India-based instant messaging app creator Hike is set to receive a $14m investment from Bharti SoftBank Holdings, a joint venture between India-based Bharti Telecom and the telecommunications division of Japan-based Softbank, according to the Economic Times.
“The fresh infusion of funds will be used to scale up Hike and enable it to become agile enough to dominate the instant messaging space,” an undisclosed source told ET.
BSB also funded Hike’s $7m series A round in April 2013. The connection can partly be explained by the fact that Hike was founded by Kavin Bharti Mittal, the son of Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal.
Hike operates a free IM service competes with those such as WhatsApp, which was acquired by Facebook for $19bn in February. It was launched in December 2012 and reached 15 million users earlier this month.