Popular instant messaging service Hike claimed to hit 20 million users milestone. It also claimed that it has added 5 million users in past 5 months. Hike also claimed that around 90% Hike users are from India and among those 80% are under 25 years age.
Hike was launched back in December. It announced 5 million users in April 2013 and 15 million users in February 2014. It also raised $14 million from Bharti Softbank.
To attrack more users, Hike also introduced a new feature ‘Hidden More’ to keep users’ private chat invisible from other users.
It also added ‘Big File Transfer’ feature to allow users transfer fils up to 100 MB. Since most of the email service providers limit file size to 20 MB, this feature might be useful. It is worth to mention that none of the competitive service including WhatsApp, Viber, Line allow the transfer of non media files.
“India has almost a 100M active mobile internet users in the country and that number is growing rapidly every year. That’s the market, which we’re building for. The rate at which hike messenger has grown in the last 18 months is phenomenal and is a strong testament of the right direction in which the product is steering. We will continue to focus heavily on introducing new and innovative features to bridge the existing gaps in the IM market in India,” stated Kavin Bharti Mittal, Head, Product and Strategy, Hike Messenger, in a statement released Monday.
New users will also get 20 free SMS. If you invite a friend, you will het 50 more SMS for free. If a user is inactive for more than 30 days, free SMS balance lapses.
