Hike Secures Investment To Build Its Web3 Gaming Platform ‘Rush Gaming Universe’

Social media platform, Hike has raised an undisclosed amount of investment from Jump Crypto, Tribe Capital and Republic Crypto for its web3 gaming platform, Rush Gaming Universe (RGU). 

The fresh capital will be used to develop RGU’s product strategy and hire new talents across verticals. 

As part of the deal, the three investors will contribute to the building of RGU as a web3 gaming platform. Jump Crypto will serve as the market maker to help RGU navigate exchanges while Republic Crypto will act as a token advisory and sale partner.

The investment comes months after Hike raised an undisclosed investment in January this year, from Ethereum layer 2 startup, Polygon. 

As per the deal, the two companies collaborated on transforming Hike’s Rush Gaming Universe from web2 to web3 technologies.

RGU is essentially a play-to-earn gaming platform where players can participate in the games and generate digital assets based on the outcome of gameplay. Besides this, players can own the networks and economies they create.

As per the website, RGU holds over $90 Mn annual winnings and more than 160 Mn gameplays in a quarter. 

P2E games are referred to as games that reward players by paying them. Players earn digital assets such as NFTs by participating. These rewards can later be sold and exchanged on different marketplaces. 

Founded in 2012 by Kavin Bharti Mittal, son of the billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal, Hike is an online messaging platform. Over the years, the messaging platform has offered various services including wallet, Hikemoji, Hikeland, cricket scores, and horoscope, among others to grab users’ attention. 

Hike joined the unicorn club after receiving an investment worth $175 Mn in 2016. It counts Foxconn, Tiger Global and SoftBank as its investors. 

In August last year, Hike raised an undisclosed amount of investment from Sean Rad and Justin Mateen from Tinder, Rajeev Mishra from SoftBank Vision Fund, Arjun Sethi from Tribe Capital. 

The round also saw participation from individual investors such as Bhavin Turakhia, Kunal Bahl and Binny Bansal. 

According to a report, the digital asset economy is expected to grow at a 43.1% CAGR from $5.1 Bn in 2021 to $261.8 Bn over an 11-year period, resulting in a $1.1 Tn contribution to India’s economy,