SoftBank-backed Hike shuts down, vanishes from app stores in India

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By Ashish Mitra --
Monday, 18 Jan, 2021

Hike, the messaging app backed by SoftBank Group Corp has reportedly shut down and has gone off from app stores. The startup valued at $1.4 billion in a 2016 funding round announced its app was going off the air earlier this month without explanation.

The app started by billionaire-family scion Kavin Bharti Mittal has failed over several years to displace Facebook Inc.’s rival app as India’s go-to venue for social media and mobile communications. The country remains WhatsApp’s largest market globally.

Hike, backed also by Chinese WeChat-operator Tencent Holdings Ltd., has in recent years ventured into adjacent areas such as no-frills phones and expanded even into spheres such as mobile entertainment.

Here it may be noted that on Jan. 6, Mittal (son of Sunil Bharti Mittal), chairman of India’s No. 2 telecom carrier Bharti Airtel Ltd. had announced the closure of Hike StickerChat.

The app’s demise coincides with a growing global backlash among technology experts, privacy advocates, billionaire entrepreneurs and government organisations against WhatsApp’s new policy of reserving the right to share user data with the broader Facebook network.

Over the past year or more, Mittal has steadily diversified Hike into social and virtual-mobile products. His company will continue to develop its Vibe social media app and work on a new gaming product called Rush, it is stated.

SoftBank-backed Hike shuts down, vanishes from app stores in India. Hike, the messaging app backed by SoftBank Group Corp has reportedly shut down and has gone off from app stores. The startup valued at $1.4 billion in a 2016 funding round announced its app was going off the air earlier this month without explanation.

The app started by billionaire-family scion Kavin Bharti Mittal has failed over several years to displace Facebook Inc.’s rival app as India’s go-to venue for social media and mobile communications. The country remains WhatsApp’s largest market globally.

Hike, backed also by Chinese WeChat-operator Tencent Holdings Ltd., has in recent years ventured into adjacent areas such as no-frills phones and expanded even into spheres such as mobile entertainment.

Here it may be noted that on Jan. 6, Mittal (son of Sunil Bharti Mittal), chairman of India’s No. 2 telecom carrier Bharti Airtel Ltd. had announced the closure of Hike StickerChat. 
 
The app’s demise coincides with a growing global backlash among technology experts, privacy advocates, billionaire entrepreneurs and government organisations against WhatsApp’s new policy of reserving the right to share user data with the broader Facebook network.

Over the past year or more, Mittal has steadily diversified <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/topic/hike" target="_blank">Hike </a>into social and virtual-mobile products. His company will continue to develop its Vibe social media app and work on a new gaming product called Rush, it is stated.