WhatsApp Names CRED Founder Kunal Shah as its newest CEO

Meta has appointed Kunal Shah as WhatsApp's new chief executive. Kunal founded Indian fintech company Cred and will replace Will Cathcart, who led the messaging platform for more than seven years.

Cathcart is moving to a new position within Meta, WhatsApp's parent company. According to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Cathcart will focus on building "new products from the ground up".

"WhatsApp is in the strongest position it's ever been, and that felt like the right moment to step back," Cathcart says. "We scaled end-to-end encrypted messaging to more than three billion people. We brought it to group chats, companion devices, new surfaces and defended people's right to a private conversation across the globe."

Financial backing for Cred

Kunal built Cred into a fintech company offering payments, lending, insurance, wealth management and lifestyle services. According to Cred, the company has 17 million monthly members on average and processes more than 40% of India's credit card bill payments.

The leadership transition comes alongside a major funding round for Cred. This week, the fintech company raised around US$900m in a Series H round led by Meta.

The deal values Cred at more than US$4bn. Meta now holds a minority stake in the fintech company.

As Kunal steps down from Cred's CEO role, he says he's "extremely grateful to our members, partners, regulators and investors" who made Cred possible. He adds: "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 [Cox, Meta's Chief Product Officer] 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."

WhatsApp's revenue diversification plans

Meta purchased WhatsApp in 2014 for US$19bn. The messaging app now has more than three billion monthly active users, making it one of the most popular communication platforms globally.

In May, Meta announced plans for subscription services within WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook. The strategy aims to diversify revenue streams beyond advertising, which has been Meta's primary income source.

Mark says 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." Kunal's experience in scaling payment platforms could support WhatsApp's commercial expansion.

Commerce and payments strategy

Neil Shah, Vice President of Research at Counterpoint Research, says WhatsApp is the world's most popular communication platform, but not for commerce and payments. One of Kunal Shah's biggest challenges will be turning WhatsApp from a messaging service into a conversational and commerce-focused platform like China's WeChat app.

Neil says given Kunal Shah's experience in building and scaling up payments platforms in India, Kunal is the "best choice" for WhatsApp. The appointment could indicate Meta's intention to monetise WhatsApp's large user base through transaction-based revenue models.

WhatsApp has tested payment features in markets including India and Brazil. Expanding these capabilities under Kunal's leadership could create new revenue channels for Meta, particularly in markets where digital payment adoption is growing.