Tiki, a short-form video app, is set to cease operations in India on June 27, the latest addition to a growing roster of businesses that have faltered in their attempts to cash in on the void created by New Delhi’s ban on TikTok in the South Asian market.
“We regret to inform you that Tiki will be shutting down its operations. As of 11.59 PM India time, June 27, 2023, all Tiki functions and services will cease,” wrote Tiki in a post.
The demise of Tiki, which featured original and local-focused videos, comes as a surprise, as it maintained some 35 million monthly active users in India, its only operational market, according to data from Sensor Tower (shared by an industry executive).
The Singapore-headquartered Tiki launched in India immediately after New Delhi banned TikTok. It remains a mystery how the video app, which was owned by an entity called Dol Technologies, was bankrolled.
Many industry executives told TechCrunch that they believed that the firm was a loose subsidiary of one of the Chinese video apps that got nuked by New Delhi in mid-2020.
“The recent challenges faced by the tech industry have led to the closure of numerous startups,” a post on Tiki’s social media accounts said. “Despite being a small startup operating in Singapore and India, Tiki has always stood for being a place for real talents,” said the post, signed by ‘Team Tiki.’
The end of Tiki comes at a time when India’s short video market is seeing rapid consolidation and exits. Times Internet sold MX Player’s short video business to ShareChat last year, whereas Xiaomi shut its short video offering Zili earlier this month in the country.