Hike, as soon as a unicorn, shuts down as India cracks down on real-money gaming

Hike, as soon as considered one of India’s Most worthy startups with unicorn standing, has grow to be the newest casualty of New Delhi’s current real-money gaming ban, with the corporate — led by Kavin Bharti Mittal, son of Airtel founder Sunil Bharti Mittal — now shutting down.

On Saturday, Hike founder Mittal (pictured above) mentioned that the startup’s U.S. enterprise, which launched 9 months in the past, was “off to a strong start.” But he mentioned scaling it globally would require “a full recap, a reset that is not the best use of capital or time.”

Initially launched as an instantaneous messaging app rivaling WhatsApp in 2012, Hike pivoted to real-money gaming in recent times, with its major platform, Rush, providing informal video games like carrom and ludo for money prizes, following the shutdown of Hike Messenger in 2021. Rush attracted over 10 million customers and generated greater than $500 million in gross income over its four-year run, Mittal mentioned.

Storied buyers together with Tiger Global, SoftBank, and Tencent backed Hike’s early ambition to tackle WhatsApp with a youth-focused messaging app. The startup was valued at $1.4 billion in 2016.

“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 submit. “For the first time in 13 years, my answer is no. Not for me, not for my team, and not for our investors.”

Last month, the Indian authorities shocked the $23-billion real-money gaming trade by introducing the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, which imposed a blanket ban on such platforms. The federal authorities mentioned the choice was geared toward addressing incidents of hurt, together with circumstances the place people reportedly died by suicide after dropping cash in these video games.

In response, high trade gamers together with Dream Sports and Mobile Premier League (MPL) started shutting down their real-money gaming operations in India. While some began pivoting to new ventures like micro-dramas and financial services, others started exploring worldwide markets to maintain components of their gaming companies alive.

The crackdown has additionally triggered a wave of layoffs, with round 2,000 job losses reported throughout corporations like Games24x7, Head Digital Works, MPL, and Zupee. Some of them are planning to chop as much as 90% of their workforce as they try to adapt or exit the area, sources informed TechCrunch.

Some VC companies backing these startups have additionally questioned their founders on whether or not there had been any early indicators of regulatory motion — and if that’s the case, why no steps had been taken to mitigate the influence, sources accustomed to the conversations informed TechCrunch.

Earlier this week, the Indian Supreme Court transferred all petitions challenging the brand new legislation — the foundations of that are but to be notified — from a number of state courts throughout the nation. However, the highest courtroom has but to start listening to the matter.

“This is both a disappointment and a hard outcome. But I choose to look on the bright side: the learnings are invaluable, and my conviction for what’s next is even stronger,” Mittal wrote.