Times Internet acquires spiritual content app House of God

Times Internet Ltd, a subsidiary of media house Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd, has acquired spiritual content app House of God, which is run by Innertech Media Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

The acquisition of House of God app is a strategic move by Times Internet to address spiritually inclined audiences across India, TIL said in a statement.

The New Delhi-based startup, which was incorporated in 2017 and incubated at EROS Labs, offers religious content spanning over 30,000 hours and encompassing six different religions.

“Our user base has continuously asked for innovative products and services in the religious and spiritual interest category. Consistent to our strategy of catering to a mobile-first audience base in India, the House of God acquisition will extend our leadership in spiritual content experiences,” said Gautam Sinha, CEO, Times Internet.

In addition to religious video content, the app also offers live darshan, lectures, puja offerings and offline commerce services for devotees across religions.

“From this moment, House of God begins a new chapter. We look forward to serving our audience better content by leveraging Times Internet’s deep data and technology-driven approach to understand our customers’ intricate spiritual needs and, thereby, curate new innovative features to delight them,” said Ram Chandra, founder, House of God.

Times Internet also runs a meditation, astrology and mythology content website, Speaking Tree. In November 2016, the BCCL arm had said that they were in process of setting up a large fund exclusively for mergers and acquisitions.

“The fund is likely to come into existence by early next year,” Sinha had told VCCircle, adding that the company had not fleshed out the exact details as it was still six months away. “Our aim is to become the largest internet company by some distance. It (the fund) will be, therefore, large.”

Times Internet, which houses BCCL’s digital business, has close to 20 subsidiaries, including realty portal MagicBricks, coupon site CouponDuniya, cricket news site Cricbuzz and eat-out table booking platform DineOut.

With 37 digital properties, mostly digital content and a few digital product businesses, under its belt, it claims to have a user base of 270 million.

In April 2014, the company had invested $10 million into Navs Services followed by an investment of $3.92 million in logistis startup Delhivery in April 2015. It had invested $6.8 million in Voonik in May 2016 and $15 million in DigiSmart three months later. It had also acquired Willow TV for $100 million in its biggest ever deal in May 2016.

Times Internet has investments across about 50 firms, mostly through its accelerator TLabs, and a global partnership programme under which it picks stakes in international internet companies and helps them expand in the Indian market. Last year, it had picked small stakes and forged partnerships with Uber and Coursera.