With a user base of over 70 million in the country, mobile messaging app hike messenger has announced that in a span of three months, users are exchanging over one billion messages per day -- or 30 billion messages per month.
"We are now doing over a billion messages per day. That is no small feat. We got there quicker than we expected. It is incredible how well hike 4.0 is doing. The year still is not over and there is a lot still more to come. Stay tuned," said Kavin Bharti Mittal, founder and CEO, hike messenger.
Launched in December 2012, the app has witnessed an impressive growth of 100 per cent year-on-year. The company crossed 70 million users in October this year, making it by far the second largest messaging app of the country. Youngsters are reported to be the extensive user of Hike. Out of the 7 crore users, 90 per cent of them age under 25.
Though the company has seen 50 per cent increase in traffic from the last announcement, it still lags far behind the market leader in the segment Whatsapp. Last year in April, Whatsapp revealed that 64 billion messages are exchanged per month.
This upsurge in messaging volume has been observed after the launch of its latest version hike 4.0. The latest version is packed with some brand new features such as automatic sticker suggestions and hike direct which allows users to chat and share files without internet, the company said in a statement.
The chat application has localised features, which are developed keeping in mind the infrastructural and cultural requirements of the users.
It has 500-member group-chat with multi-admins, free group calling with up to 100 people, news in English and Hindi, coupons from over 100 brands and special photo filters and doodles.
On an average, a user spends over 140 minutes per week on hike messenger.
BW Reporters
The author is Senior Correspondent with BW Businessworld