Hike Messenger funding: Here’s what you need to know about the new ‘unicorn’ member

The recent round of funding is one of the biggest fund raises in the Indian Internet ecosystem. Hike Messenger is now valued close to $1.4 billion

Hike Messenger: Existing investors Tiger Global, Bharti and Softbank Group also participated in this round.

Hike Messenger has raised $175 million in a fresh round of funding led by Tencent Holdings and Foxconn Technology Group, joining the coveted ‘unicorn’ club of startups with a valuation of almost USD 1.4 billion. This is the fourth venture capital round and the biggest to date for Hike, founded by Kavin Bharti Mittal, son of Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Mittal.

Existing investors Tiger Global, Bharti and Softbank Group also participated in this round. The latest round of funding takes the total investment to over $250 million, valuing the company at nearly $1.4 billion, Hike said in a statement. The ‘unicorn’ club — or startups with valuation of over $1 billion — include Flipkart, Snapdeal and Ola from India.

Things you need to know about Hike Messenger:

* The recent round of funding is one of the biggest fund raises in the Indian Internet ecosystem. Hike Messenger is now valued close to $1.4 billion

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* In January 2016, Hike had announced that it has a user base of a 100 million users. 95 per cent of Hike users are based in India and 90 per cent of them are below the age of 30.

* On an average, Hike Messenger users exchange 40 billion messages per month and spend 120 minutes per user per week on the platform.

* Hike Messenger claims it has built the platform on three pillars – Local Expressive Content, Emphasis on Privacy and Data Constraints

* Masayoshi Son, Founder, Chairman and CEO, SoftBank Group, said: “The team (Hike) has reached an outstanding scale in a short span of 3.5 years. As an investor, we share their vision and are happy that they are moving ahead in their journey so quickly in a competitive environment.”

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* Founder and CEO of Hike Messenger Kavin Bharti Mittal said: Tencent and Foxconn both have pedigrees that speak for themselves and such an investment especially in today’s market just goes to show 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

* Among Hike’s angel investors are: Adam D’Angelo, Founder and CEO, Quora; Aditya Agarwal, Vice President Engineering, Dropbox; Ruchi Sanghvi, erstwhile Vice President, Operations, Dropbox and Matt Mullenweg, Founder and CEO of Automattic Inc. and Co-Founder, WordPress.

‘Bangladeshis’ and ‘ghuspaithiyas’: BJP MP Brij Lal stops five sanitation workers on road in to quiz them on video

‘Bangladeshis’, ‘ghuspaithiyas’: On camera, BJP MP quizzes 5 sanitation workers

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BJP MP and former UP DGP Brij Lal has sparked controversy with a video accusing five sanitation workers in Lucknow's Gomti Nagar Extension of being Bangladeshi infiltrators. Lal, a former IPS officer, claims to know how terrorism works and alleges that these workers are a threat to the nation. He appeals to CM Yogi Adityanath to deport them and claims they have fake identities.

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