Meta appoints Indian fintech founder Kunal Shah as the new global leader of WhatsApp, as part of a broader push to monetize and expand the messaging service’s business beyond advertising. Multiple outlets report that Shah is taking over from Will Cathcart, who led WhatsApp for the previous seven years. Meta’s announcement also comes alongside a $900 million investment in Shah’s consumer finance firm, CRED, which is described as valuing the company at about $4.5 billion post-money and giving Meta a minority stake through a mix of primary and secondary purchases. Several reports cite Meta’s goal of finding new revenue streams for WhatsApp, including in commerce and related use cases, while managing regulatory and market conditions in India, where WhatsApp has its largest user base. Other coverage highlights Shah’s experience building CRED into a broader financial services platform for users in India, including credit-card rewards and later lending and related offerings. Meta says it will not receive access to CRED customer data. Shah is expected to relocate to California to take up his WhatsApp role, replacing Cathcart in a leadership transition announced around June 22.