General
January 18, 2021
6 minutes read

Hike Messenger Wounds Down Operations

Hike Messenger, a fairly popular Indian chat app that sought to rival Facebook’s WhatsApp in the world’s second-most populous nation,…

Hike Messenger, a fairly popular Indian chat app that sought to rival Facebook’s WhatsApp in the world’s second-most populous nation, appears to have wound down its operations and disappeared from app stores. It isn’t surprising, as earlier this month Hike announced that its app will be pulled off from stores without explanation.

As it seems, Hike failed to establish itself in the midst of strong competition and has pulled the plug. The company burned through some $261 million in venture funding, with its funding last round coming in 2016; a $175 million round co-led by Tencent and Foxconn that valued Hike at $1.4 billion.

Hike was founded by Kavin Bharti Mittal, an internet entrepreneur who is notably the son of the Indian billionaire businessman Sunil Bharti Mittal. The name Bharti Enterprises is well known in the Indian business world, having diversified interests in many industries and most famously the telecom operator Bharti Airtel.

At its peak, Hike Messenger is known to have surpassed 100 million registered users. But even with that number of users, it appears that the company struggled with monetization in the face of competition from bigger-funded rivals like Facebook’s WhatsApp.

In its prime time, Hike became a super app that offered messages as well as other services like news and online games. In recent years, however, the company unpacked itself to focus on the chat experience. As it seems, Hike was not satisfied with its prospects or ran into troubles and has now shut down.

Even as Hike shuts down, the company behind the chat app will continue to develop its Vibe social media app and work on a new gaming product called Rush, its CEO Kavin Bharti Mittal noted in a tweet.

12/ Today we’re announcing that we will be sunsetting StickerChat in Jan’21.

We thank you all for giving us your trust. We wouldn’t be here without you ❤️

All your data will be available to download in the app. Your HikeMoji will continue to be available in both Vibe & Rush!

— Kavin Bharti Mittal (@kavinbm) January 6, 2021