The Growth Story of Likee Video Making Platform in India – Top Breakout App 2019

Short video-making apps have been top-rated in recent years, especially among millennials. While TikTok remains the most popular short video platform, Likee has gained traction. It had 330 million downloads worldwide, with India accounting for over half of them. In 2020, the Indian government banned 59 applications for “stealing and secretly illegally transmitting users’ data to servers outside India.” One of the apps that got blocked is Likee. Even though Likee is not now available for download in India, the app is still operational in more than 180 countries.

Note : App Annie, a renowned mobile data and analytics business named “Likee App” as the sixth most downloaded app globally.

Likee App – Key Highlights

• Start-up Name - Likee
• Founded - 2017
• Founder - Jason Hu, David Xueling Li
• Headquarters - Singapore
• Sector - Video Editing and sharing application
• Parent Organization - Bigo Technology Private Limited
• Website - www.likee.com

Likee Startup – Short Video Making App

Likee is a video-making tool that lets you make, edit, and share short videos. The parent company, Singapore-based Bigo Technologies, launched Likee in July 2017. The video-making app brings individuals from all over the world together and creates communities based on common interests. The app supports both Android and iOS.

Fun Fact : Likee is available in 15 Indian regional languages. Other languages supported by the app include Portuguese, Arabic, English, and many others.

Likee Parent Company – BIGO Technology

Likee is the brainchild of BIGO Technology, a Singapore-based firm owned by JOYY, a Chinese corporation listed on the NASDAQ. BIGO Technology is a rapidly expanding technology firm with over 30 offices and six R&D centres worldwide. Artificial Intelligence powers BIGO’s goods and services, including Bigo Live (live streaming) and Likee (short-form video platform).

Likee Startup – Founders

BIGO Technology, the parent firm of Likee, was founded by Li Xueling and Jason Hu.

• Jason Hu - Jason Hu is the co-founder and president of Bigo Technology. He started working at a factory in China when he was 19 years old. Jason, who had earned a junior college diploma, took national graduate admission tests and was accepted into Peking University’s postgraduate computer science program. Jason worked with Alibaba and Microsoft before joining ‘JOYY’ (earlier known as YY).
• David Xueling Li - David Xueling Li is the co-founder and CEO of Bigo Technology. Xueling graduated from Renmin University in China with a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy. Xueling Li also developed CFP.cn, a copyright exchange network for journalists and photographers, in the year 2000. Before starting JOYY in 2005, Xueling Li served as the top editor at Netease.com, a Chinese portal, from 2003 to 2005.

Likee – Brand Name and Logo

• Brand Name - The app was initially called “LIKE” in 2017, but it was renamed “Likee” in mid-2019. The extra ‘e’ in ‘like’ was added to emphasize the added value the company began to generate for its users.
• Logo - The company’s logo is in a heart shape (that means like) in various vibrant colours that will attract its target audience.

Note: Likee also has a ‘parental control’ option to address parents’ rising concerns about the type of content their children got exposed to on the app.

Likee App Revenue Model – Collaborations with Brands

In-app purchases, adverts, and live broadcasting are how Likee makes money. Many music and film production companies collaborate with Likee to market their projects, generating cash for Likee. Popular Bollywood films, including Chhichhore, Dabangg 3, Panipat, and Housefull 4, were marketed on Likee and received positive feedback.

Likee – Financial and Growth Numbers

There are around 115.3 million active users on the app. According to data from Sensor Tower, Likee made $776,000 in India from in-app purchases. Before the prohibition, Likee’s app had 6.1 million fresh installs in India in June 2020. But it doesn’t seem to look up now that the app got banned. Thus, the ban will have a substantial financial and user-base impact on the app.

• In the 2017 Google Play Awards, Likee was named the “most popular app," “Best Social App,” and “Most Fun App.”
• App Annie’s 2019 report recognized Likee as the number one app in the ‘Top 10 Breakout Apps’ list. Additionally, according to Sensor Tower, Likee was placed sixth in the top applications for 2019 and seventh in overall international downloads in Q4 of 2019.
• Under its ‘No Matter Where I Am, # IAMINDIAN’ campaign, Likee was inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records in 2019 for generating the “biggest online video album of people waving a flag in India.”

Likee Startup - Competitors

The following are some of Likee’s primary competitors:

• TikTok
• Helo
• VMate
• Sharechat
• Roposo

Likee Startup - Challenges

Some of the challenges are as follows:

• Competitors - Competitors are always a big challenge in every business. Likee also has quite a few intense competitions in the market. Some of them have millions of users and are performing well in this field.
• Ban - Likee app got banned in India, and it was one of the most significant setbacks for the company. India is a vast country, and this makes it an ideal place for all business owners. So “Likee” gained popularity in the Indian market, but the ban imposed by the Indian government was a huge shock for the company.

Likee App – Popular Millennial Platform

Likee app is doing a commendable job in attracting its target audience. It is undoubtedly one of the toughest competitions of TikTok and Instagram reels. Despite being inoperative in a vast country like India, Likee is growing exponentially. It had already become one of the most favourite video-making apps for the millennials.