Thursday, 5 March, 2026
SoftBank-backed WhatsApp rival Hike shuts down
By Basit Ansari
<p>Messaging app Hike, backed by SoftBank and Tencent, shut down and vanished from app stores. The startup founded by billionaire-family scion Kavin Bharti Mittal valued at $1.4 bn in a 2016 funding round decided to go off the air without explanation. On Jan. 6, Mittal -- son of Sunil Bharti Mittal -- announced the closure. “India won’t have its own messenger,” Mittal wrote on Twitter. “Global network effects are too strong (unless India bans Western companies.)”</p>
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Read full story at Bloomberg Quint
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