00:00 Hike Shuts Down After 13 Years
4:53 Message from Co-founder
06:29 Simple Energy’s Rare Earth-Free EV Motor
8:22 Quick Updates
9:27 Funding News
Hike Shuts Down After 13 Years
Once India’s #2 messenger after WhatsApp, Hike hit 100M sign-ups and a $1.4B valuation. But cheap data, WhatsApp’s dominance, and finally India’s gaming ban ended its 13-year journey.
Simple Energy’s Rare Earth-Free EV Motor
Simple Energy has built India’s first EV motor without heavy rare earths, reducing dependence on China and reshaping India’s EV supply chain.
Quick Updates
BlackBuck leaves Bengaluru over bad roads
CRED launches gold credit card + IndusInd RuPay card
Urban Company IPO soars 64% on debut
Startup Funding Highlights
Indian startups raised $152 million this week, lower than last week’s $210M. Notable rounds include:
FinBox (Bengaluru): Raised $40M in Series B for its fintech infra toolkit helping banks/fintechs verify identity, assess risk, and fight fraud.
Indkal Technologies (Bengaluru): Raised $20M to design consumer electronics like TVs, fridges, and ACs for brands including Acer and Black+Decker.
Lucira (Mumbai): Secured $5.5M in seed funding for lab-grown diamond jewellery.
iDO Devices (Noida): Raised $4M to build electronics end-to-end — from design to prototyping to final product.
MyNaksh (Bengaluru): Raised ₹7.5 Cr ($850K) in pre-seed for its AI + astrologer-powered Vedic guidance platform.
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Links:
Indian Startup Funding Database: https://meadow-pillow-7fa.notion.site/BwM-Startup-Funding-Database-303101b874824f4c91fae9fc8ce6d450
This week’s funding: https://meadow-pillow-7fa.notion.site/W12-Q2-FY26-27208566a3608098bacbf90c0cdca4a0
Funding over time: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10-sWaL38VYz–CqQNMQEwsG9xRBAx3nwOLRKzRD4BkY/edit?gid=0#gid=0
Hike needs to be a social media like Instagram!!! India’s own social media!!!!
This is pathetic for India. Here Indian govt should have step in and give some funds but govt of India is bussy with freebies and politics 😢😢😢
Support made in india 😢
All government employees must use either Reddif or Zoho email.
Govt muat buy enterprise subscription of ZOHO for all its official uses.
Only talking is not enough. ZOHO needs a monetarily support as well. Otherwise it will end up same as Hike or Koo or Guruji Search Engine
I loved the app with my whole heart
Hike should not have closed. They should have streamlined it and kept it alive. The name of the game is "staying the race."
Hike is the app really made with love for India, we Indians are really crazy for foreign flavours until they sink us in deep ocean trench with tariff's 😅
I miss Hike to this day. In 10th, our school said to make a group so that they can share notes and whole class was on Hike. Those nonstop sticker chats were funny and memorable 🥲
Now we have Arattai by Zoho which has same kind of vibe.
Really miss the chatbot in hike I used to identify the name of the numbers it has more features like the teligram bot now . Which was the head of that time.