The Social platform Hike announced it raised an undisclosed amount in a funding round led by Jump Crypto, Tribe Capital and Republic crypto to develop the Rush Gaming Universe (RGU) — a social gaming metaverse where players can play, compete, and win.

RGU was founded as a social gaming universe by Kavin Bharti Mittal in 2021 to provide fresh economic opportunities to the world starting with India. Since its launch, the platform has grown tremendously and is one of India's fastest-growing ecosystems.

RGU has 160 million gameplays every quarter with over $90 million in gross winnings annually across 1.8 million monthly active users (MAUs).

Commenting on the recent funding, CEO Kavin Bharti Mittal said:

“We are thrilled to welcome Jump Crypto, Tribe Capital, and Republic Crypto as investors who share our vision for the impact Gaming + Web3 can have on the world.

Gaming to us has always been bite-sized entertainment and now it can also be a means to provide brand new economic opportunities to the world. 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. We’re incredibly excited about the future.”

Meanwhile, Partner at Jump Crypto Saurabh Sharma said:

 "Hike’s Rush Gaming Universe is an exciting development for emerging markets like India and it’s their unique mobile-only vision with a focus on building a seamless web3 user experience for the next billion users that’s incredibly exciting.”

The company initially raised funds to develop RGU early January 2021 with Polygon being one of the major investors. Additionally, Polygon provided on-chain services which enabled the platform users to access several blockchain gaming mechanics.

This latest round of funding will be deployed to expand on the RGU's innovative product strategy and enable high-quality hiring across functions.