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Vernacular social gaming platform WinZO on Monday said it has bought back early investor Hike's shares for $12 million, making it one of the largest buyback transactions by an early stage firm in the Indian start-up ecosystem. The move gives a complete exit to Hike with four-fold returns on their investment in May 2019. Hike participated in the $5 million Series A funding in WinZO in 2019 and has received 4 times returns within a span of 18 months, the company said in a statement. The gaming startup recently raised additional $13 million from its existing investors Stephan Pagliuca, Makers Fund, and Courtside Venture, taking to total raised value to $18 billion in its Series B round. "Hike's been given a complete exit from WinZO. As founders, we are humbled to have a Board that is extremely bullish, and completely aligned with the audacious goals we have set for ourselves. They had immensely supported the company through the process," said Paavan Nanda, the Co-Founder of WinZO. Earlier this year, Hike announced shutting down its primary messaging business and launched a rival gaming app Rush, similar to WinZO. The move came after the the gaming start-up raised additional $13 million capital from its existing investors Stephan Pagliuca, Makers Fund and Courtside Venture. These investors had led the $18 Million Series B fund raise for WinZO in September 2020, taking the total fund raise tally for the three year old startup to $38 million. WinZO recently announced a game developer fund-II of a $5 million corpus after its series B fund raise. It has also announced initiatives to groom the aspiring content creators through structured training programmes. WinZO hosts more than 80 games served in five formats to the users in over 12 regional languages.

Gaming startup WinZO gives complete exit to Hike – Kavin Mittal gets four times return on investment

<ul><li>In an interview with Business Insider, <keyword id="6567188" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kavin-Bharti-Mittal">Kavin Bharti Mittal</keyword>, founder &amp; CEO of <keyword id="1868750" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Hike-Messenger">Hike Messenger</keyword> said that he wants to employ psychologists to understand “why people do what they do?” </li><li>The game designers will be working on the Hike’s new social experience — <keyword id="8713739" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="hikeland">HikeLand</keyword>. </li><li>Hike is also looking for a crypto economist. The role demands digital skills including blockchain, consensus algorithms, bonding curves, mining.</li></ul>While the world is moving towards mainstream IT roles and emerging technologies like AI and data science, instant messaging platform Hike is looking to hire game designers, economists and psychologists. In an interview with Business Insider, Kavin Bharti Mittal, founder &amp; CEO of Hike Messenger said that he wants to employ ‘smart’ people to fit into the company’s fast-paced culture. “One thing about us is, we like keeping our teams small. We’re 150 people and we like that size. We’ll be hiring game designers, economists and psychologists — for a deeper understanding about why people do what they do?” Mittal said. The game designers will be working on the Hike’s new social experience — HikeLand, he added. He said that Hike has no ties with the offline world — which explains the lower demand for technology roles. <div type="Youtube" id="yU0IcyPgCpU" title="Kavin Mittal, Founder &amp; CEO, Hike shares his 2020 vision" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/yU0IcyPgCpU/mqdefault.jpg"></div>

 In his recent tweet, Mittal also advertised for the opening of a crypto economist for Hike. The role demands digital skills including blockchain, consensus algorithms, bonding curves, and <keyword id="179198" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="20" keywordseo="data-mining">data mining</keyword>. “It is someone who can help us explore and design a new type of blockchain economy. You should have a deep understanding of blockchain, consensus algorithms, bonding curves, mining and more,” he tweeted. <div type="twitter" handle="kavinbm" handlename="Kavin Bharti Mittal" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1215423641204088833/eVf11liQ_normal.jpg" favoritecount="177" retweetcount="39" status="🙅‍♀️We're hiring a Crypto Economist! 🙅‍♂️ Someone to help us explore &amp; design a new type of blockchain economy. Yo… https://t.co/21QXvKoEfx" createdat="1581054102000" id="1225655858308116481"></div>

 Mittal also added that the company is looking for typical quintessential technical roles — including front-end engineers, backend engineers, ML scientists, UX designers. However, he emphasised that they hire very ‘selectively.’ “We are looking to expand our team but we hire very selectively. That’s because we like running small teams. We will at maximum add 50 people in 2020 — taking the total headcount to 200 employees,” he said. The seven-year old chatting platform is now set to launch its new feature with enhanced user experience called HikeLand. The company is also looking to experiment with revenues this year — to trade off between what can be offered free and what has to be kept as a paid service. Mittal claims that the messenger app had over two million active users every week, as of December 2019. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/exclusive-kavin-mittal-says-hike-will-look-to-make-money-this-year-heres-how/articleshow/73924944.cms">Exclusive: Kavin Mittal says Hike will look to make money this year —here's how</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/hike-takes-on-snapchat-launches-in-built-camera-with-face-recognition-skills-and-other-new-features/articleshow/55473215.cms">Hike takes on Snapchat, launches in-built camera with face recognition skills and other new features</a>

Hike is hiring game designers, economists and psychologists to build a ‘smart’ team

