Hike Founder Reveals Why The Instant Messaging App Failed: 'We Shut it Down...'

Kavin Bharti Mittal, the erstwhile CEO and founder of Hike, has revealed the reason why the made-in-India messenger app failed and eventually shut down. Launched in 2012, Hike attained unicorn status in 2016, garnering over 100 million users at its peak, but soon unravelled when the company announced in January 2021 that it was shutting down operations.

Taking to social media, Mr Mittal revealed that 'network effect' was perhaps one of the reasons why Hike could not stay competitive against the likes of WhatsApp, Telegram or Facebook Messenger.

"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," wrote Mr Mittal on X (formerly Twitter).

"Network effect too strong globally. Would have to be a China-like situation for us to reconsider," he added.

After a user pointed out that the network effect of WhatsApp may not have been the sole cause of Hike's demise, Mr Mittal said India is a difficult place to build 'business model'.

"No blame. Just is. Plus 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 wrote.

See the viral post here:

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.

Network effect too strong globally. Would have to be a China like situation for us to reconsider. https://t.co/mpxOREfQbh

— Kavin (@kavinbm) August 18, 2025

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'Ahead of its time'

Mr Mittal was responding to a user's post, which reminisced about the early success story of Hike and how the app was ahead of its time.

"The PM's call for a sovereign social media app reminds me of Hike. Once an amazing Made in India platform, Hike was a fun, youth-driven alternative to WhatsApp," the user wrote, adding that the app had stickers in Indian languages, private chats, offline SMS, news and a host of other exciting features.

"Essentially a super app before the term became popular. At its peak, it hit 100M+ users and unicorn status. Yet it failed! Perhaps unable to match WhatsApp's simplicity and network effect, or because it tried doing too much, leading to clutter and confusion."

Hike closed down despite having backing from Bharti SoftBank, a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and SoftBank Corporation, Tencent Holdings and Foxconn Technology Group.