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

WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart has announced that he is leaving his role.

Cathcart has overseen Meta's popular messaging platform for nearly seven years - and scaled its private chat functions to more than three billion users worldwide.

He said in posts on social media on Monday that while the platform was in "the strongest position it's ever been" it also "felt like the right moment to step back".

Cathcart will continue to play a role within Meta's leadership ranks, with Kunal Shah, founder of Indian fintech start-up Cred, taking over as head of WhatsApp.

Facebook founder and Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said Shah had created "one of India's most important technology companies" with Cred.

He added that the fintech founder "brings the kind of builder mentality and global perspective that will serve him well in running the world's biggest messaging app".

"I look forward to working with Kunal to continue to make WhatsApp the best service for billions of people and millions of businesses," Zuckerberg said.

Cred, based in Bengaluru, has sought to disrupt the payments sector in India with a "members-only" service that rewards high-earners for timely credit card payments.

Prior to founding Cred in 2018, Shah was an investor and advisor to a handful of different start-ups across India and south east Asia, according to his LinkedIn page.

He wrote on the platform on Monday that he would continue as a shareholder in the firm in taking on the new role at WhatsApp - adding that Cred had raised $900m (£679m) in investment from Meta.

According to Bloomberg , this would give the Meta a 20% stake in the company.

Shah noted that while Meta would join as a minority investor in Cred, it would have "no access to member data".

Meta's shake-up of WhatsApp's leadership comes as it looks to strengthen the app's already booming presence in India.

Falling under Meta's "family of apps" - its set of social networks including Facebook, Instagram and Messenger that boast billions of users - WhatsApp has been an area where the firm has tried to boost revenue with ads, paid subscriptions and AI tools.

The app is widely used in India, with about 853 million users, according to World Population Review .