Indian WhatsApp competitor Hike raises $175 mn (Rs 1169 cr) through funding

Instant messenger app Hike on Tuesday announced that it raised financing of over 175 million led by Chinese company Tencent Holdings and Taiwanese electronic manufacturing company Foxconn Technology Group. This has led to the value of the company amounting to close to around 1.4 billion, with existing investors Tiger, Bharti and SoftBank also participating in this round. “Tencent and Foxconn both have pedigrees that speak for themselves and such investment shows the strong foundation on which Hike is being built. The new fund-raise is going to allow us to push Hike to greater heights and invest in areas that will be key to our long-term vision and success,” said Hike Founder and CEO Kavin Bharti Mittal at an event held here. This is the fourth venture capital round and the biggest to date for Hike, taking the total investment to over more than 250 million. The company said it will be investing the raised fund in improving the technology of the app as well as for better service. Talking about end-to-end encryption, Mittal said they were planning to introduce it soon and were in talks with the government. IANS