Kunal Shah, the man who turned credit card bill payments into a rewarded lifestyle, is leaving his daily role at CRED to lead WhatsApp on the global stage. The move follows a landmark deal in which Meta, the parent company of Facebook and WhatsApp, invested ₹8,550 crore ($900 million) in the Bengaluru-based fintech. While Shah moves to a global leadership position at Meta, he will remain a shareholder in the company he founded in 2018. Miten Sampat, who has handled strategy and finance since 2020, will step in as interim CEO.

From FreeCharge to global leadership

Shah is a veteran of the Indian start-up ecosystem. He spent a decade building various ventures before founding FreeCharge in 2010, which was eventually sold for roughly $450 million. After the exit, he spent years as an adviser and investor, backing more than 200 start-ups, including Razorpay and Unacademy. He eventually launched CRED with $1 million of his own money to reward "trustworthy" financial behaviour. Along the way, he also shared a personal milestone, noting that he had lost 35 kilograms during his journey. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, has praised Shah’s "builder mentality", stating that this perspective will help him run the world’s largest messaging app.

Unlocking WhatsApp’s massive potential

Shah is taking over a platform used by billions, but he believes the best is yet to come. "While it's come very far, the delta between WhatsApp today and its full potential is massive," he stated. He will work alongside Meta’s top leadership to bridge that gap. Back in India, CRED has reached a milestone of 1.7 crore members and reported its first profitable quarter in 2026, with annual revenue reaching approximately ₹3,200 crore. Despite his new global duties, Shah told his team he still expects them to be "10x versions" of themselves.

Addressing data privacy and business doubts

The deal has not come without questions. For years, observers have occasionally questioned CRED’s business model, a point Shah himself has acknowledged. More pressing are concerns regarding the alliance with a global technology giant. To address these, the company clarified that Meta is a minority investor with an approximately 20 per cent stake. Crucially, Meta will not have a seat on the board and will have no access to member data. The focus now shifts to a potential public listing for CRED, while its founder attempts to reshape how the world communicates.