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Spiritual startup My Tirth India shuts down ops due to lack of funds

EntrackrEntrackr · 10m ago
Spiritual startup My Tirth India shuts down ops due to lack of funds
Medial

Spiritual tech startup My Tirth India announced on Monday that it is shutting down operations due to a funding crisis. This news comes as a surprise, given that spiritual tech has emerged as one of the hottest sectors, even though the funding environment has been tight for others. In the past 15 months, over a dozen startups in the spiritual tech space have mopped up more than $40 million. My Tirth India is a pilgrimage and darshan site which used to enable tours to India’s top religious destinations by bringing temples, priests, hotels, travel agents, astrologers, ayurveda, and yoga to one platform. “..we have tried to generate as much employment as possible across cities, villages and towns encouraging people to rediscover their culture, traditions and heritage. But it’s with utter sadness that we finally have to shut down the office due to the lack of funds after the unfortunate demise of our principal shareholder and mentor,” said Indraneel Dasgupta, co-founder and CEO of My Tirth India. According to My Tirth India, it raised nearly $1 million from the late Subrata Roy who was the company’s principal shareholder and mentor. Roy was the founder and managing director of Sahara India Pariwar. Currently, singer Anup Jalota is My Tirth India’s chief mentor. Founded in 2019, the firm also launched spiritual membership programmes for travelers, and spiritual showrooms in cities like Lucknow, Varanasi, Kolkata, Noida, and spiritual products like agarbatti, dhoop, puja samagri, havan samagri, and idol, among others. According to industry reports, the Indian travel industry accounts for 10% of the country’s GDP. About 65% to 70% of the entire volume is contributed by spiritual tourism. As per data compiled by TheKredible, astro and spiritual tech startups have rmore than $40 million in the past 15 months. The notable names include Ustav App, DevDham, InstaAstro, AstroTalk, Vama, and Melooha also raised decent funding during the period. SriMandir’s parent company AppsForBharat is also in talks to raise $15 million in a new round. Entrackr exclusively reported the development in May.

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EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
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Edtech startup Bluelearn shuts operations, to return 70% of capital

EntrackrEntrackr · 12m ago
Edtech startup Bluelearn shuts operations, to return 70% of capital
Medial

Social learning platform Bluelearn on Sunday announced that it has shut down its operations as the firm found it tough to grow fast. The three-year-old firm will return 70% of the capital it raised to its investors. The Bengaluru-based startup had raised nearly $4 million across two rounds from Elevation Capital, Lightspeed, Titan Capital, 2am VC. Angel investors including Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, Awais Ahmed, Vivek Mohan and others also backed the community driven platform. “We realised that building a venture-scale business with Bluelearn was tough. We had been very conservative with capital, allowing us to return 70% of the capital we raised back to investors,” Bluelearn’s co-founder and CEO Harish Uthayakumar said on X. Founded by Uthayakumar and Shreyans Sancheti, Bluelearn started off as a telegram channel for students to help each other with common questions. At its peak, the startup claimed to have over 250,000 members from various colleges and startups across India and abroad. Since its inception, the company has helped thousands of students with internships, jobs and make friends through its online community. More than half a dozen startups operating in India shut down their operations in 2024 so far. The list counts Resso (India), Rario, OKX (India), Muvin, GoldPe, Koo and Nintee. However, a few of them have also announced to return a significant capital to their investors. For context, Paras Chopra-led digital health startup Nintee, which shut down its operations in April, said that it will return a majority of the capital raised from its investors. Similarly, trading app Investmint will return 25% of capital as it underwent insolvency proceedings. As per a media report, fashion startups Fashinza and Virgo will also return capital to their investors after a failed pivot. As per data compiled by TheKredible, more than 15 startups ceased their operations due to funding crunch and other challenges in 2023.

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