him to serve the world’s largest messaging app, ” Zuckerberg said. “I look forward to working with Kunal to continue to make WhatsApp the best service for billions of people and millions of businesses.”

The company said that Shah brings a deep understanding of how whatsapp is used in people’s daily lives and what makes them connected it it and this has also helped him to build Cred into one of India’s most recognised fintech brands.

Chris Cox, Meta’s chief product officer, who led the search for Cathcart’s successor, described Shah as uniquely positioned to guide the platform through its next chapter.

“He is one of India’s most respected entrepreneurs and a prolific voice for how the apps we build make a positive difference in people’s lives,” Cox said. “We are fortunate to have him guide WhatsApp through this next era.”

The story behind the CRED

Founded in 2018, Cred was built on rewarding consumers for their prompt payments with their credit cards before offering other financial products. Cred claims that it has 17 million monthly active users.

Story of the first app he founded for digital payments:

Before establishing Cred, Shah founded FreeCharge, which became one of the pioneers of the digital payment system in India and later became one of the most successful angel investors in the country funding over 250 startups.

As part of the deal, Shah will resign from his position of CEO of Cred while staying as a shareholder. The strategy and finance head of Cred, Miten Sampat, who joined Cred in 2020, has been appointed as an interim CEO.

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About the Author: Shivi is a Sub-Editor at Consilva Magazine. India’s fastest-growing digital business publication. Shivi writes on topics related to finance, AI, technology, business, startups and their culture. Her writings are easy and audience friendly. At Consilva Magazine their work captured both the Indian and the abroad audience.