AppsForBharat, the innovative force behind the Hindu devotional app Sri Mandir, has successfully secured $20 million in a fresh funding round—only nine months after raising $18 million. This achievement underscores the app’s growing appeal among both devotees and investors.
Leading the Series C round was Susquehanna Asia Venture Capital, with significant contributions from existing investors such as Nandan Nilekani’s Fundamentum Partnership, Elevation Capital, and Peak XV Partners.
Devotion holds immense cultural importance in India, where temples abound, and millions regularly perform prayers. The temple economy is substantial, valued at approximately ₹3.02 trillion or about 2.3% of the country’s GDP. Though extensive, these religious services remain largely offline and fragmented. AppsForBharat addresses this by offering an organized online solution through Sri Mandir.
Launched shortly after the company was founded in November 2020, Sri Mandir facilitates online prayers and virtual offerings to Indian temples. With over 40 million downloads, the platform has enabled 1.2 million devotees to connect with more than 70 temples across India in the past year.
The app enjoys a robust user base of 3.5 million monthly active users, including about 90,000 international users. While primarily catering to domestic audiences, it sees higher revenue per user abroad. Notably, nearly 20% of its revenue is generated by the Indian diaspora in countries like the U.S., U.K., UAE, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
The number of overseas users is climbing, showing a 15% increase quarterly, reaching 700,000. In India, the user demographic is evenly split between urban and smaller towns, with a significant portion under 35. Internationally, users are mainly 30 years and older.
In early 2025, Sri Mandir surpassed a $12 million run rate. With a commendable six-month retention rate of 55%, users are engaging consistently throughout the year.
User behavior varies by region, with 20% to 25% of Indian users engaging in both prayers and offerings via the app. In contrast, this overlap rises to about 50% among U.S. users, reflecting the app’s value for those far from physical temples.
Competing apps have surfaced, inspired by Sri Mandir’s success, but collectively they only represent a small portion of its installs. The app takes a 20% to 25% cut from temples to facilitate their online presence, with plans to diversify revenue streams by introducing temple merchandise.
Sri Mandir not only digitizes devotion but also boosts temple revenues by 15% to 25% by attracting more devotees online. Despite a slight dip in rankings, it continues to lead among Hindu devotional apps, though it was recently surpassed by a global app in India.
Funding for religious tech in India peaked in 2024, with the country now representing a significant portion of global investment. Thanks to rising internet use and digital payments, the sector sees promising growth, especially in smaller cities.
With the recent funding, AppsForBharat plans to expand in over 20 temple towns, starting with iconic locations like Varanasi, Ayodhya, Haridwar, and Ujjain. These expansions will create logistical hubs to enhance offerings and boost local employment.
The app is also incorporating AI to answer faith-related inquiries, ensuring accuracy with expert input. Aiming for profitability by 2027–28, AppsForBharat is preparing for a potential public listing while focusing on expanding its temple network to 500 and increasing its workforce to about 400.
