While residing in the U.S., the Trivedi family sought a solution to continue their ritual practice of worshiping at one of India’s Jyotirlingas, a sacred representation of the Hindu deity Shiva. In 2023, during a Sunday search on YouTube, they stumbled upon a video introducing an emerging devotional app known as Sri Mandir.
This app provides customized videos of ceremonial prayers from over 50 Hindu temples in India, enabling users to engage in prayers, make donations, and access devotional content virtually through their iPhone or Android smartphones. This met the Trivedi family’s needs perfectly.
After a year of using Sri Mandir, the family still finds it beneficial. They shared with TechCrunch that the app allows them to perform last-minute prayers, donate to their faith’s temple, and engage with local temples and priests, even while residing far from India. However, the app comes with a high price tag, with the average monthly spend outside India being $100.
Serial entrepreneur Prashant Sachan, hailing from a village near Kanpur, founded AppsForBharat in 2020 after noticing that despite the increasing online presence of people in rural India, devotional practices remained largely offline. Sachan aimed to provide attention to this aspect through Sri Mandir.
With a user base exceeding 30 million since 2020, Sri Mandir recently expanded its reach outside India and has experienced rapid growth in markets like the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and the Middle East. The primary users outside India are first and second-generation Indian-Americans seeking to reconnect with their cultural roots.
To further enhance the app’s offerings, AppsForBharat’s recent funding round aims to capture a significant portion of the estimated $50 billion market. One planned addition is the introduction of religious tourism features within Sri Mandir, allowing users to plan visits to temples and pilgrimage sites, as well as facilitating special services like prasad delivery and shrine visits.
AppsForBharat is also working towards expanding its temple network to 500 locations in the next 12 to 18 months, leveraging partnerships with traditional travel agencies and building a tech stack to enhance user experiences and facilitate temple management.
This ambitious growth plan is supported by a recent $18M Series B funding round led by Nandan Nilekani’s Fundamentum Partnership, showcasing investor confidence in AppsForBharat’s vision for Sri Mandir as a leading platform for spiritual connection and devotional services.
