Meta just wrote a $900 million check to Indian fintech startup CRED. And for good reason, it’s poaching CRED’s founder Kunal Shah to run WhatsApp globally.
The investment, announced on June 22, pushes CRED’s post-money valuation to $4.5 billion and hands Meta roughly a 20% stake in the company through a mix of primary and secondary shares. Shah will succeed Will Cathcart, who led WhatsApp for close to seven years.
What Meta is actually buying
Shah built CRED into one of India’s most prominent fintech platforms, with operating revenue hitting ₹2,735 crore in FY25. The company, which started as a credit card payment app for high-income Indians, has expanded into a broader financial services ecosystem that touches lending, commerce, and payments.
CRED peaked at $6.4 billion back in 2022. It had come down to around $3.6 billion as recently as May 2025. Meta’s investment at $4.5 billion represents a meaningful recovery from that trough, though still well below the pandemic-era high.
