New Delhi: Bharti group’s promoter Sunil Bharti Mittal’s son Kavin Bharti Mittal led chat application Hike has acquired US start-up Zip Phone, which allows users to make and receive calls over internet. This acquisition is aimed at expanding Hike’s product range in the internet based communication space. Zip Phone, a one man startup founded by Anuj Jain in the US, has developed a voice calling app, which works globally.
“From day one we’ve strongly believed that through communication, we can bring India online. With the acquisition we take one more step towards that mission. Zip Phone’s technology will allow us to bring free voice calling to the market much faster. Incidentally, this is one of the top requested features from our users as well. We can’t wait to launch this on hike,” said Kavin Bharti Mittal, founder and CEO, hike messenger.
Launched in December 2012, hike has over 35 million users and has raised $86 million from Tiger Global and BSB till date. The app also boasts of a fairly young user base with over 90 per cent of its users being under the age of 25 and residing in India, said hike. The chat application has localised features, which are developed keeping in mind the infrastructural and cultural requirements.
