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Meta invests $900 million in Cred, names founder Kunal Shah as new WhatsApp head

Meta is investing $900 million in Indian fintech startup Cred at a $4.5 billion post-money valuation and appointing founder Kunal Shah to replace Will Cathcart as head of WhatsApp. Cathcart, who led the messaging service for more than seven years, is transitioning to a new role focused on building new products.

Meta is investing $900 million in Indian fintech startup Cred at a $4.5 billion post-money valuation and appointing founder Kunal Shah to replace Will Cathcart as head of WhatsApp, the company announced Monday [1]. Cathcart, who led WhatsApp for more than seven years, is transitioning to a new role at Meta focused on building new products from the ground up, CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post [1].

Shah founded Cred in 2018 as a credit card payments platform that rewards users for paying bills on time [1]. Meta acquired WhatsApp in 2014 for $19 billion, and the messaging service has grown to more than 3 billion monthly active users [1]. Bloomberg confirmed Meta's $900 million investment as part of the leadership transition [2].

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