Bharti SoftBank invests $14 mn in mobile messaging app 'hike'

NEW DELHI: Bharti SoftBank (BSB) has invested an additional $14 million (Rs 84 crore) in its mobile instant messaging application ' hike', which crossed 15 million users in February.

hike, a free cross-platform messaging application, was launched in December 2012 and is run by Kavin Bharti Mittal, son of Bharti Group Chairman Sunil Mittal.

A joint-venture between Bharti Enterprises and SoftBank Corporation, BSB in April last year had invested $7 million in hike.

"Our goal with the new round of funding is to double down on growth, further expand our team; hiring the best talent so we can topple the year we just had," Kavin said in a statement.

He said the application is growing faster and had crossed 15 million users in February this year.

"There are still less than 100 million active mobile internet users in India, out of a population of 1.2 billion people. India remains a very large, untapped and extremely diverse market and that's what we're building for," Kavin said.