BackBharti SoftBank invests $14 million in Hike
The company has raised $21 million over the past 18 months
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Bangalore: Hike Messenger, developed by one of the twin sons of Bharti Airtel Ltd founder Sunil Mittal, said on Wednesday that it has raised $14 million from BSB, a joint venture between Bharti Group and Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank Corp.
Hike Messenger was developed by Kavin Bharti Mittal in December 2012. The free app, which is available on most mobile platforms, competes with Whatsapp and BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) in India.
“We’ve been growing faster than ever, tripling our user base to 15 million users in just nine months," said Mittal.
More than 80% of Hike Messenger users are below 25 years of age and a majority of them are from India. The India-specific feature of the app, Free Hike2SMS, allows its users to chat with those without smartphones.
The company has raised $21 million over the past 18 months.
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