'hike messenger' crosses 100 million-users-mark

New Delhi: India's first homegrown messaging app hike messenger has crossed the 100 million-users-mark in January this year, now logging a monthly messaging volume of 40 billion messages, the company said on Thursday.

The mobile messaging app crossed the 70 million-users-mark in October 2015, and achieved the monthly messaging volume of 20 billion in August 2015. This means that users are now spending over 120 minutes per week on hike, a company statement said. 

"We're off to a great start in 2016. Crossing 100 million users is a big milestone for us and we have achieved this well ahead of our expectations," said Kavin Bharti Mittal, CEO and founder of hike messenger. 

"Hikers aren't only messaging and calling on hike, they're also reading news on hike in Hindi and English, viewing live cricket scores, getting inspired on Hike Daily, transferring huge files without internet on Hike Direct and so on," Mittal added. 

According to the company, 90 percent of hike users are under the age of 30 and 90 percent of them are based in India.

The mobile messaging app, with a localised strategy for the country, continues to reach its young user base that consumes enormous amounts of byte-sized information, craves social interactions, shares like never before and survives on many challenges, including poor connectivity and limited data. 

The app is available globally on Android, iOS, Windows and Blackberry platforms.