Watch Kavin Mittal speak about the potential of virtual economy, tapping into Bharat users, and more at Global Trends Festival 2020

• Global Trends Festival is one of the world's most prestigious events which will be live from Oct 19-23.
• While nobel laureates, some of the biggest political and corporate icons will provide thought leadership, it's a great platform to network with CXOs from around the world.
• Global Trends Festival 2020 is presented by AWS.
• Register for the Global Trends Festival here.

Social connection is a core human need. And the time is ripe for tapping into the virtual economy, which is poised for growth. So believes Kavin Bharti Mittal, one of India’s young entrepreneurs, who turned his start-up into a unicorn within four years of its launch.

Kavin Mittal was in Imperial College in London when the iPhone had just launched, and an app ecosystem was being actively built. The young 20-year old jumped into the ring and launched an app called Movies Now (not to be confused with the TV channel), which was Apple’s first ticketing app.

By the time he finished his course and came home, he decided not to join his father, Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Airtel, unlike his twin brother Shravin. Instead, in 2012, he focussed on developing India’s first homegrown messaging platform, Hike. The app captured the imagination of the young, and soon Tencent invested $175 million, and its valuation rose to nearly $1.4 billion.

Kavin’s zen-like approach to business and his calm demeanour helped even as the app ecosystem turned competitive. He unbundled the super app into messaging and gaming and creating new-age virtual experiences. Hike Moji is a way to communicate via emojis, while Hike Land is its innovative tryst with social media. He is also actively looking for ways to earn more revenue from its users, and virtual currency is one of them.

At the Global Trends Festival 2020, Kavin will share insights on India’s internet users, emerging trends, and ways in which companies can capitalize on bringing the next 200 million Indians to spend online.

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