Meta buys into Cred and names a new WhatsApp boss Meta is investing $900 million in Indian fintech Cred, acquiring a 20% stake and appointing Cred founder Kunal Shah as the new head of WhatsApp. This strategic acquisition aims to leverage Shah’s expertise to tackle WhatsApp’s long-standing challenge of monetization, similar to Meta’s previous acquisition of Scale AI and its founder. The move also signals Meta’s continued focus on the critical Indian market for WhatsApp’s growth and commerce ambitions.

• Meta is investing $900 million in Indian fintech Cred, securing a 20% stake.
• Cred founder Kunal Shah will take over as the new head of WhatsApp, replacing Will Cathcart.
• This move mirrors Meta’s previous strategy of acquiring companies and their founders to lead key initiatives.
• The primary goal is to monetize WhatsApp, which has over 3 billion users but earns little revenue.
• Meta aims to explore new revenue streams such as advertising, subscriptions, and AI agents for WhatsApp.
• India is a crucial market for WhatsApp, and this deal aims to strengthen Meta’s position there, particularly with affluent users.
• Cred, founded in 2018, rewards users for timely bill payments and has expanded into payments, lending, insurance, commerce, and wealth.
• Cred has a valuation of $4.5 billion, a partial recovery from its 2022 peak of $6.4 billion.
• Meta receives a minority stake in Cred without board seats or access to customer data; Shah becomes a shareholder.
• Miten Sampat will be the interim CEO of Cred, with an IPO in mind. Continue reading https://thenextweb.com/news/meta-cred-whatsapp-kunal-shah