NEW DELHI: Hike Messenger has begun laying off 20-25% of its workforce, with a significant portion of the affected employees coming from its two acquisitions — hardware maker Creo and social networking venture InstaLively — that it announced last year.According to a source with knowledge of the matter, the total number of retrenchments could range between 50 and 75 employees across locations.When contacted by ET, Hike Messenger spokesperson confirmed the layoffs but did not comment on the numbers. “We made a few acquisitions last year that skyrocketed the team size, mostly in Bengaluru. We’re integrating and streamlining these teams. Just business as usual,” a company spokesperson wrote in response to an email from ET.The layoffs are expected to be across functions, including human resources, accounting and finance, among others.Employees, according to the source cited above, are being provided with a severance package, starting with two months salary and upwards.Hike had announced its acquisition of Creo, the maker of Teewe , a HDMI media streaming device in August last year, for an undisclosed sum, but which was widely reported to be an acqui-hire. At the time of the announcement, Creo was reported to have 50 employees.Prior to that, in February 2017, it acquired social networking app Pulse , which was owned and operated by InstaLively, also for an undisclosed sum.The latest developments come about five months after the Delhi-based company, founded by Bharti Airtel scion Kavin Mittal , unveiled a brand new mobile operating system, Total, that offer services, such as, messaging and recharging without using data, targeting the lower end of smartphone users to take on leader WhatsApp in a better way.In 2016, Hike Messenger became the fastest and the youngest startup in Indian to be bestowed the Unicorn status, after it closed $175 million in funding led by Tencent and Foxconn, and which valued the-then four-year-old company at $1.4 billion.