Hike looking for different business model for expansion; increase revenues

Hike, the offline messaging application, is planning to foray into live streaming revenue generation business like the Chinese startup Inke. Kavin Mittal, CEO and co-founder of Hike, contends that he would like to build a similar model for his company in the next three years before he exhausts the $175 million capital raised from Tencent and Foxconn (around $175 million). He may go for another round of funding before that.

Live streaming business is still nascent in China. It works like this: A live streamer can be discovered on the platform and paid by viewers through virtual gifts bought online. The viewers pay for these virtual gifts through real money (in-app purchases). The live streamers get 30% of this with the platform taking the rest.

However, Mittal is aware that his company needs to first attain a scale before he starts monetizing his current business and think of other avenues. He said that “I think we should double, if not triple the size before we start doing that. The best part is—virtual items have 100% margins; you can make it at home”. The startup is also working towards making the app a common platform for digital transactions of all kinds, a model that is like China’s WeChat messaging app, owned by Hike’s investor Tencent.