Meta (META.US) has made a bold investment of $900 million in the Indian financial technology unicorn CRED, with the founder taking the helm of WhatsApp.

Meta Platforms (META.US) announced on Monday that it will invest $900 million in the Indian fintech company CRED, valuing the latter at around $4.5 billion. At the same time, CRED founder Kunal Shah will join Meta as the global head of WhatsApp, succeeding current head Will Cathcart. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed this management change in a Facebook post. Zuckerberg stated that after leading WhatsApp for seven years, Cathcart will transition to another role within Meta. Shah later confirmed the appointment as well. This deal is one of the largest financing transactions in the Indian fintech industry in recent years. According to the terms of the deal, Meta will acquire a minority stake in CRED, based in Bangalore, India, but will not have access to its customer data. Founded in 2018, CRED primarily provides a membership-based financial services platform for users with high credit scores, covering areas such as payments, consumer credit, insurance, wealth management, and lifestyle services. The company stated that it currently has 17 million active members per month, processes over 40% of India's credit card bill payments, and manages over 240 billion rupees (approximately $2.5 billion) in loan assets for partner Financial Institutions, Inc. After this financing round, CRED plans to use the new funds to accelerate business expansion, strengthen the management team and institutional capacity building, and continue to expand its range of products and services. Meanwhile, Miten Sampat, who has been in charge of the company's strategy and finance work since 2020, will serve as interim CEO. For Meta, this investment is not only a significant move to strengthen its presence in the Indian market, but also signifies a further enhancement of the business strategy for WhatsApp. India is the largest market for WhatsApp globally, with a user base of over 500 million people. In recent years, WhatsApp has gradually expanded from an instant messaging tool to payments, business services, and digital financial platform in India, becoming an important part of Meta's growth strategy in emerging markets. Market observers believe that Kunal Shah's extensive experience in the Indian fintech sector could help WhatsApp further expand its payment and financial services business, and drive the platform's commercialization process. After this transaction, CRED's valuation reached $4.5 billion, slightly higher than its $3.5 billion valuation in the previous financing round in 2025, but still lower than its historical peak of $6.4 billion in 2022. It is worth mentioning that Meta has been increasing its investments in the Indian tech industry in recent years. Earlier, the company invested in Jio Platforms, the digital business platform owned by India's richest person, Mukesh Ambani. Jio Platforms submitted its filing for a U.S. listing last week, planning to launch its initial public offering (IPO). As the Indian digital payments, consumer finance, and internet services market continues to grow rapidly, Meta is deepening its strategic influence in the Indian market through investments and management reorganization, and the cooperation with CRED may open up new growth opportunities for the future financial services ecosystem of WhatsApp.