AppsForBharat Raises ₹175 Cr in Series C to Deepen Devotional Footprint Across India’s Temple Towns
- ByStartupStory | July 1, 2025
AppsForBharat, the parent company behind the popular devotional app Sri Mandir, has raised ₹175 crore in its Series C funding round led by Susquehanna Asia Venture Capital, with continued support from existing investors Fundamentum Capital (co-founded by Nandan Nilekani), Elevation Capital, and Peak XV Partners.
This round marks a strategic milestone for the faith-tech platform as it sets out to strengthen its offerings in over 20 temple towns, including Ayodhya, Varanasi, Ujjain, and Haridwar. The company aims to invest in physical infrastructure, build local logistics and fulfilment hubs, and expand its services and commerce verticals. These initiatives will not only improve the spiritual experience for devotees but also generate local employment through on-ground hiring in temple towns.
Founded by Prashant Sachan, an alumnus of IIT Bombay, AppsForBharat is redefining how millions engage with spirituality in the digital age. The company’s flagship app Sri Mandir has already crossed 4 crore downloads and offers features like online pujas, chadavas (offerings), prasad delivery, and devotional content from over 70 temples across India.
“We have grown by 2X in the last 6 months and have been able to create significant value to our temple partners and our devotees,” said Prashant Sachan, Founder & CEO of AppsForBharat. “We’ve not only brought ease, convenience and satisfaction to our devotees but more importantly enabled consistent, year-round revenue for priests, local vendors, and service providers in temple towns.”
A key focus of this round will also be on building AI-powered tools that enhance the devotional experience. These include personalized recommendations, automated ritual guidance, and smart navigation within the app — empowering users to perform rituals, understand festival significance, and engage deeply with spiritual content.
Sri Mandir’s reach isn’t limited to Indian soil. The app sees nearly 20% of its demand from global Indian diaspora, particularly in the US, UK, UAE, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand — signalling strong cross-border appeal for digital spiritual services.
Further cementing its leadership in the digital devotion space, Sri Mandir has been announced as the exclusive digital partner to the Vedashram Trust at the Mahakumbh Mela 2025, one of the largest religious gatherings in the world. It has also played a significant role in supporting smaller temples in Uttarakhand, Ujjain, and Tirunelveli, helping them become digitally discoverable and financially sustainable.
With this latest infusion of capital, AppsForBharat is poised to lead a new wave of spiritual digitization — blending technology, tradition, and trust to serve a billion-strong faith-based population in India and beyond.
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