What Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said
Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg praised Shah’s ‘builder mentality’. “Kunal built CRED into one of India’s most important technology companies, and he brings the kind of builder mentality and global perspective that will serve him well in running the world’s biggest messaging app,” Zuckerberg said in a statement.
What Chris Cox said
“I’m excited to welcome Kunal Shah as WhatsApp’s next leader. He is one of India’s most respected entrepreneurs and a prolific voice for how the apps we build make a positive difference in people’s lives. We are fortunate to have him guide WhatsApp through this next era,” Cox added.According to a screenshot shared on X, Cox shared the news of leadership transition in an internal message. WhatsApp Leadership TransitionSome important news to share – after seven years leading WhatsApp, Will has decided to take a step back from this role and hand the reins to a new leader. As a part of this, he’ll stay with Meta, and we’ll share more on that after the transition.Will has led WhatsApp through an incredibly consequential growth era: scaling end-to-end encrypted messaging to 3B+ users, including over 100m people in the US, while growing the WA business to multiple multi-billion dollar businesses. He has defended people’s right to private conversation across the globe, fought governments who wanted backdoors, defeated multiple attempts from spyware companies to attack users and taken the NSO group to court (and won). Will has been a champion for privacy and for our users, and we owe him a debt of gratitude for an amazing run.I’m excited to welcome Kunal Shah as WhatsApp’s next leader. Once Will made his intentions clear, we went about a search for a leader that had an intuitive grasp of the immense, global product potential for WhatsApp, who could navigate the shifts that Al will bring, and has the seriousness to lead the world’s largest communication service. Kunal became the clear choice as we got to know him. He is a serial founder and one of India’s most respected entrepreneurs.He’s been a prolific voice for how apps we build make a positive difference in people’s lives.And over the course of the (now many) conversations I’ve had with Kunal through this courting process, he has shown an immense entrepreneurial energy combined with a natural humanism.We’ve separately made an investment into CRED, a fintech Company in India where Kunal is currently Founder/CEO, as a part of setting up a transition that made sense for both sides.Kunal’s first day is today (!) We’ll use the upcoming WhatsApp all hands on Jun 25 as a chance to introduce him to the team, and to thank Will as he passes the torch.
What Will Cathcart said and his full post on X
Cathcart: “WhatsApp is in the strongest position it’s ever been. That felt like the right moment to step back. I’m very excited to see what Kunal and our amazing team continue to build.”Some personal news. 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. WhatsApp is in the strongest position it’s ever been — and that felt like the right moment to step back.I’m so proud of what we have built. We scaled end-to-end encrypted messaging to more than three billion people. We brought it to group chats, companion devices, new surfaces — and defended people’s right to a private conversation across the globe.Kunal Shah will be WhatsApp’s next leader. He built CRED into one of India’s most important technology companies and has a deep care for the people that rely on our apps. I’m very excited to see what Kunal and our amazing team continue to build.Thank you for the privilege of serving people who rely on WhatsApp everywhere. Under Cathcart’s leadership, WhatsApp accomplished major milestones. He expanded end-to-end encrypted messaging to more than three billion people globally. He is also responsible for introducing “Communities” for group organisation and “Channels” for public broadcast feeds.
Read Kunal Shah’s full post on LinkedIn
It’s been a minute. 2015–2018– Exited FreeCharge. Spent time learning and investing.– Pondered about: Why can’t trust be rewarded? Started with $1M of personal capital.– Launched CRED to reward people for paying credit card bills on time.2019–2025– Built a system run by a team that values ownership, judgment, and craft.– Grew from 0 to 17M members by aligning incentives with behaviour.– Built several products during COVID lockdowns.– Raised $900M+ from global investors. Did 4 ESOP buybacks.– Made Indiranagar and IPL ads slightly more interesting. – Received a full stack of regulatory licences.– Lost 35 kilos.– Scaled from 0 to ~$325M ( ~₹3,200 crore) in annual revenue across payments, lending, insurance, commerce, wealth, and credit cards.2026– First profitable quarter (yet occasionally asked what our business model is)– Raised another $900M from Meta in primary and secondary capital.– Announcing our 5th ESOP buyback.TodayCRED is ready for its next phase. I am stepping back and Miten Sampat steps in as interim CEO, partnered with an incredibly talented team. He has been heading strategy and finance and suffering me since 2020. I’m stepping away from the operating role and will continue as a shareholder. My commitment doesn’t change. Just the role. Extremely grateful to our members, partners, regulators, and investors who made this possible. And to our board, Shailendra, Micky, Saurabh for their extraordinary conviction. Team CRED, I’ll still expect you to be a 10x version of yourselves.As for me, I’ll be joining Meta to lead WhatsApp globally.Meta comes in as a minority investor in CRED. No access to member data. 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.Onwards.
