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Doris Yu · · 1 min readWhatsApp’s Indian rival Hike shuts down its messaging app
The Indian startup was valued at US$1.4 billion after raising US$175 million in a series D funding led by WeChat operator Tencent and manufacturing firm Foxconn Technology Group in 2016. Hike is also backed by Tiger Global Management.
Founded in 2012 by Kavin Bharti Mittal, the son of telecommunications giant Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, Hike has expanded to new areas such as no-frills phones and mobile entertainment in recent years.
Moving forward, Hike will continue to develop Vibe, a social media app, and Rush, a bite-sized gaming service, Kavin Mittal wrote on Twitter.
He also noted that because “global network effects are too strong,” India “won’t have its own messenger.” Hike’s archrival WhatsApp has over 400 million monthly active users in India and counts the country as its biggest market.
The Facebook-owned app, however, is facing legal challenges over a new privacy rule stating that the firm reserves the right to share information about its users with Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger.
Meanwhile, competitors such as Signal and Telegram are seeing an increasing number of users in the face of WhatsApp’s new terms in India.
Edited by Collin Furtado and Eileen C. Ang
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