September 15th 2025.
Kavin Bharti Mittal, the son of Sunil Bharti Mittal, the chairman of Bharti Airtel, recently made a tough decision to shut down his startup, Hike. This was due to India's ban on real-money gaming, which had a huge impact on the company's operations. Hike initially started as a messaging app to compete with WhatsApp, but later shifted its focus to gaming through its platform, Rush.
In a heartfelt note shared on Substack, Mittal explained the reasoning behind his decision. He stated that after consulting with his investors and team, he concluded that it was best to completely wind down Hike. The ban in India made it difficult for the company to expand globally, despite the strong growth of their US business, which was launched just nine months ago.
Mittal further elaborated that in order to scale globally, the company would need a full recap and reset, which would not be the best use of capital or time. Hike had a team of about 100 employees spread across India, the US, Dubai, and Singapore, working in small, highly skilled teams that Mittal referred to as "SWAT teams."
Initially, Hike was launched as a messaging app in 2016, but in January 2021, the company decided to shut it down and focus on casual real-money gaming. Rush, their flagship platform, offered 14 mobile games with money-based play and integrated Web3 features such as user ownership and play-to-earn mechanics.
Hike had some of the biggest global investors backing them, including SoftBank, Tencent, Tiger Global, Bharti, Foxconn, Jump Crypto, Tribe Capital, Republic, and Polygon. Not only that, but prominent individual investors such as Rajeev Misra, Elad Gil, and Zynga founder Mark Pincus were also on board.
Rush had gained significant traction in India, with 10 million users and over $500 million in gross revenue in just four years. The platform boasted more than 5 million players across its games and reported yearly winnings of around $480 million. Despite these impressive achievements, the sudden ban on real-money gaming in India left Mittal with no choice but to shut down operations.
Mittal expressed his disappointment and described the outcome as a hard one. However, he remains optimistic and sees the learnings from this experience as invaluable. He ended his note by stating that his conviction for what's next is even stronger.
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