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Meta will invest US$900 million in CRED as the Indian fintech firm’s founder steps into a global leadership role at WhatsApp.
Reuters reported that the deal values the Bengaluru-based startup at US$4.5 billion and gives Meta a minority stake in the company.
Kunal Shah, who founded CRED in 2018, will become WhatsApp’s global head.
He succeeds Will Cathcart, who is taking up a new role inside Meta after seven years running the messaging service.
The move places a prominent Indian startup founder in charge of one of Meta’s most important global products.
India is WhatsApp’s largest market, with more than 500 million users, and has become a key market for its payments and business services push.
For Meta, the CRED deal is one of its largest fintech investments in India.
The latest valuation is higher than the US$3.5 billion level from its 2025 funding round, but still below the US$6.4 billion valuation it reached in 2022.
CRED Prepares for Next PhaseThe Indian company noted that Meta will not have access to its customer data through the investment.
Founded in 2018, CRED began as a members-only platform for consumers with strong credit profiles. It has since moved into payments, lending, insurance, wealth management and lifestyle services.
The company says it serves 17 million members each month, processes more than 40% of India’s credit card bill payments and manages over 240 billion rupees, or about US$2.5 billion, in lending assets for partner financial institutions.
The fresh funding will be used to support growth, strengthen leadership and expand across more product categories.
Miten Sampat, who has led strategy and finance at CRED since 2020, has been appointed interim CEO.
Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by CRED via LinkedIn
