WhatsApp to be led by Indian start-up founder as Will Cathcart steps back

WhatsApp head Will Cathcart is stepping down after nearly seven years, with Indian entrepreneur Kunal Shah set to take over leadership of the messaging platform, which serves more than three billion users worldwide [1]. Cathcart announced his departure in social media posts on Monday, stating the platform was in "the strongest position it's ever been" and that it "felt like the right moment to step back" [1]. He will remain within Meta's leadership ranks [1]. Shah is the founder of Cred, a Bengaluru-based financial technology company he launched in 2018 [5]. Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg described Cred as "one of India's most important technology companies" and said Shah "brings the kind of builder mentality and global perspective that will serve him well in running the world's biggest messaging app" [1]. Zuckerberg added, "I look forward to working with Kunal to continue to make WhatsApp the best service for billions of people and millions of businesses" [1]. Cred operates a platform for credit card bill payments, lending, and other payment services, and was valued at around $4.5 billion as of 2026 [5]. Shah wrote on LinkedIn that Cred had raised $900 million in investment from Meta, a transaction that Bloomberg reported would give Meta a 20% stake in the company [1]. Shah noted that while Meta would join as a minority investor, it would have "no access to member data" [1]. The leadership change arrives as Meta works to expand WhatsApp's already substantial presence in India, where the app counts approximately 853 million users [1]. WhatsApp falls under Meta's "family of apps," which also includes Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger [1]. The company has sought to boost revenue on the platform through ads, paid subscriptions, and artificial intelligence tools [1]. WhatsApp has also faced scrutiny in India over its privacy and data-sharing practices with parent company Meta [1]. The platform previously took legal action against Israeli cyber-intelligence firm NSO Group, suing the company in 2019 under the United States Computer Fraud and Abuse Act over allegations that NSO's Pegasus spyware was used to target WhatsApp users [2]. NSO Group, which employed almost 500 people as of 2017, claims its technology is sold only to authorized governments to combat terror and crime, though reports have linked its spyware to surveillance of human rights activists and journalists [2].