Spiritual-tech startup Astrotalk raises $20M from New York-based Left Lane Capital

Spiritual-tech startup AstroTalk has raised $20 million in a Series A round from New York-based venture capital firm, Left Lane.

The company plans to use the funding to expand into international markets, hire for senior leadership roles, develop verticals such as devotion offerings, and expand in South India.

The New Delhi-based startup is also planning an ESOP buyback from its employees, following the fundraise.

"[Astrotalk is...] eyeing expansion across the US, Canada, UK and the Middle East. One-on-one consultations stand to be approximately 95% of our revenue with about 20% of the revenues coming from outside of India," said Puneet Gupta, Founder and CEO of Astrotalk.

Gupta founded the startup in 2017 after a senior lady colleague at the bank he was working at, who was an amateur astrologer, convinced him to give his date of birth details.

After looking into his birth charts, she predicted that he would have a brilliant career for two years, but his co-founder would leave the firm—which happened.

It struck Gupta that he could start an astrology startup as many people like him wanted to talk to a future predictor but did not know how to approach them.

AstroTalk uses technology to bring together astrologers and customers onto one platform with a key focus on privacy.

Gupta bootstrapped the company in its initial years. It clocked an annual recurring revenue of Rs 800 crore in 2023-24. Its profit in FY23 jumped 41.7% to Rs 8.5 crore, from Rs 6 crore a year ago.

Astrotalk has 15,000 astrologers and 4 crore active users on its platform.