New Delhi, Sept. 15 -- Kavin Bharti Mittal, the founder and CEO of Hike, has announced a global closure of the business, attributing fluctuations in the market and unpredictability in regulation as major factors in making the decision.

In a post titled "Closing a Chapter, Opening a New One," Mittal wrote: "After regrouping with our investors and the team, I've made the difficult decision to wind down Hike completely."

Hike started in 2012 as a messaging app and at its peak reached roughly 40 million monthly active users.The company later shifted its messaging to real-money gaming under a new platform known as Rush. Mittal observed that Rush grew fast in India: the platform had over 10 million users and had earned over $500 million in gr...