Kavin Bharti Mittal has announced the shutdown of Hike, his 13-year-old firm, after the government banned real-money games.
Hike, once known for its Messenger app, had pivoted to gaming with its real-money platform ‘Rush’.
Mittal said that winding down was the best use of capital and time.
Kavin Bharti Mittal, son of Bharti Group’s Sunil Bharti Mittal, on Saturday announced the closure of his 13-year-old firm Hike following the Union government’s decision to ban real-money games. The company, which initially gained popularity with its ‘Hike Messenger’ app, had later pivoted to online gaming with its real-money platform ‘Rush’.
Mittal’s vision of building a “gaming economy where players are able to play and earn in order to grow in the network” came to an end after the Online Gaming Act, passed in August 2025, banned all online games involving monetary transactions, citing risks for the middle class.
“After regrouping with our investors and the team, I’ve made the difficult decision to wind down Hike completely. A reset that is not the best use of capital or time,” Mittal said in a post on Saturday.
According to data from Tracxn, Hike, which began in 2012, raised four funding rounds starting with a $7 million Series A in April 2013 from Bharti SoftBank. This was followed by a $14 million Series B in April 2014, also backed by Bharti SoftBank. In August 2014, the company secured $65 million in Series C funding from Tiger Global Management and Bharti SoftBank. By August 2016, it had reached Series D, raising $175 million from Tiger Global, Bharti SoftBank, Tencent, and Foxconn, valuing the firm at $1.4 billion.
During this time, Hike Messenger reached 40 million monthly active users (MAUs) and was ranked the 35th most loved consumer brand in India, Mittal noted. However, it soon faced intense competition in the messaging ecosystem, as Facebook (now under Meta) consolidated its dominance by acquiring rivals like Instagram and WhatsApp. In 2021, Hike Messenger was shut down.
Tracxn data also shows that subsequent undisclosed Series D rounds included $1.1 million from high-profile angel investors in August 2021, $2.1 million from Polygon in January 2022, and $5.3 million from Tribe Capital, Jump Crypto, and Republic in May 2022.
Hike Global Pte. Ltd. continued to grow revenue in recent years, climbing from $2.6 million in FY22 to $18.8 million in FY23 and further to $46.8 million in FY24. However, its net loss also widened from $15 million in FY21 to $19 million in FY24.
“Our US business, launched just nine months ago, is off to a strong start. But scaling globally would require a full recap, a reset that is not the best use of capital or time. The big question → we could raise the capital, but is it worth it? Is this a climb worth pivoting for? For the first time in 13 years, my answer is no,” said Mittal.
He explained that real-money gaming (RMG) was only a testbed for unit economics and traction in India, but regulatory hurdles turned it into a longer commitment than intended. While the “Gaming Nation” vision remains valid, global crypto regulation is still evolving, making the timing premature. More importantly, he no longer sees this as the best use of his capital and energy, given larger opportunities to solve more meaningful problems.
“The last 13 years have been immense. Hike Messenger reached 40 million MAUs and became the 35th most loved consumer brand in India at its peak. With Rush, we built a new kind of casual PvP gaming platform and scaled it to 10 million users and $500 million+ in gross revenue in just four years,” he added.
Mittal concluded that while this marks the end of a chapter, the learnings are invaluable, and he is looking forward to the next climb that lies ahead.
