A businessman invested Rs 17 lakh just 60 seconds after receiving a message on WhatsApp. How Cred Founder created its own identity by betting on hundreds of startups.
Whatsapp Business: Can someone take a decision to invest lakhs of rupees in just 60 seconds? This may sound like a filmy story, but this is what happened to Kunal Shah, a well-known Indian businessman and founder of CRED. A WhatsApp message came, a few lines were read and the next minute a check worth lakhs of rupees was sanctioned. By chatting on WhatsApp, he changed the fortunes of many big companies of India, today he himself is going to take charge of the world’s largest messaging platform WhatsApp. Meta has appointed Kunal Shah as the new Global Head of WhatsApp. Let us know the interesting story from that one message worth Rs 17 lakh to becoming the global boss of WhatsApp…
About Rs 17 lakh in just 1 minute
It is an afternoon in the year 2021. The clock said 3:20 in the afternoon. Sent a short message to Kunal Shah on WhatsApp. The message mentioned a new startup, which was raising money to start a business. Kunal had never heard the name of that company before. Exactly one minute later, i.e. at 3.21 pm, Kunal’s reply comes, ‘I’m in’ i.e. I am ready to invest the money. Within just 60 seconds, the deal was finalized and Kunal Shah handed over a check of the entire amount of $20,000 i.e. about Rs 17 lakh to that unknown company. While big companies hold meetings for weeks and go through the documents before investing money in a startup, Kunal Shah was taking decisions worth millions just on WhatsApp chat.
Money in 249 companies and 11 unicorns
Kunal Shah’s way of doing business and helping others has always been different. Between the year 2021 and June 2026, he invested his money in about 249 small and big startups in India. The funniest thing is that at least 11 companies in his portfolio have become unicorns today, some of these big names are Razorpay (online payment app), BigBasket (online ration delivery), Shiprocket and Udaan, Unacademy (study platform), Spinny and Slice.
Invested money in 175 companies in just 2 years
When the startup phase was at its peak in the year 2021-22 during Corona, Kunal had distributed checks to 175 companies in those two years alone. Although in the last two years (2025-2026) due to the market being a bit slow, he invested only in 21 companies, but by then he had become India’s biggest ‘angel investor’.
Why did Facebook-Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg choose Kunal Shah?
Talks were going on between WhatsApp’s Chief Product Officer Chris Cox and Kunal Shah for a long time. Kunal has always believed that WhatsApp is not just for chatting or sending ‘Good Morning’ messages. His vision is that in the future, WhatsApp will become the medium through which people will buy every small and big thing, make payments and even take loans. Meta Company was so impressed by Kunal’s idea that they first decided to buy his company CRED or invest money in it, but in the end it was decided that why not make Kunal Shah the global boss of WhatsApp!
What will change for common users now?
Kunal Shah has strong experience in building big payment companies like FreeCharge and CRED. They know very well what the common people of India trust in money transactions. With his arrival, many changes can be seen in WhatsApp in the coming days.
- Easy WhatsApp payment can be done. Just like you send photos to friends, sending money just got easier.
- From small shops to big brands, you will be able to book orders directly through chat.
- Things like loans, insurance or credit scores can be found directly inside the app.