Hike

Founder/s: Kavin Bharti Mittal
Key people: Madhumita Bag (Member of the People Team), Rajat Bansal (CTO), Kavin Bharti Mittal (Founder & CEO), Pathik Shah (Head, Growth) and Dheeraj Sidana (Director of Engineering (Server))
Number of employees: 51 – 100

Hike is a mobile app that enables its users to communicate with each other. It enables its users to communicate through voice calls and text messages. It enables its users to access group chats, pin important messages, send and receive attachments, and connect on both online and offline modes.

It provides several features such as chat themes, online and offline privacy, and other related features.

Hike is available globally on iOS, Android, Blackberry, WP, and S40. It was founded on December 12, 2012, and is based in New Delhi, India.

History

Hike Messenger is an Indian messaging app. Launched on 12 December 2012, Hike attained 15 million users in February 2014 and raised $14 million for its development. Over the next few months, the application introduced free text messaging anywhere in India, chat themes, updated stickers, hidden chats and revamped user interface. In August 2014, Hike reached 35 million users and raised $65 million in a funding round led by Tiger Global.

Hike Messenger made its first acquisition in 2015, buying free voice-calling company Zip Phones, which allowed it to launch free app based calling services that are emerging as a key draw for users.

In 2015, Hike launched the “Great Indian Sticker Challenge” to invite designers to design new stickers. According to the company, 30% of the traffic comes from stickers.

In October 2015, the CEO of hike announced that the user base of hike had reached 70 million, with more than 20 billion messages shared each month. and in December according to hike blog hike is sharing over 1 billion messages every single day and 30 billion+ messages a month. As of January 2016 hike has crossed the mark of 100 million users. “Crossing 100 million users is a milestone for us and we have achieved this magic number well ahead of our expectations,” Hike Messenger founder and CEO Kavin Bharti Mittal said in a statement.

They have partnered with companies including Cafe Coffee Day, Pizza Hut, and Dominos, to give coupons as rewards.