My goal is to get 'Hike' to masses, says Kavin Mittal

Kavin Mittal has no plans to join Bharti Airtel, country's largest telecom company set up by his father Sunil Bharti Mittal, and wants to remain focused on pushing his app, Hike Messenger.

The 28-year old Mittal says he wants to take Hike to the masses. "The goal is to get Hike to the masses. That is what keeps us driven 24/7. The idea is, how do you grow this product into a product that is used by many more...100s of millions everyday," Mittal, Founder and CEO of messaging app Hike Messenger told PTI.

Asked if he has any plans to join his father in the latter's telecom business, he said he has already made his choice. "Why would I do that? Given that I am down this path, I have made a choice. I think we are going to continue on this path for the foreseeable future," he said. "If I wanted to join the business, I would have done it a couple of years back. I had the opportunity... There is a reason I have gone down this path," he added.

Hike was launched in December 12, 2012, as a separate entity from his father's Bharti Enterprises. It however initially received about USD 21 million funding from Bharti SoftBank in 2013-14 but in August 2014 got an investment of USD 65 million led by Tiger Global. It has raised USD 175 million in a new round of funding led by Tencent Holdings and Foxconn Technology Group, valuing the company at about USD 1.4 billion. Hike already has 100 million users exchanging over 40 billion messages per month.