Hike acquires Bengaluru-based technology startup Creo for an undisclosed amount

India’s first home-grown messaging app Hike on Friday announced it had acquired Bengaluru-based technology startup firm Creo for an undisclosed sum. [caption id=“attachment_3864263” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] Creo was founded in December 2013 by Sai Srinivas Kiran G and Shubham Malhotra. Both Srinivas and Malhotra were previously associated with Hike. “The Creo team will begin work on a developer platform to enable third-party developers to build services on the Hike platform,” Hike said in a statement. Previously, Creo has launched hardware products that include streaming media dongles and smartphones. The company is also the maker of media streaming device ‘ **Teewe** ’. Hike **introduced video calling** for its users in October 2016. With this, users can see a live video preview of the caller before answering the call. The feature has been built for a reliable and high-quality video experience that works even under challenging network conditions, including good quality 2G. The messaging application also lets users share ‘Video Stories’ that lets them share videos of up to 20 seconds. These videos can be further made dramatic using ‘Live Filters’. Like the ‘Photo Stories’ feature, the ‘Video Stories’ also disappear after 48 hours. Hike messenger is the first home-grown messaging and social technology company. It was launched in December 2012 and claims to have a user base of over 100 million. In August 2016, Hike raised its fourth round of funding of $175 million led by Tencent and Foxconn at a valuation of $1.4 billion, making it the fastest company in India to attain a valuation of $1 billion. Today, Hike has over 300 employees spread across two offices in Delhi and Bengaluru.