Hike hits 15 million registered users, talks about Facebook-WhatsApp merger

Bharti Softbank backed mobile messaging service Hike has hit the 15 million registered users mark, growing its base from 5 million to 15 million in just 9 months, according to its founder Kavin Bharti Mittal.

The Indian company mentions on its website that 90% of its users are from India, and the split between users across telecom operators reflects the market share of telcos.

"We're seeing tremendous growth with hike especially amongst the youth. We've tripled our user base in just 9 months to 15M users and we're dedicated to build a world class service for this mobile-first market," says Kavin Mittal, creator of Hike.

The most popular platforms on which is used are Hike are Android, Windows Phone & S40, in that order, with iOS at number 4.

Hike offers features such as last seen privacy where one can choose to share their ‘Last Seen’ and ‘Status Updates’ with selected set of friends, and Hike Offline, which is an India-centric feature that lets users send free messages to their friends who’re not online. 

Talking about the Facebook-WhatsApp deal, Mittal adds, "The Facebook- Whatsapp deal highlights the increasing importance of the messaging space and the role it will play in mobile-internet going forward. We're seeing India following a similar growth trajectory especially in the messaging space; with the proliferation of cheaper smartphones and data plans".