In a Massive Shakeup, Meta Appoints CRED’s Kunal Shah to Lead WhatsApp Globally as Will Cathcart Exits

Highlights

• Kunal Shah founded the Indian fintech Cred in 2018
• Miten Sampat will take over as the Interim CEO of Cred
• Meta is now a minority shareholder in Shah’s Cred

WhatsApp has undergone a major management overhaul, as Meta's outgoing head of WhatsApp, Will Cathcart, has announced his resignation from his role. WhatsApp scaled end-to-end encrypted messaging and more features under Cathcart's leadership. He held the position for more than seven years. The Meta executive has also revealed the succession plan. Kunal Shah, the India-based tech entrepreneur, has been named as Cathcart's successor. Shah will now head WhatsApp globally. Separately, Shah has announced that he will be stepping down as the Chief Executive Officer of Cred, the Indian credit and payments management platform. The new WhatsApp global head also announced his successor.

WhatsApp and Cred Undergo Management Change

On Monday, Cathcart announced in a post that he is stepping down as WhatsApp's global head. Cathcart remained in the role for about seven years and three months, assuming the role of WhatsApp's global head in March 2019. The outgoing WhatsApp highlighted that under his leadership, WhatsApp scaled end-to-end encrypted messaging, expanding the security and privacy features reach to “more than three billion people”.

Along with personal chats, Cathcart oversaw the introduction of end-to-end encrypted messaging to WhatsApp group chats, “companion devices”, and more platforms. He further added, “After nearly 7 years leading WhatsApp, I'm excited to share who will take over the responsibility of delivering simple, reliable, and private messaging for the world.”

As previously mentioned, Shah will be taking over from Cathcart as the global head of WhatsApp. Shah, in a separate post, announced that Meta, the Mark Zuckerberg-led tech giant, is now a minority shareholder in Cred, the Indian credit and payments management platform, which was founded by Shah in 2018. Meta has made a $900 million (roughly Rs. 8,506 crore) strategic investment in Shah's company. He is expected to bring his fintech expertise to scale WhatsApp Pay in India.

Along with this announcement, the incoming global head of WhatsApp has announced that he will also be stepping down from his current role as the CEO of Cred. Shah said that Miten Sampat will now serve as the interim CEO of Cred.

On taking over the global head of WhatsApp, Shah said, “While it's come very far, the delta between WhatsApp today and its full potential is massive. I look forward to working with Mark, Chris, and the leadership across Meta for the next step in WhatsApp's journey. Will, thank you for scaling something the world relies on quietly, and for making this transition smooth.”

Shah has served as the CEO of Cred for more than eight years. Meanwhile, the new CEO of the fintech company joined Cred in October 2020. Cred's founder and outgoing CEO has previously served as the CEO and Chairman of Freecharge, a digital payments platform.