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

Hike, erstwhile 1 of India’s astir invaluable startups with unicorn status, has go the latest casualty of New Delhi’s caller real-money gaming ban, with the institution — led by Kavin Bharti Mittal, lad of Airtel laminitis Sunil Bharti Mittal — present shutting down.

On Saturday, Hike laminitis Mittal (pictured above) said that the startup’s U.S. business, which launched 9 months ago, was “off to a beardown start.” But helium said scaling it globally would necessitate “a afloat recap, a reset that is not the champion usage of superior oregon time.”

Initially launched arsenic an instant messaging app rivaling WhatsApp successful 2012, Hike pivoted to real-money gaming successful caller years, with its superior platform, Rush, offering casual games similar carrom and ludo for currency prizes, pursuing the shutdown of Hike Messenger successful 2021. Rush attracted implicit 10 cardinal users and generated much than $500 cardinal successful gross gross implicit its four-year run, Mittal said.

Storied investors including Tiger Global, SoftBank, and Tencent backed Hike’s aboriginal ambition to instrumentality connected WhatsApp with a youth-focused messaging app. The startup was valued astatine $1.4 billion successful 2016.

“We could rise the capital, but the existent question is: is it worthy it? Is this a ascent worthy pivoting for?” Mittal wrote successful a Substack post. “For the archetypal clip successful 13 years, my reply 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 manufacture by introducing the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, which imposed a broad ban connected specified platforms. The national authorities said the determination was aimed astatine addressing incidents of harm, including cases wherever individuals reportedly died by termination aft losing wealth successful these games.

In response, apical manufacture players including Dream Sports and Mobile Premier League (MPL) began shutting down their real-money gaming operations successful India. While immoderate started pivoting to caller ventures similar micro-dramas and financial services, others began exploring planetary markets to support parts of their gaming businesses alive.

The crackdown has besides triggered a question of layoffs, with astir 2,000 occupation losses reported crossed companies similar Games24x7, Head Digital Works, MPL, and Zupee. Some of them are readying to chopped up to 90% of their workforce arsenic they effort to accommodate oregon exit the space, sources told TechCrunch.

Some VC firms backing these startups person besides questioned their founders connected whether determination had been immoderate aboriginal signs of regulatory enactment — and if so, wherefore nary steps were taken to mitigate the impact, sources acquainted with the conversations told TechCrunch.

Earlier this week, the Indian Supreme Court transferred each petitions challenging the caller instrumentality — the rules of which are yet to beryllium notified — from aggregate authorities courts crossed the country. However, the apical tribunal has yet to statesman proceeding the matter.

“This is some a disappointment and a hard outcome. But I take to look connected the agleam side: the learnings are invaluable, and my condemnation for what’s adjacent is adjacent stronger,” Mittal wrote.