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Sri Mandir’s Digital Devotion: Startup Funding Surges as India’s Faith Goes Online

Sri Mandir app connects Hindu devotees digitally with temples.

Sri Mandir, a leading Hindu devotional app from India, is redefining how faith, technology, and entrepreneurship meet: The Bengaluru-based startup behind the app, AppsForBharat, has just raised $20 million in a Series C, a rapid follow-up to their previous $18 million just months before. Susquehanna Asia Venture Capital led the latest round, joined by big names like Nandan Nilekani’s Fundamentum Partnership and Peak XV Partners.

Digitizing India's Spiritual Economy

India’s temple economy is worth a staggering $40 billion, yet until recently, religious services largely stayed offline. Sri Mandir changes this paradigm, letting users participate digitally in prayers and offerings at 70+ Indian temples. Since launching in late 2020, the app has clocked 40 million downloads, enabling over 1.2 million online rituals in the past year alone.

The platform sees around 3.5 million monthly active users, including 90,000 from outside India. Interestingly, international users bring in a higher average revenue per user, with 20% of total revenue now coming from diaspora communities in countries like the U.S., U.K., and Australia.

Monetization and Growth Dynamics

Sri Mandir’s business model links digital devotion with new revenue streams. The company takes a 20–25% commission from temples for bringing services online and is exploring merchandise sales. At the start of 2025, their annual run rate had surpassed $12 million.

Strong retention—over 55% of users stay active for at least six months—signals that the app has become a ritual in itself. User behavior varies by region: While many Indian users stick to a single service, more than half of U.S. users engage in both prayers and offerings, compensating for physical distance from Indian temples.

Despite rivals entering the religious tech sector and some temples starting their own livestreams, Sri Mandir remains dominant, claiming between 80–85% of all installs among similar apps in India. The global religious app market grew in 2025, with India outpacing worldwide figures: Indian top-10 apps saw a 60% boost in monthly actives versus the global 15%.

However, for the first time in 2025, Sri Mandir lost the #1 spot among Indian religious apps—overtaken by Bible app LifeChurch.tv—though it remains the leader among Hindu devotional apps.

Funding and Forward Strategy

India is now the second largest recipient of religious-tech funding after the U.S., attracting 15% of global investment since 2020. Including the latest round, AppsForBharat has raised over $53 million and is set to invest in logistics hubs across 20 temple towns such as Varanasi and Ayodhya. Each planned facility aims to fulfill tens of thousands of orders for prasad (food offerings) and ritual items, supporting local employment.

AI is expected to drive the next phase, with upcoming features that allow users to query spiritual and festival information as they would a temple priest. Plans to grow to 500 temples and expand headcount to 400 are underway, with the goal to reach profitability by 2027–28 and prepare for a future IPO.

Deep Founder Analysis

Why it matters

This shift spotlights religious tech as a high-growth vertical uniquely positioned in emerging markets. Sri Mandir's model shows how culturally deep-rooted behaviors—like prayer and ritual—can drive digital adoption, create sticky products, and open vast markets previously considered unreachable.

Risks & opportunities

The main risks are cultural backlash, regulatory scrutiny, and platform dependency as temples may eventually seek direct digital engagement with devotees. However, the opportunity lies in building category-defining, trust-centric platforms that serve both users and institutional partners. Sri Mandir's high diaspora ARPU and broad temple network are hard to replicate quickly, creating defensible moats.

Startup idea or application

Inspired by Sri Mandir’s traction, founders could explore a platform facilitating multi-faith digital rituals with cross-border e-commerce—bundling virtual prayer, religious artifact delivery, and community-building tools for diaspora audiences worldwide. Personalization using AI for festivals, rituals, and cultural advice adds another competitive edge.

References & Further Reading

Religious Tech Startups India AI AppsForBharat

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