Hike, which pivoted from instant messaging to bet on social, gaming, and crypto, has raised fresh capital led by Jump Crypto, the crypto division of Jump Trading Group. The funding round also saw participation from Tribe Capital and Republic Crypto.

This development comes months after Polygon, an Ethereum-based blockchain scaling service provider, invested in Hike to support its social gaming metaverse Rush Gaming Universe (RGU). 

As per the startup, the freshly raised funds will be used for hiring and boosting RGU’s product strategy. 

Hike | Rush Gaming Universe

Founded by Kavin Bharti Mittal, Hike is building a new social future at the intersection of social, Gaming & Crypto.

In January 2021, Hike switched from its instant messaging app to bet on social, gaming, and crypto, blaming western messaging apps and strong ‘global network effects’ for shutting down the platform. 

It then shifted focus towards its community-based product HikeLand and rebranded it to ‘Vibe by Hike’. Vibe provides a virtual space for individuals to interact and watch content with other users with similar interests. Hike also announced its pivot towards virtual gaming by launching ‘Rush’, a new bite-sized gaming service for its users. 

The founder noted that gaming has always been bite-sized entertainment. 

Kavin added,

“India being a mobile-first market needs a unique approach, and our years of building for this market help tremendously in building a seamless user experience to bring the next billion users on-chain.”

As per the startup, in just 13 months of launching Rush, Rush Gaming Universe is clocking in over 160 million gameplays every quarter with over $90 million in gross winnings annually across 1.8 million monthly active users (MAUs). 

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