Meta will invest US$900 million in Bengaluru-based fintech Cred, which offers rewards and tools tied to credit card bill payments, for about a 20% stake and appoint founder Kunal Shah to lead WhatsApp.

Current WhatsApp chief Will Cathcart will move to a Meta role focused on AI consumer products.

Cred said the deal, which includes primary and secondary share purchases, values the startup at US$4.5 billion. That is below the US$6.4 billion valuation reported for its funding round last year.

Meta said it will not take a board seat or get access to Cred customer data.

Shah, who co-founded payments startup FreeCharge before launching Cred in 2018, will relocate to Menlo Park and step away from Cred.

Miten Sampat, the company’s strategy executive, will serve as interim CEO while Cred’s board reviews a longer-term leadership structure and a possible initial public offering.

The appointment puts an Indian fintech founder in charge of one of Meta’s largest apps.

WhatsApp surpassed 3 billion monthly users in 2025, while its Business app had 200 million monthly active users as of mid-2023.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

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