Indian messaging app Hike acquires hardware startup Creo

India-based messaging app Hike is back on the acquisition trail after it picked up Creo, a hardware company that previously released smartphones, streaming devices and an operating system.

The price of the deal is undisclosed. Hike released a short statement late on Friday announcing the acquisition, although it does not appear that the 50-person Creo will continue to work on hardware.

“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.

Creo recently slashed the price of its Mark 1 smartphone, and it confirmed on its website that it will be its last.

“To build our next product, we need all the focus and good luck we can. Owing to this, we will no longer be making new CREO Mark1 devices or releasing any software updates,” it wrote on its website.

Bangalore-based Creo was founded in 2013, it had raised $3 million and it has plenty of links with Hike. Founders Sai Srinivas Kiran G and Shubham Malhotra are former Hike employees, while Hike CEO Kavin Bharti Mittal is one of its investors alongside major names like Sequoia.

Unsurprisingly that led to plenty of rumors of an acquisition, with The Ken reporting last October that a deal was close. Bharti Mittal rejected the deal at the time saying that Hike talks to many companies at any given time.

The deal is Hike’s third acquisition. It bought WiFi calling startup Zip Phone in 2015 and live-streaming company Pulse, although it has not confirmed the latter deal. It was valued at $1.4 billion following a $175 million investment by Tencent last year. It has raised $261 million in total.

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Source: Techcrunch

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