Funding Alert

AppsForBharat Raises $18 Million in Series B Funding Led by Nandan Nilekani’s Fundamentum Partnership

• ByStartupStory     |    September 10, 2024

AppsForBharat, the innovative platform behind the devotion app Sri Mandir, has announced a successful Series B funding round, securing $18 million. The funding was led by Nandan Nilekani’s investment firm, Fundamentum Partnership, and also included participation from Susquehanna Asia VC, alongside existing investors Elevation Capital, Peak XV, and Mirae Asset VC.

The investment will fuel the expansion of Sri Mandir’s operations both within India and internationally. The funds will support the onboarding of new temples, the launch of additional services, and the development of a “comprehensive tech stack for the devotional ecosystem.”

Founded in November 2020 by Prashant Sachan, AppsForBharat operates the Sri Mandir platform, which allows users to engage in pujas, offer goods (Chadhava) as part of religious rituals, and access a broad range of devotional content from the convenience of their homes. The platform boasts a comprehensive list of over 50 temples and has achieved more than 30 million app downloads. In the past year alone, over 500,000 devotees have performed 2.7 million pujas and offerings at temples across India through the Sri Mandir app.

Prashant Sachan, founder and CEO of AppsForBharat, expressed his vision for the future: “Over the next five years, we aim to expand our offerings by introducing spiritual tourism, facilitating special Darshan tickets, and providing seamless delivery of Prasad and related devotional goods. Our vision is to transform Sri Mandir into an end-to-end digital tech platform that caters to every aspect of the devotional journey.”

In the coming 12 months, the Sri Mandir app plans to introduce support for five new regional languages, expand its temple listings ten-fold across India, and establish a robust spiritual tourism ecosystem. The company also aims to deepen its presence in India while scaling its operations internationally, targeting key markets such as the USA, UK, and Canada.

AppsForBharat’s comprehensive tech stack will enhance the experience of all stakeholders, including temples (both large and small), service providers (pandits/purohits), and devotees. Ashish Kumar, co-founder and General Partner at Fundamentum, highlighted the potential of the sector: “India’s devotional sector, valued at $50 billion, presents a massive opportunity for digital transformation. With its widespread adoption among both young adults and older generations alike, we expect long-term scalability in India and global use cases emerging in the future.”

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