AstroTalk, which offers an online marketplace for astrology services, has secured another $14 million (Rs 117 crore) in a round led by domestic venture capital firm Elev8 Venture Partners, months after raising its maiden funding cheque.
The latest round is a mix of primary and secondary investments. Bengaluru-based Elev8 invested $7 million in the round, with participation from New York-based Left Lane Capital, which is an existing investor.
“We are advancing our growth plans, and will be launching newer apps, geographies and categories this year, thus cementing our position as the largest Spiritual-tech company in India," Puneet Gupta, founder of Astrotalk, said in a statement. The company plans to expand its offerings in regional languages and formats, and grow its team too.
The deal, struck at a pre-money valuation of Rs 2,400 crore ($288 million), comes about three months after AstroTalk said it had raised $20 million in its Series A funding round led by Left Lane Capital.
At the time, the company said it was expanding markets across the US, Canada, the UK and Middle East, aiming to push the contribution of international markets from 20% then.
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 20,000 active astrologers and caters to over 5 million active users. It has over 1 million monthly transacting users. 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.
"Puneet and Anmol have done an extraordinary job building such a rapidly growing and substantial organisation in a short period,” Navin Honagudi, Managing Director and Founding General Partner of Elev8 Venture Partners.
“We firmly believe that there is significant growth potential left for the company. The management has exciting plans to create a high-growth, sustainable organisation in a unique sector," he added.
AstroTalk is one of several online astrology platforms that are gaining traction and attracting investors. Earlier today, VCCircle reported that Astroyogi, one of India's first online astrology platforms, intends to raise its first external round of funding. The firm has received inbound interests from some private investment firms and strategic investors and is working with an investment banker to finalise the process.
In May, spiritual-tech platform InstaAstro raised $2.3 million in a round led by Artha Venture Fund.