Meta invests $900 million in Cred, appoints founder Kunal Shah to lead WhatsApp
Meta Platforms is investing $900 million in Indian fintech startup Cred at a $4 billion valuation while naming Cred founder Kunal Shah as WhatsApp's new leader, replacing Will Cathcart.
Meta Platforms invested $900 million in Indian fintech startup Cred in a Series H round that values the company at over $4 billion, while simultaneously appointing Cred founder and chief executive Kunal Shah to a leadership role at WhatsApp [1]. Shah replaces Will Cathcart and takes over WhatsApp at a time when the messaging platform's payment tool, WhatsApp Pay, has failed to gain traction in India's hyper-competitive digital payments market despite the service's 500 million users in the country [1].
Cred, founded by Shah less than ten years ago, processes over 40 percent of credit card bill payments in India and has built an engaged user base of more than 170 million creditworthy Indians [1]. The platform rewards affluent customers for managing and paying credit card bills and is building a lending business alongside its payments operations [1]. Meta will become a minority investor but will not gain access to Cred's member data, according to the company's press release [1].
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