Meta appoints Kunal Shah as new head of WhatsApp

• Meta has appointed Indian fintech founder Kunal Shah as the new head of WhatsApp. 

• Shah succeeds Will Cathcart, who is stepping down as the head of WhatsApp after a seven-year tenure.

• India is WhatsApp’s largest market with over half a billion users, according to 2021 government figures.

• Shah champions the startup and financial services ecosystem in India through angel investments, advisory positions, and positions in influential industry organisations.

• He is India’s most prolific angel investor, with investments in over 250 startups, including leading unicorns, and actively mentoring hundreds of founders.

• His previous startup, FreeCharge, pioneered online payments in India over a decade ago.

• Meta is an American multinational technology conglomerate that owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads. The company was originally established with the launch of Facebook in 2004. It was rebranded as Meta in October 2021.

Meta invests in CRED

• Meta will invest Rs 8,550 crore (about $900 million) in fintech firm CRED, which was founded by Kunal Shah.

• CRED enables members to manage credit cards and other payments, track and improve credit scores, and monitor financial activity across accounts.

• CRED, founded in 2018, currently serves 1.7 crore monthly active members and claims to process over 40 per cent of credit card bill payments in India. 

• Kunal Shah will step away from his operating role as CEO while retaining his personal shareholding in CRED. 

• Miten Sampat, who has driven strategy and finance for CRED since 2020, will take over as interim CEO.

• The mega investment places CRED at a valuation of Rs 43,239 crore ($4.5 billion).

• Meta will join the Bengaluru-based fintech firm’s cap table as a minority investor. However, it will not receive access to CRED's customer information.

Growing list of Indian-origin executives at top giants

• The appointment of Kunal Shah as the global head of WhatsApp marks a significant addition to the growing list of Indian-origin executives steering the world’s most influential technology companies.

• The foundation for this leadership surge was laid by iconic figures such as Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai.

• Satya Nadella, who became CEO of Microsoft in 2014, is widely credited with orchestrating the company’s turnaround by shifting focus toward cloud computing and AI.

• Sundar Pichai took the helm of Google in 2015 and later its parent company, Alphabet, in 2019.

• Ravi Kumar S was appointed CEO of Cognizant in January 2023.

• Neal Mohan became the CEO of YouTube in February 2023.

• In October 2025, Rahul Patil joined AI giant Anthropic as its Chief Technology Officer.

• In early 2026, Indian-origin Asha Sharma was named CEO of Microsoft Gaming, taking over from Phil Spencer.