Devotional-tech startup AppsForBharat, the company behind the popular spiritual platform Sri Mandir, has raised ₹175 crore (approximately $20 million) in a Series C funding round led by Susquehanna Asia Venture Capital. Existing investors, including Nandan Nilekani’s Fundamentum, Elevation Capital, and Peak XV Partners, also participated in the round.
This latest round comes less than a year after the company secured $18 million in a Series B round in September 2024, taking its total funding to over $50 million since its founding in 2020.
The Bengaluru-based company said it will use the fresh capital to expand operations to over 20 temple towns across India—such as Ayodhya, Varanasi, Ujjain, and Haridwar—and to strengthen its logistics, service fulfillment, and AI-driven product capabilities.
Sri Mandir has seen strong traction over the past year, recording over 40 million downloads. According to the company, 1.2 million users performed 5.2 million online pujas and offerings across 70+ temples in the last 12 months. The platform also has a growing international user base, with nearly 20% of its demand coming from countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, UAE, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
The app offers services such as online puja bookings, chadhava (ritual offerings), prasad delivery, and access to devotional content. During the Mahakumbh Mela 2025, Sri Mandir partnered with Vedashram Trust to deliver services—including digital rituals and the delivery of Triveni Sangam Jal—to over 3 lakh users.
Founder and CEO Prashant Sachan said the platform has doubled its growth in the past six months and is playing a key role in digitizing temple services, which has led to 25–30% increases in temple revenues. “We are enabling year-round engagement and demand generation for temples and local vendors,” he said.
To meet growing demand, the company plans to hire locally in temple towns, develop AI tools for personalized content recommendations and ritual guidance, and scale its commerce and logistics network to support prasad delivery and ritual product fulfillment.
In terms of financial performance, AppsForBharat reported a five-fold increase in operating revenue in FY24, reaching ₹18.53 crore, up from ₹3.53 crore in FY23. The company also reduced its annual losses to ₹39 crore, compared to ₹44.97 crore in the previous fiscal year.
Earlier this year, it completed an ESOP buyback for 25 employees, indicating sustained investor confidence and internal growth. The leadership team includes Pulkit Pujara, founder of AirBlack, and Ayush Chamaria, formerly with Matrix Partners.
AppsForBharat competes with a growing list of devotional-tech startups such as DevDham, Utsav App, Sutradhar, Ghar Mandir, and 27 Mantra, but is currently among the front-runners in the sector.
With strong investor backing and rapid user adoption, the company is positioning Sri Mandir as a digital-first platform that bridges spiritual practices with modern convenience—making traditional rituals accessible to devotees around the world.
-by Bhumika Rawat, Section Editor
