Top News

WhatsApp Kunal Shah: Kunal Shah is a resident of Mumbai. He did a BA in Philosophy and then left the MBA midway.

(Kunal Shah will take charge of WhatsApp)

WhatsApp Kunal Shah: A major change is coming to WhatsApp, the popular messaging app. Will Cathcart, who ran WhatsApp for nearly seven years, is stepping down. He will be replaced by Kunal Shah, an Indian founder of CRED.

WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart announced this in a social media post. He wrote that WhatsApp has never been in a stronger position than it is today, and that's why he felt the time was right to step back. He explained that his team delivered end-to-end encrypted messaging to over three billion users and protected private conversations worldwide.

Who is Kunal Shah?

Kunal Shah is a Mumbai resident. He earned a BA in Philosophy and then dropped out of his MBA. In 2010, he started a company called FreeCharge, which was later acquired by Snapdeal.

Then, in 2018, he launched CRED, which rewards people for paying their credit card bills. Today, CRED is one of India's most well-known fintech companies. Kunal Shah has also invested in over 200 startups.

Cathcart praised Kunal Shah, saying that he has built CRED into one of the most important tech companies in India and that he truly cares about its users.

This leadership change isn't just a coincidence. According to media reports, Meta is investing approximately $900 million in Indian fintech startup CRED. The deal will give Meta a 20 percent stake in CRED, valuing the company at approximately $4.5 billion.

Why is this deal important for India?

This deal is big for India in many ways.

First, it shows that a global company like Meta is now seeking to directly enter India's digital payments market. Currently, this market is dominated by PhonePe and Google Pay, which together handle approximately 80% of UPI transactions, while WhatsApp Pay lags far behind. Meta is attempting to build a larger digital ecosystem by integrating discovery from Facebook and Instagram, commerce from WhatsApp, and payments infrastructure from CRED.

Secondly, this is the first time that an Indian founder has got direct command of such a big product of one of the world's largest tech companies, which has more than three billion users.

It's unclear whether Will Cathcart will be moving to another role at Meta. The company hasn't yet provided any specifics on when Kunal Shah will formally begin his role at WhatsApp.

Decision to step down from operating role

Following his appointment as the founder of WhatsApp, Cred founder Kunal Shah has decided to step down from his operating role. Miten Sampat will reportedly replace him as interim CEO. Shah will remain a shareholder in Cred. Shah also announced that he is joining Meta and will assume global leadership of WhatsApp there. Meta has also invested in Cred as a minority investor. However, Meta will not have access to Cred's member data.