Tiki, a short-form video app, is set to shut down its operations in India on June 27, adding to the list of businesses that failed to capitalize on the void left by TikTok’s ban in the South Asian market. In a post, Tiki announced, “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.”
The demise of Tiki, known for its original and locally-focused videos, is surprising considering it had around 35 million monthly active users in India, its sole operational market, according to data from Sensor Tower.
Tiki, headquartered in Singapore, entered the Indian market immediately after TikTok was banned by New Delhi. The ownership and financial backing of the video app, which was owned by Dol Technologies, remains a mystery. Industry executives speculate that Tiki may have been a loose subsidiary of one of the Chinese video apps that faced the ban in mid-2020.
Amidst the rapid consolidation and exits in India’s short video market, Tiki’s closure follows the sale of MX Player’s short video business by Times Internet to ShareChat last year, as well as Xiaomi’s shutdown of its short video offering Zili earlier this month. The challenges faced by the tech industry have contributed to the closure of numerous startups, as acknowledged in a social media post by Tiki signed by ‘Team Tiki.’
