Sri Mandir's parent company AppsForBharat raises Rs 175 crore in funding

AppsForBharat, the Bengaluru-based startup behind Sri Mandir, India’s largest faith-tech platform, has raised Rs 175 crore (approximately $20 million) in a Series C funding round led by Susquehanna Asia Venture Capital.

Existing investors, including Fundamentum, co-founded by Nandan Nilekani, Elevation Capital, and Peak XV Partners also participated in the round, taking the company’s total funding amount to about $50 million.

The new infusion of capital arrives at a moment of rapid growth for AppsForBharat, which has positioned itself at the intersection of spirituality and digital infrastructure. The startup said it will use the funds to deepen temple partnerships in over 20 pilgrimage towns, including Ayodhya, Varanasi, Haridwar, and Ujjain. It also plans to expand its commerce and logistics operations, establish fulfillment hubs for prasad and ritual items, and integrate AI features to improve user engagement and personalization.

“With this fundraise, we are entering the next phase of growth—scaling temple partnerships, improving digital infrastructure for temples, and building AI capabilities to serve our users better,” said Prashant Sachan, founder and chief executive officer.

He noted that the company has doubled its growth over the past six months and now enables consistent year-round income for priests and vendors by digitizing traditional devotional services.

Founded in 2020 by Sachan, an IIT Bombay graduate and serial entrepreneur, AppsForBharat has emerged as a category leader in faith-tech, an emerging vertical catering to India's vast religious user base. Its flagship app, Sri Mandir, allows devotees to perform online pujas, send chadhava (temple offerings), receive prasad at home, and access spiritual content in multiple Indian languages.

Since launch, Sri Mandir has garnered more than 4 crore downloads. Over the past 12 months alone, the platform has facilitated 52 lakh pujas and chadhavas across 70 temples. The platform also has a growing international footprint and nearly 20% of usage comes from Indian diaspora in countries such as the U.S., U.K., UAE, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

At mass religious gatherings like the Mahakumbh Mela 2025, Sri Mandir served over 300,000 devotees as the exclusive digital partner of Vedashram Trust, offering hybrid devotional experiences and personalized rituals. Beyond major temple hubs, the startup has helped smaller temples in areas like Tirunelveli and Uttarakhand drive incremental revenue, with digital bookings accounting for up to 30% of their income.

The startup's product roadmap also includes AI-driven tools for guiding users through complex rituals, offering personalized content recommendations, and improving service discovery within the app.