Bharti SoftBank invests $14 mn in mobile messaging app

New Delhi: Bharti SoftBank (BSB) has invested an additional USD 14 million (Rs 84 crore) in its mobile instant messaging application 'hike', which crossed 15 million users in February hike; a free cross-platform messaging application was launched in December 2012 and is run by Kavin Bharti Mittal, son of Bharti Group Chairman Sunil Mittal. A joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and SoftBank Corporation, BSB in April last year invested USD 7 million in the hike. "Our goal with the new round of funding is to double down on growth, further expand our team; hiring the best talent, so we can topple the year we just had," Kavin said in a statement.

He said the application is growing faster and crossed 15 million users in February this year. "There are still less than 100 million active mobile Internet users in India, out of a population of 1.2 billion people. India remains a very large, untapped and extremely diverse market, and that's what we're building for," Kavin said.