Hike, once one of India’s most valuable startups with unicorn status, has become the latest casualty of New Delhi’s recent real-money gaming ban, with the company — led by Kavin Bharti Mittal, son of Airtel founder Sunil Bharti Mittal — now shutting down.

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

Initially launched as an instant messaging app rivaling WhatsApp in 2012, Hike pivoted to real-money gaming in recent years, with its primary platform, Rush, offering casual games like carrom and ludo for cash prizes, following the shutdown of Hike Messenger in 2021. Rush

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