Chase Coleman backs Hike messenger
NEW DELHI: Chase Coleman, the Silicon valley hedge fund investor who has minted over a billion dollars through exposure in companies like Facebook, Google, Apple and LinkedIn, has picked up a stake in homegrown instant messenger 'Hike', a company run by Bharti Airtel founder Sunil Mittal's son Kavin.
Coleman, who is believed to have a midas touch and has raked in nearly a billion dollars just through his investment in Facebook, has led a $65-million fresh round of funding in Mittal Junior's company, Hike, through his New York-based investment firm Tiger Global.
Hike messenger came into the market in December 2012 and claims a subscriber base of nearly 35 million, mostly from India. The company is promoted by Bharti Softbank (BSB), a mobile internet joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and Japan's Softbank Corp.
This is the third round of funding in Hike and the majority of investment will be made by Tiger Global, while some will come from BSB, sources said. BSB had invested $7 million and $14 million in the first two rounds.
Sources said that BSB will continue to hold the majority stake in the company.
Tiger Global has also been bullish on the Indian tech space and is understood to have already made investments into a number of companies, including Flipkart, travel website MakeMyTrip and Just Dial. The firm invests mainly in global internet, technology, real estate, telecommunications, energy, media, and retail sectors. It has a focus on the US, China, India, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe.
All of 27, Kavin (he has a twin brother Shravin who is pursuing his MBA from Harvard) took to business early when he founded a start-up AppSpark to explore the possibilities in mobile applications space. He is the founder of Hike and currently serves as its CEO.
Of the 35 million users of Hike, over 50% are active every month. The platform records traffic of over 10 billion messages per month. Hike will use the fresh funds for product development apart from engaging in new recruitments. The company, headquartered out of Gurgaon, currently has a headcount of 100.
Hike, like several other instant messengers, has been competing against global IM giant WhatsApp that has around 60 million subscribers in India. WhatsApp was purchased by Facebook by $19 billion earlier this year. Sources said that despite being able to garner a substantial volume in India, the promoters of Hike have no plans to cash out of the company but are rather focused on growing the user base further.
NEW DELHI: Chase Coleman, the Silicon valley hedge fund investor who has minted over a billion dollars through exposure in companies like Facebook, Google, Apple and LinkedIn, has picked up a stake in homegrown instant messenger 'Hike', a company run by Bharti Airtel founder Sunil Mittal's son Kavin.
Coleman, who is believed to have a midas touch and has raked in nearly a billion dollars just through his investment in Facebook, has led a $65-million fresh round of funding in Mittal Junior's company, Hike, through his New York-based investment firm Tiger Global.
Hike messenger came into the market in December 2012 and claims a subscriber base of nearly 35 million, mostly from India. The company is promoted by Bharti Softbank (BSB), a mobile internet joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and Japan's Softbank Corp.
This is the third round of funding in Hike and the majority of investment will be made by Tiger Global, while some will come from BSB, sources said. BSB had invested $7 million and $14 million in the first two rounds.
Sources said that BSB will continue to hold the majority stake in the company.
Tiger Global has also been bullish on the Indian tech space and is understood to have already made investments into a number of companies, including Flipkart, travel website MakeMyTrip and Just Dial. The firm invests mainly in global internet, technology, real estate, telecommunications, energy, media, and retail sectors. It has a focus on the US, China, India, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe.
All of 27, Kavin (he has a twin brother Shravin who is pursuing his MBA from Harvard) took to business early when he founded a start-up AppSpark to explore the possibilities in mobile applications space. He is the founder of Hike and currently serves as its CEO.
Of the 35 million users of Hike, over 50% are active every month. The platform records traffic of over 10 billion messages per month. Hike will use the fresh funds for product development apart from engaging in new recruitments. The company, headquartered out of Gurgaon, currently has a headcount of 100.
Hike, like several other instant messengers, has been competing against global IM giant WhatsApp that has around 60 million subscribers in India. WhatsApp was purchased by Facebook by $19 billion earlier this year. Sources said that despite being able to garner a substantial volume in India, the promoters of Hike have no plans to cash out of the company but are rather focused on growing the user base further.
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