Kunal Shah, founder of CRED, was announced on June 22, 2026 as the new global head of WhatsApp, succeeding Will Cathcart, who has led WhatsApp since 2019 and will move to a new division within Meta. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed the appointment, making Shah the first startup founder—not a corporate lifer—to lead a major global tech platform, as every previous Indian CEO of a major Western tech company spent decades inside a single corporation. Meta Chief Product Officer Chris Cox described Shah as "one of India's most respected entrepreneurs" and said he became "the clear choice" after Meta searched for a leader with an intuitive grasp of WhatsApp's product opportunity. Shah, who is 42, will relocate from Bengaluru to Menlo Park, California. The announcement coincided with Meta's decision to invest $900 million in CRED, securing a 20 per cent minority stake and valuing it at $4.5 billion on a post-money basis. Miten Sampat will take over as interim CEO of CRED with immediate effect, while Shah will remain associated as a shareholder. WhatsApp has three billion users globally, including over 500 million users in India.