Messaging-cum-wallet app Hike Messenger acqui-hires tech startup Creo

Tencent-backed homegrown messaging and social media app Hike Messenger, which recently enabled wallet on its platform, has acqui-hired Bengaluru-based consumer technology startup Creo for an undisclosed amount.

Founded by former Hike employees Sai Srinivas Kiran G and Shubham Malhotra in 2013, Creo (Formerly known as Mango Man Consumer Electronics) constitutes over 50 members team, a company which was earlier famous for its hardware products that includes streaming media dongles and smartphones.

Creo's first product offering was an HDMI media streaming device – Tewee, that was launched in September 2014. With Teewe 2, launched in May 2015, the company sold over 50,000 units across India.

In January 2016, the company had secured $3 million in funding from Sequoia India, Beenext Ventures and India Quotient. Prior to that it raised angel round of funding followed by Rs 11 crore boost in seed round in 2015 from Sequoia Capital and India Quotient Fund.

"The Creo team will begin work on a developer platform to enable third party developers to build services on the Hike platform," a Hike spokesperson said in a statement.

Hike messenger, a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and SoftBank was founded by Kavin Bharti Mittal in 2012. The company joins the unicorn club within four years of inception.

Till date, the platform has acquired a user base of over 100 million in 2017, exchanging over 40 billion messages per month. To increase it further, the cross-platform messaging app, recently acquired InstaLively Livestreaming and a hyperlocal social networking app Pulse.

On the lines of Chinese social media major WeChat, Hike launched its wallet service in June this year.

In August 2016, the company had raised $175 million led by Tencent and Foxconn, and reached the valuation of $1.4 billion. Prior to that, it raised the first round of funding of $7 million from Bharti SoftBank in April 2013. In August 2014, the platform raised $65 million led by Tiger Global.

Creo: Website