AstroTalk, which offers an online marketplace for astrology solutions, has raised $20 million (Rs 166 crore) in its Series A funding round led by New York-based venture capital firm Left Lane Capital.
The company plans to use the capital for acquisitions as it expands in markets beyond India, besides hiring and developing its product and business verticals, it said in a statement. It will also use the capital to make deeper inroads into southern India.
“AstroTalk is eyeing expansion across the US, Canada, the UK and Middle East,” said Puneet Gupta, founder and chief executive of the company.
AstroTalk currently generates about 20% of its revenue from outside India. “Our aim is to take India's ancient Vedic sciences across the globe,” Gupta said.
Arjun Kapur, investor at Left Lane Capital, said AstroTalk has executed its business plans with minimal external funding thus far. “By hiring top-tier talent, launching new initiatives and doubling down on global expansion, AstroTalk can become a household brand,” Kapur said.
The Series A funding is AstroTalk’s first institutional round. So far, it has been mostly bootstrapped, besides raising Rs 6 crore from fintech unicorn Cred’s founder Kunal Shah in August 2021.
Founded in 2017 by Gupta and Anmol Jain, AstroTalk operates as a marketplace connecting consumers to astrologers for horoscope readings, birth chart analysis and other astrology-related offerings. It has about 15,000 active astrologers and caters to over 4 million consumers a month. It competes with the likes of ganeshaspeaks.com, instaastro.com and astroyogi.com in the domestic market.
In the financial year 2022-23, it clocked revenue of Rs 285 crore, against Rs 115 crore in FY22. VCCircle reported the company was aiming to hit a topline of Rs 600-625 crore in FY24.
“We believe that Puneet and Anmol are perfectly positioned to capture the massive astrology and devotion market, which is a common practice in India and deeply embedded into the culture,” said Harley Miller, CEO and Managing Partner at Left Lane Capital.
“AstroTalk grew to the local market leader for digital astrology practice in India; we are highly confident in their abilities to achieve similar success on a global playing field,” Miller added.
Elluminate Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor to AstroTalk for this funding round.
