AppsForBharat raises $20 Mn in Series C round

AppsForBharat, the parent company of devotional platform Sri Mandir, has raised Rs 175 crore (around $20 million) in a Series C funding round led by Susquehanna Asia Venture Capital. Existing investors, including Nandan Nilekani’s Fundamentum, Elevation Capital, and Peak XV Partners, also participated in the round.

This comes less than a year after AppsForBharat raised $18 million in its Series B round in September 2024. With this, the Bengaluru-based startup has raised over $50 million across rounds.

The company plans to use the latest funds to expand into over 20 temple towns such as Ayodhya, Varanasi, Ujjain, and Haridwar, AppsForBharat said in a press release. It will also set up logistics and service fulfillment hubs and develop AI-based features to support user interaction and content discovery.

Sri Mandir has recorded over 40 million downloads. In the past 12 months, 1.2 million users have performed 5.2 million online pujas and offerings across more than 70 temples. Nearly 20% of the platform’s demand comes from users in countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

The app allows users to perform rituals online, offer chadhava, receive prasad, and access devotional content. At the Mahakumbh Mela 2025, Sri Mandir partnered with Vedashram Trust to deliver services to over 3 lakh users, including digital rituals and delivery of Triveni Sangam Jal.

The company said online puja bookings have increased temple earnings by 25 to 30% and created demand for prasad and ritual supplies among local vendors. It plans to strengthen its commerce and logistics operations in temple towns and hire locally to manage service delivery.

AppsForBharat is also developing AI tools to help users navigate rituals, answer queries, and offer content suggestions based on devotional preferences. Founder and CEO Prashant Sachan said the company has doubled its growth in the last six months and has helped temples generate income by digitising their services. He added that the platform has supported temple partners and vendors by enabling demand throughout the year.

Founded in 2020, the company now serves over 40 million users globally. It is led by a team that includes Pulkit Pujara, former founder of AirBlack, and Ayush Chamaria, previously with Matrix Partners. Earlier this year, the company completed an ESOP buyback for 25 employees.

For the fiscal year ending in March 2024, AppsForBharat recorded more than five-fold jump in its operating revenue to Rs 18.53 crore from Rs 3.53 crore in FY23. The company managed to control its year-on-year losses to Rs 39 crore from Rs 44.97 crore. Its FY25 results has yet to come.

AppsForBharat directly competes with DevDham, Vama, Utsav App, Sutradhar, Ghar Mandir, and 27 Mantra.