China's Tencent invests in India's Hike to take on WhatsApp

Facebook may have a new India problem.

WhatsApp’s India rival Hike has raised $175 million in funding at a valuation of about $1.4 billion in a Series D round led by China's Tencent and Foxconn, making it the latest tech "unicorn" in the country. Hike was founded by Kavin Bharti Mittal, the scion of Bharti Enterprises, which also owns India's largest telecom service provider, Bharti Airtel.

Tencent’s interest in the service doesn’t come as a big surprise. Hike claims to have over 100 million registered users in the country, which makes it the closest competitor to WhatsApp. The investment gives Tencent an instant foothold in the Indian market. WhatsApp has over 100 million monthly active users in India, which is also one of its biggest markets.  Read more...