CRED founder Kunal Shah to join Meta, lead WhatsApp globally
New Delhi, June 22
CRED founder Kunal Shah on Monday announced that he will join Meta to lead WhatsApp globally, while stepping away from his operating role at CRED after building the fintech platform over the past several years.
Sharing the development in a social media post, Shah said CRED is now ready for its next phase of growth and that Miten Sampat will take over as interim Chief Executive Officer.
"CRED is ready for its next phase. I am stepping back and @miten steps in as interim CEO," Shah said in the post.
He added that Miten Sampat has been leading strategy and finance at the company and has been associated with him since 2020.
Reflecting on his entrepreneurial journey, Shah said that after exiting FreeCharge between 2015 and 2018, he spent time learning, investing and exploring new ideas. Using USD 1 million of personal capital, he launched CRED with the aim of rewarding people for paying their credit card bills on time.
According to Kunal Shah, between 2019 and 2025, CRED grew from zero to 17 million members by aligning incentives with customer behaviour. During the period, the company launched several products, including during the COVID-19 lockdowns, and raised more than USD 900 million from global investors.
He said the company also conducted four employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) buybacks, secured a full stack of regulatory licences and scaled its annual revenue to around USD 325 million, or approximately Rs 3,200 crore, across payments, lending, insurance, commerce, wealth and credit card businesses.
Shah added that CRED recorded its first profitable quarter in 2026. He also disclosed that the company raised another USD 900 million from Meta in primary and secondary capital and is now announcing its fifth ESOP buyback.
Explaining his decision to move on from day-to-day operations, Shah said he will continue to remain associated with CRED as a shareholder. "I'm stepping away from the operating role and will continue as a shareholder. My commitment doesn't change. Just the role," he said.
On his new role, Shah said he would be joining Meta to lead WhatsApp globally. "As for me, I'll be joining Meta to lead WhatsApp globally," he stated.
He also clarified that Meta's investment in CRED would be as a minority investor and that there would be no access to member data. "Meta comes in as a minority investor in CRED. No access to member data," Shah said.
Commenting on WhatsApp's future opportunities, Shah said that while the platform has already achieved significant scale, there remains substantial untapped potential. "While it's come very far, the delta between WhatsApp today and its full potential is massive," he said.
— ANI
Reader Comments
Mata's investment of USD 900 million in CRED while taking their founder - that's a smart move by Zuckerberg. But I'm a bit concerned about the minority investor thing and no data access. In India we've seen too many data privacy issues. Hope Kunal ensures our data stays safe. Anyway, all the best to him! 👏
Makes sense - WhatsApp has huge potential in India with over 500 million users but very limited monetization. Kunal Shah has the right mindset to unlock that value. But I hope he doesn't forget that WhatsApp needs to remain simple and ad-free for regular users. That's why we love it! 😊
Honestly, I'm impressed by how CRED went from zero to 17 million members and profitable quarter in 2025. That's real execution. But I can't help wonder - will Kunal Shah bring the same 'gamification' approach to WhatsApp? Imagine rewarding users for replying to messages quickly! 😂 Jokes apart, excited to see what he does.
Interesting move by Meta - they're clearly betting on someone who understands emerging markets. Kunal Shah's experience with CRED's credit card ecosystem will be valuable for WhatsApp's payments growth. But I'm skeptical about WhatsApp becoming too commercialized. Hope he keeps the user experience first.
Wait, CRED raised USD 900 million from Meta?! That's huge. But why would Meta invest so much while also taking the founder? Feels like they're buying both the company and the talent. Makes you think - is CRED actually becoming a Meta subsidiary in spirit
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