“It’s been a minute”, said Kunal Shah as he listed the highlights of his journey with CRED, a fintech platform he built from scratch. He is now set to take a step away from the business and take over as the global head of WhatsApp, marking a significant leadership transition of one of the largest consumer platforms.
As part of the deal that elevates Mr. Shah to the top role, Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, will invest $900 million (about ₹8,550 crore) in the company, making it a minority investor in CRED. Both CRED and Mr. Shah have reiterated that Meta will not receive access to customer data. While Mr. Shah will no longer be part of the operations, he will continue as a shareholder in the CRED.