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Kavin Bharti Mittal reflects on Hike’s shutdown: ‘Network effect too strong, India tough market for messaging apps’
Despite 100M+ users and unicorn status, homegrown messaging platform couldn’t withstand WhatsApp’s dominance, cluttered features, and lack of viable business model, says founder.
At its height, Hike was valued at over $1 billion, making it one of India’s earliest unicorns.
Once hailed as India’s answer to WhatsApp, homegrown messaging app Hike continues to spark nostalgia among internet users four years after its shutdown.
Its founder and former CEO, Kavin Bharti Mittal, has now shed light on the reasons behind its decline, despite the platform boasting over 100 million users at its peak and achieving unicorn status in 2016.
Launched in 2012, Hike positioned itself as a youth-driven “super app” long before the term became popular. It offered features like regional-language stickers, hidden chats, offline SMS, news updates and social feeds, setting it apart from WhatsApp’s bare-bones simplicity.
At its height, Hike was valued at over $1 billion, making it one of India’s earliest unicorns.
Yet in January 2021, Hike announced it was shutting down operations, surprising its loyal user base.
In a recent reply to a post on X (formerly Twitter), Mittal reflected on the platform’s journey. “Lots of love for Hike recently. No surprise. We shut it down with 20M+ actives. Just because we’re very good at something, doesn’t mean we can win,” he wrote.
Lots of love for Hike recently. No surprise. We shut it down with 20M+ actives. Just because we’re very good at something, doesn’t mean we can win.
— Kavin (@kavinbm) August 18, 2025
Network effect too strong globally. Would have to be a China like situation for us to reconsider. https://t.co/mpxOREfQbh
According to him, global competition and WhatsApp’s overwhelming network effect proved insurmountable.
“Network effect too strong globally. Would have to be a China-like situation for us to reconsider,” he added, pointing to how Chinese tech giants thrived behind the country’s digital firewall, unlike Indian startups competing with global incumbents head-on.
When asked whether WhatsApp’s dominance was the only factor, Mittal admitted that building a sustainable business model around messaging in India was a deeper challenge. “India is difficult to build a business model around messaging. Only recently emerging. Consumer behaviour takes time to evolve. Billions $ needed with little visibility on RoI,” he said.
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