It looks like Indian messaging app Hike is in trouble. Hike, once one of India’s most valuable startups with unicorn status, has become the latest casualty of New Delhi’s recent real-money gaming ban, with the company — led by Kavin Bharti Mittal, son of Airtel founder Sunil Bharti Mittal — now shutting down.
Hike was once one of India’s most promising messaging apps, launched in 2012 as a competitor to WhatsApp. Developed by Hike Pvt. Ltd. and backed by major investors like SoftBank, the app combined standard messaging features with unique offerings like hidden chats, stickers, offline messaging, and localized content, making it especially appealing to younger Indian users.
At its peak, Hike had over 100 million users and aimed to become a “super app” by integrating news, games, and social features. However, rising competition from global platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Instagram, along with shifting user behavior, led to its decline. However, the app couldn’t sustain momentum as global players like WhatsApp and Telegram dominated the messaging space. Hike shut down its messenger service in 2021, pivoting toward mobile gaming and Web3 projects, most notably a gaming platform called Rush.
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But the Indian government shocked the $23-billion real-money gaming industry by introducing the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act 2025, which imposed a blanket ban on such platforms, the federal government said the decision was aimed at addressing incidents of harm, including cases where individuals reportedly died by suicide after losing money in these games.
This ban on real-money gaming apps in India dealt a final blow. Facing tightening regulations and market constraints, Hike’s founder announced the platform would shut down entirely.
On Saturday, Hike founder Mittal said that the startup’s U.S. business, which launched nine months ago, was “off to a strong start.” But he said scaling it globally would require “a full recap, a reset that is not the best use of capital or time.”
Hike’s journey highlights the challenges of scaling a tech product in a rapidly changing regulatory and competitive environment. Despite its closure, Hike is remembered as a bold attempt at building a truly Indian digital ecosystem, ahead of its time in many ways. The company’s story now closes after a 13-year run—leaving behind lessons for future Indian startups.
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“We could raise the capital, but the real question is: is it worth it? Is this a climb worth pivoting for?” Mittal wrote in a Substack post. “For the first time in 13 years, my answer is no. Not for me, not for my team, and not for our investors.”
Hike’s shutdown in 2025 marks the end of a bold experiment in India’s tech evolution. Once a unicorn and symbol of digital self-reliance, Hike successfully pivoted from messaging to gaming—but ultimately couldn’t withstand the regulatory shock of India’s real-money gaming ban.
Founder Mittal’s decision to close the company reflects a hard reality: even with solid revenue, product traction, and investor backing, legal environments can rapidly make a business model unsustainable. Rather than pouring more capital into an uncertain future, Mittal chose to exit with clarity.
Hike’s journey is a powerful case study in ambition, adaptation, and limits. It showed what Indian startups are capable of—innovating for local markets, taking risks, and chasing global relevance.