Virtual reality startup Kalpnik raises $500K from Venture Catalysts

Bengaluru-based Kalpnik Technologies has raised $500K (about Rs 3.25 crore) from a clutch of angel investors at Venture Catalysts.

Kalpnik Technologies was founded by veterans John Kuruvilla, Ashwani Garg, and Apul Nahata in 2016. It leverages virtual reality and augmented reality technologies to deliver immersive and interactive religious and spiritual experiences to users.

The round of investment was led by investors such as Ashwani Kakkar (Mercury Travels & Via.com), G G Gulati (Chairman, United Group of Institutions), Bobby Reddy (Indus Homes), Anand Ladsariya (Owner, Everest Flavours), Nitesh Prakash (Senior Director, Ola), Vikash Agarwal & Manish Agarwal (Nandan Group), etc. Post this funding Vansh Gulati from UGI and Anuj Puri from Venture Catalysts will join the board of Kalpnik.

Kalpnik supports VR headsets and smartphones and works closely with several manufacturers. The startup was so far functioning in stealth mode for a year and will soon roll out its application for Android and iOS platforms.

The startup will use the investment to develop content for temples and gurus and onboard the same on its platform, making them accessible to their tech-savvy followers, both in India and overseas. As per sources, Kalpnik is also in advanced stages of discussions with a few state governments to provide its services.

Venture Catalysts enables mentoring and seed funding opportunities through angel investments and supports services for the startup community. It is currently operational in seven cities across India. This includes top metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata, as well as tier-2 like cities Lucknow, Raipur, and Surat. Venture Catalysts is also an incubator. It invests $250K – $1 million in early-stage startups.