CRED founder Kunal Shah is all set to join Meta to lead WhatsApp at the global level. According to the reports, Meta is investing USD 900 million (approximately Rs 8,550 crore) in CRED. Shah announced on Monday that he is stepping down from his operational role as CEO of the fintech company. The announcement comes alongside Meta’s USD 900 million investment in CRED as part of the company’s Series H funding round. Under the deal, Meta will acquire an approximately 20 percent minority stake in the Bengaluru-based fintech firm.

It is important to note that this investment has taken CRED’s post-money valuation to around USD 4.5 billion (Rs 43,239 crore). The funding round includes a combination of primary capital infusion and secondary share purchases.

In a post, KunalShah wrote, “It’s been a while,” recalling how he spent the period between 2015 and 2018 learning, investing, and thinking about a simple question: “Why can’t trust be rewarded?” Using USD 1 million from his personal savings, Shah launched CRED with the aim of rewarding users who paid their credit card bills on time.

Between 2019 and 2025, the company grew from zero to 17 million members. It expanded into payments, lending, insurance, commerce, wealth management, and credit cards, while raising more than $900 million from global investors. Shah also said that CRED conducted four Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) buybacks and increased its annual revenue to nearly $325 million (around ₹3,200 crore).