Hike Shuts Global Operations

“After regrouping with our investors and the team, I’ve made the difficult decision to wind down Hike completely,” Web3 gaming startup Hike’s founder and CEO Kavin Bharti Mittal shared in a post on social media while announcing the end of the road for Hike. 

The shutdown follows the Indian government’s recent crackdown on online real money gaming (RMG), which forced Hike to halt its India operations in August and shift focus to global markets. However, Mittal noted that this pivot would have required a complete reset—one that didn’t justify the capital or time investment.

“We could raise the capital, but the real question is: is it worth it? Is this a climb worth pivoting for? For the first time in 13 years, my answer is no. Not for me, not for my team, and not for our investors,” he added.

Hike’s journey began in 2012 as an instant messaging app but later pivoted to a Web3 gaming platform to cash-in on the Indian gaming ecosystem. Since rebranding itself as a gaming company, the startup offered players an opportunity to “play, earn & grow and become true owners in the very networks that they help create.”

In his post, Mittal said RMG was never the end goal but a way to test traction and unit economics in India. “In hindsight, starting in India locked us into the model and regulatory headwinds, turning a temporary path into a more permanent one,” he wrote.

To note, Hike expanded to the US nine months ago and saw good response initially, as per the cofounder noted. Perhaps based on this observation, the startup decided to completely exit India after the swift passage of the RMG ban and focus “100%” of its efforts on the US. Mittal said that the US expansion initially bore promising metrics—10X higher ARPU, 2X better retention, and superior ROAS compared to India. But the startup’s attempt to double down on international play failed to turn the tide, ultimately leading to the shutdown.

Meanwhile, the swift passage of the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, in August,  has pretty much led to the collapse of the Indian RMG ecosystem. While startups like Zupee, Games 24×7, PokerBaazi and Mobile Premier League are laying off people in droves, many are experimenting with new revenue streams.

For instance, Dream11’s parent entity Dream Sports forayed into the investment tech space with the launch of Dream Money. Meanwhile, Zupee and WinZO recently announced pivots to short video content post the ban.