Closing a Chapter, Opening a New One: Kavin Bharti Mittal on Shutting Down Hike and What’s Next

After 13 years, Hike founder Kavin Bharti Mittal shut down the company. Once boasting 40M Messenger MAUs and later scaling gaming app Rush to 10M users and $500M+ revenue, Hike couldn’t overcome regulatory hurdles and market constraints. Mittal admitted RMG showed traction but wasn’t his vision. Thanking stakeholders, he said he’ll now focus on three frontiers AI, energy breakthroughs, and self-mastery.