Indian startup crushed by WhatsApp now wants to tackle Facebook
Kavin Bharti Mittal, a descendant of the family behind India’s second-largest wireless operator, plans to revive his struggling tech startup more than four years after it was valued at $1.4 billion by donors. funds, including Softbank Group Corp.
Since obtaining unicorn status in 2016, New Delhi-based Hike Pvt. suffered a series of setbacks. The latest blow came last month when it shut down its signature messaging app – a platform that has caught the attention of other investors such as Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Foxconn Technology Group for taking WhatsApp to the local market.
This setback does not mean the end of the road for Hike, the 33-year-old son of billionaire president of Bharti Airtel Ltd., Sunil Mittal, said in an interview last week. With the aim of reviving growth, he is now betting on a new Facebook-like social networking platform that promises to eliminate creeps and fake profiles as well as a gaming application that aims to exploit the growing demand in the second most populous country.
He’s the most excited I’ve been in 18 months, Mittal said. Hike would return to investors to raise funds this year, he said, declining to give further details.
Mittal’s attempt to save the start-up highlights the struggle many Indian tech entrepreneurs face as they seek a market of over 1 billion consumers with a smartphone user base expected to exceed 750 million this year, with online entertainment to financial products and shopping. While some of them have aspired to become local versions of Facebook Inc. or Amazon.com Inc., few have so far managed to even come close to beating the US giants.
Original stickers
In recent years, Mittal has had more lulls with Hike, as the glory of his early years has faded. Although it became a hit early on thanks to its original stickers and a privacy feature that allowed teens to hide chats from parents, Hike’s messaging app failed to challenge the popularity of WhatsApp in India. Another idea from Mittal – a WeChat-like super app in China – hasn’t taken off either.
According to researcher Tracxn Technologies Pvt, Hike saw its operating revenue plummet to $5,000 for the year ended March 2019 – the last year for which data is available – from $81,000 the year before. Losses from continuing and discontinued operations for fiscal 19 were $235 million, according to data from Tracxn.
Mittal is now focused on increasing revenue through two new Hike platforms.
Vibe is an endorsement-only social networking website that, according to its website, promises to connect users with “the funniest people online.” Hassle-free. Rush is Hike’s new bite-sized gaming platform that launched in December and is an online version of arcades with coin-operated gaming machines typically found in stores. shopping centers and amusement parks.
India’s nascent online gaming industry is expected to more than double to $2.8 billion in 2022, from $1.1 billion in 2019, according to a Deloitte report last month, boosted by lockdowns caused by a pandemic that forced Indians to stay at home. Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man, said in February last year that gambling would be more important than music, movies and TV shows put together.
With Vibe and Rush, we have achieved a great pivot. We’re removing the old stuff, Mittal said, declining to share the latest financial information. “We’re going to start thinking about what it means to be profitable in 2022.”
By P R Sanjai
