Kavin Bharti Mittal, son of Bharti Airtel founder Sunil Bharti Mittal and CEO of Hike, has announced the shutdown of the 13-year-old startup Hike. This decision comes after the Indian government imposed a ban on real-money gaming (RMG) through the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act 2025, which made real-money gaming illegal in India.
From Messaging to Real-Money Gaming
Hike began in 2012 as a messaging app aimed to compete with WhatsApp. It gained 40 million monthly active users but shut down its messaging service in January 2021. After that, the company pivoted to real-money gaming with its platform Rush, which offered 14 money-based mobile games. Rush also integrated Web3 technology that allowed user ownership and play-to-earn features.
Despite generating over $500 million in gross revenue and building a user base of 10 million, the ban on real-money gaming forced Hike into a difficult position. Kavin Mittal stated that real-money gaming was never the company’s long-term goal but rather a way to test the market in India.
Impact of the Ban and Company Shutdown
Kavin Mittal explained that after extensive talks with investors and the team, winding down Hike was the best option. The company’s US operations, launched nine months ago, were doing well, but scaling globally would need a complete recapitalization and strategic reset, which wasn’t a good use of resources.
Hike had around 100 employees working globally in small, expert “SWAT teams” based in India, the US, Dubai, and Singapore. The ban made operating sustainably impossible, and Mittal emphasized the regulatory uncertainty in India as a major hurdle.
Looking Ahead
Mittal said the “Gaming Nation” vision—using gaming combined with Web3 and decentralization—is real but perhaps ahead of its time globally. He expressed hopes that regulatory clarity will improve worldwide one day, but India’s restrictions have made that journey too challenging. He also highlighted the need to focus on more important problems and better opportunities for talent and capital.
This closure marks the end of a significant chapter for an ambitious Indian tech startup, once a promising challenger to WhatsApp and later a pioneer in India’s real-money gaming scene. The industry now closely watches how other gaming startups will adapt to the new law and the evolving regulatory landscape in India.