At the last round valuation (~₹2,600 crore), that stake (after dilution) would be worth ~ ₹19 crore i.e. a X3 unrealized gain in ~4 years. The company did ~ an incredible ₹100 crore in PAT for FY24 with ₹650 crore in operating revenue…
AstroTalk is the most well known online Astrology startup & is often synonymous with the category - but there are 300+ online Astrology focused startups in India.
Although outcomes in Consumer Marketplaces tend to gravitate towards ‘winner take most’ dynamics (AstroTalk is itself larger than all its peers) - VCs have funded a number of companies in this space:
(1) Bodhi → $700K Seed from Village Global | Feb 2023
(2) InstaAstro* → $2.3M Seed round from Artha VC | March 2023
(3) VAMA App → Raised $1.5M from Blume & Wavemaker | Nov ‘23
(4) AskMyGuru* → $1.2M Seed round from Lumikai | March 2025
(5) Vaya → Raised $1.5M from Accel & Arkam | May ‘25
Each of these have a slightly different approach. Even marriage portals have launched their own Astro ventures e.g.
6th Feb 2020 → Matrimony acquired a 26% stake in AstroVision
9th Feb 2023 → Betterhalf launched AstroZodiac
In 2023, I had spent a bunch of time researching AstroTalk’s business model as part of a GrowthX project (insights linked to below in the comments)
💡The real test of business building in this space is to be able to crack:
(a) The performance marketing funnel (micro-transactions business model)
(b) International GTM (higher LTV for same labor cost)
(c) Product sales alongside consultation/service sales (LTV growth via bundling)
(d) Supply quality (i.e. verified astrologers) & conversation monitoring
If you have followed the AstroTalk journey then you might recognize AT has done a phenomenal job on several counts to get to scale, profitability & multi-geo expansion.
Astrology in India alone is a $35bn annual market (most offline & disorganized) with ≤ 5% of the market online🤯. AstroTalk dominates online but the market is HUGE and there is headroom for a lot more activity.
➡️ The key Q here is: If Astrotalk is the place winner - will there be a 2nd place winner? If so, who will? (Because history tells us that even in the “winner take most” scenarios, often the 2nd place & beyond also material outcomes!)
startups india venturecapital
This post was originally shared by on Linkedin.