Virtual religious services startup Vama raises $500,000 in funding led by Lisa Gokongwei-Cheng

With this latest infusion, the startup has closed its seed round at $1.25 million.

The round was led by prolific Filipino investor-entrepreneur Lisa Gokongwei-Cheng with participation from The Fund, a US-based pre-seed fund comprising over 500 founders and operators. Vama’s existing marquee investors, 7Square Ventures, Supermorpheus, and Harit Nagpal also participated in this round.

“We are happy to close our seed round at $1.25 million. Our focus will be on expanding our workforce and technological expertise, with an aim to provide unparalleled digital experience to devotees across the world,” said Vama’s cofounder Manu Jain.
He added: “With more devotees shifting to the online medium for their religious requirements, we aim to capitalise on the 100x growth potential of virtual footfalls.”

Speaking about her investment, Lisa Gokongwei-Cheng said, “We are excited with the opportunity to invest in Vama. It targets a large and established market, has a business model that may prove recession-proof, and is run by a team we believe is fully capable to lead the company to success.”

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Founded in 2020 by Acharya Dev, Himanshu Semwal, and Jain, Vama is a one-stop virtual platform that provides easy access to e-pujas, e-darshans, and astrology services to devotees from across India.

“We recognise the incredible richness of the Indian culture and believe Vama offers a unique new way to extend spirituality across the sub-continent and beyond. As a group of operators and investors with deep experience in India, we know what a large role faith and religion play in the lives of over a billion people around the world,” said Vir Kashyap, India partner, The Fund.

Vama has enabled over 150,000 astrology consultations & virtual puja and is available on Android and iOS devices.