Business
Meta Taps Indian Founder to Lead WhatsApp
The appointment of CRED founder Kunal Shah signals Meta’s push to turn WhatsApp’s vast user base into a larger business engine, bringing a founder’s product instincts and growth experience to one of the company’s most important assets. Shivangi headlines and blurbs
Key Highlights
- WhatsApp founder Will Cathcart is stepping down from the role after over seven years.
- Meta has named a new head for WhatsApp, the founder of CRED, Kunal Shah.
- Cathcart will continue to work on new products at Meta.
- Meta is investing $900 million in CRED.
- The investment has increased the valuation of CRED to $4.5 billion.
Seven Years of Will Cathcart
Meta announced that WhatsApp founder Will Cathcart will leave the role after leading the messaging platform for over seven years
Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg said that Cathcart will take on an unspecified role at the company in which he will build new products from scratch for meta. In a Facebook post, Zuckerberg also said that he was excited to work with Cathcart,
Meta did not immediately provide further details about the job. Cathcart also confirmed the move in a post on X, stating that WhatsApp is in the best possible place it has ever been and felt now was the right time to step down.
WhatsApp to be led by CRED Founder Kunal Shah
Kunal Shah, founder of Indian startup CRED (a fintech) has been chosen by Meta as the new head of WhatsApp. Shah founded CRED in 2018. It is a platform that rewards credit card holders for making their payments on time.
Given the importance of WhatsApp in constructing a global communication platform, Shah’s builder mentality also made him the right fit to lead its continued expansion, Zuckerberg said. Meta is also investing $900 million in CRED. Investment in the company post-money places CRED’s valuation at $4.5 billion, the company said.
WhatsApp grew after meta acquisition
Meta bought WhatsApp for $19 million in 2014. Since then, WhatsApp has reached about 3 million active users worldwide.
Meta began launching subscription plans on WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram last month. The firm added that it will experiment with new subscription options for its artificial intelligence services. Meta sees these subscription plans helping to diversify its business away from ads while also strengthening its rising investments in AI.
Source: CNBC
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