<ul><li>Speaking at the Business Insider Global Trends Festival 2020, <keyword id="866223" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kavin-Mittal">Kavin Mittal</keyword> of <keyword id="44033" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="hike">Hike</keyword> said <keyword id="6354632" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="social-media">social media</keyword> companies grow at the back of the customer data. “Your data, my data – but where’s my cut?” he said. </li><li>The average <keyword id="6262601" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="indian-social-media">Indian social media</keyword> user spends 17 hours on platforms every week and consumes over 8.3 gigabytes of data. </li><li>The next big money from social media will come from ads, micropayments and commerce.</li></ul>India is one of the world's biggest markets for social media. But India's homegrown social media startup Hike's founder Kavin Mittal has a question that he believes can change the way we look at social media in the country – what happens when the customers ask for their cut from these platforms for using their data? According to McKinsey's report, the average Indian social media user spends 17 hours on platforms every week and consumes over 8.3 gigabytes of data – that's higher than the average data usage in the US or China. And this enormous data and user numbers, which is only set to get higher (India's total internet users could cross 800 million by 2023), has got social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, setting up shop in India, and feeding on the data produced in India. Speaking at the Business Insider Global Trends Festival 2020, Mittal said, "It's fascinating to see all these social media companies grow at the back of the customer data. Your data, my data – but where's my cut? Customers being the owner of their own data – this is going to be a radical transformation, especially in a market like India." Mittal believes that is the next big leg of monetisation of social media in India, which has so far been riding on ad revenues. The next big money from social media – ads, micropayments and commerce There’s been a lot spoken about the next big wave of social media and the power of revenue it will bring with it. However, even with the millions of new users coming in, Mittal believes that the cost per thousand is still very low in India and so micropayments or small transactions made by users online will be another thought that drives monetization. However, <keyword id="3395480" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Farid-Ahsan">Farid Ahsan</keyword>, founder of <keyword id="3358959" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ShareChat">Sharechat</keyword>, one of India’s largest home grown platforms, still swears by the ad revenue model. “We are not against any sort of monetisation in a low ARPU economy like India. It's important that you are able to build revenue in a way that it's a win-win for everyone whether it's the brand, platform or the user,” said Ahsan. Ahsan believes that the combination of ads and micropayments will lead to a commerce-driven economy. The idea of clubbing ads, micropayments and commerce has also seen the rise of the social commerce vertical in India with homegrown players like Meesho (backed by Facebook), having rapidly made a mark in India. “All of these platforms will eventually become communities with their own economies where there are creators, brands, and consumers. That’s honestly how a platform should be defined – the net GMV of a platform is much larger than what the platform can actually monetize,” he said. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/uber-bus-pradeep-parameswaran-says-india-and-apac-will-follow-egypt-success/articleshow/78788982.cms">EXCLUSIVE: Uber Bus in India soon? Head of Mobility in APAC says he is ready to import the Egypt experiment</a>

‘Where’s my cut?’ the question that can revolutionise social media

Kavin Mittal, Founder & CEO, Hike shares his 2020 vision

<ul><li>Hike is looking to hire engineers who lost their jobs and freshers to fill in around 20 new positions at the company.</li><li>In an exclusive interview with Business Insider, Anshuman Mishra, the VP of Operations at Hike outlines the four-stage process that candidates have to go through to get selected.</li><li>Some of the roles that they’re looking at include areas like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), and user research.</li></ul>The Kavin Mittal-owned startup, Hike, is opening up hiring during the lockdown even as most companies have announced a . As they work towards launching HikeLand — an augmented reality-based based experience that nobody really knows much about — it has opened up around 20 positions to add to their 152-strong staff. And, all the hiring will happen virtually. In addition to looking at freshers from <keyword id="6364832" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="IIT-Kharagpur">IIT Kharagpur</keyword>, IIT Dhanbad, Netaji Subhas University of Technology (NSUT) and some other top tier colleges through its ZeroTo2 program — Hike is also looking to hire people who were laid off during the lockdown in hopes of picking up top talent on the rebound. “We are reaching out to alumni networks, mapping and prioritising high pedigree candidates facing job and salary cuts and are actively accepting requests from organisations looking for outplacement support,” Anshuman Mishra, the VP of Operations at Hike exclusively told Business Insider. The loopholes that candidates will have to jump through in order to get hired “Once a candidate’s profile is shortlisted, we share custom-designed stimulations and assignments — depending on the role they have applied for — with each candidate. We have been using tech tools like Hackerank and in-house developed simulations,” explained Mishra. Each simulation will have a cut-off and the scores will be compared to select the top performers depending on the number of positions available. “We use top percentiles to decide real-time thresholds for cutoffs, so that bar is always high,” said Mishra. Once the top candidates have been selected, they will move to the second stage — interviews. Not just one, but every candidate will have to go through at least four rounds of interviews for Hike to evaluate their competency. The interview stage is followed by one more check that candidates will have to clear — how they fit into the overall culture at Hike. “We introduce the candidates to Hike and assess how well do they align to Hike’s values, DNA and vision,” said Mishra. Some of the roles that they’re looking at include areas like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), and user research over and above the conventional hiring in product, design and marketing. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/covid-effect-startups-staring-at-revenue-decline-many-in-process-of-closing-down/articleshow/75832629.cms">COVID effect: Startups staring at revenue decline, many in process of closing down</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/youtube-talent-managers-share-the-biggest-challenge-they-face-in-helping-build-an-influencers-career/articleshow/75853240.cms">YouTube talent managers share the biggest challenge they face in helping build an influencer's career</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/hiring-at-infosys-and-tech-mahindra-is-down-40-in-line-with-the-trend-in-top-five-it-firms-and-its-not-just-because-of-covid-19/articleshow/75669358.cms">Hiring at Infosys and Tech Mahindra is down at least 40% in line with the trend in top five IT firms⁠— and it's not just because of COVID-19</a>

EXCLUSIVE: Hike is looking for engineers who lost their jobs during lockdown ⁠— here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the test candidates have to go through

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Gaming startup WinZO gives complete exit to Hike – Kavin Mittal gets four times return on investment

IANS

Hike is hiring game designers, economists and psychologists to build a ‘smart’ team

Prerna Sindwani

‘Where’s my cut?’ the question that can revolutionise social media

Sanchita Dash

Kavin Mittal, Founder & CEO, Hike shares his 2020 vision

Business Insider India

EXCLUSIVE: Hike is looking for engineers who lost their jobs during lockdown ⁠— here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the test candidates have to go through

Prabhjote Gill

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