Kavin Mittal’s Hike gets funding from top Indian and global honchos

Hike Mittal
Image by insta_photos | Bigstockphoto

The Kavin Mital-led social platform Hike has raised funds from a slew of Indian and global executives in their personal capacity, including SoftBank Vision Fund CEO, Tinder co-founders, Flipkart co-founder and Snapdeal co-founders, among others.

Justin Mateen, Sean Rad (Tinder co-founders), Rajeev Misra (SoftBank Vision Fund CEO), Arjun Sethi (co-founder, Tribe Capital), Kunal Shah (Founder, Cred) Binny Bansal (co-founder, Flipkart),  Bhavin Turakhia (Co-Founder, Zeta & Titan), Aditya Agarwal (Partner in Residence, South Park Commons), Kunal Bahl (Co-Founder & CEO, Snapdeal) & Rohit Kumar Bansal (Co-Founder, Snapdeal) participated in the latest funding round.

This latest round of funding will be used to expand Hike’s product strategy and enable high-quality hiring across functions.

“We’re thrilled to have some of the world’s most iconic product builders and investors join us in our journey.” Mittal, Founder & CEO of Hike said in a statement.

“We’ve been doing what we know best – building. We’ve been building new ways for people to express themselves online, building new ways for them to hang out online. More importantly, we are building new ways for people to participate in the networks they help build, in ways that weren’t possible before,” said Mittal, who is the son of telecom giant Airtel’s chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal.

Over the last few years, the rapid technological evolution has paved the way for massive disruption in social and gaming. “There’s little to separate these two categories. Gaming is now inherently social, evolving into a new way for people to hang out & interact in the virtual world,” he added.

The startup earlier this year pivoted to two virtual social apps called Vibe and Rush.

The company, however, didn’t share more information on funding size and valuation.

Hike, which Tencent, Tiger Global and SoftBank also back, was previously valued at $1.4 billion in 2016. Before the latest round of funding, Hike had raised more than $260 million.

“The next decade is going to spawn a whole new social future and we’re so excited to be contributing to this future with our incredible list of new investors,” he said.

The company in January this year exited the instant messaging space by shutting down its StickerChat messaging app. It also cancelled its plan to build its own operating system for Android smartphones by acquiring a startup called Creo.

Today, Hike operates a fully remote cross-functional team of over 160 employees who are working remotely from over 50 cities. “With over 25 open positions, Hike is hiring talent across roles at the intersection of social, gaming, and crypto,” Mittal said in a press statement.

Related article: India’s Hike launches in-app wallet for its messaging platform

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