Delhi based spiritual technology startup Vama has raised Rs 19.03 crore in an ongoing pre-Series A round led by Writers and Publishers Private Limited, the family office behind Hindi newspaper group Dainik Bhaskar.
The round was disclosed on 28 October 2026 through regulatory filings. It values Vama at about Rs 180 crore, a rise of about 20 percent from the Rs 150 crore valuation in its previous pre-Series A round.
Writers and Publishers put in Rs 12.50 crore of the total. The remaining Rs 6.53 crore came from Wavemaker Partners, Silver Needle Ventures and angels including Tata Play managing director and chief executive Harit Nagpal, Swati Parikh, Vinay Mittal and Nikhil Bhandarkar.
What the filing shows
Vama allotted 3,452 compulsorily convertible preference shares at Rs 55,134.39 each. That allotment adds up to Rs 19.03 crore, or about 2.1 million dollars, and it is the amount raised so far in a round that has not yet closed.
After the allotment, the Dainik Bhaskar family office holds about 6.98 percent of the company. Co-founders Manu Jain and Acharya Dev hold 14.44 percent and 14.43 percent respectively, so the founding team still controls a substantial block of shares.
The round is still open, which means further tranches could follow and the final size could grow. That detail matters for readers tracking the round, because the Rs 19.03 crore figure is the amount allotted so far rather than a closed total.
A media family office steps into startups
The lead investor is the notable part of this deal. Writers and Publishers is the Dainik Bhaskar family office, and this is among the first publicly disclosed startup investments by the promoter family.
For Vama, that backer brings more than capital. Dainik Bhaskar reaches Hindi speaking readers across India, and that audience overlaps closely with the devotees Vama serves through temple services and astrology consultations.
The same logic explains why the stake is worth watching. A media group with deep regional distribution can open doors to temples, priests and local partners that a venture fund alone cannot, even though no distribution deal has been announced alongside this investment.
What Vama actually sells
Vama, short for Virtual Astrology and Mandir App, was founded in Delhi in 2020 by Acharya Dev, Manu Jain and Himanshu Semwal. It lets users book pujas and chadhava offerings at temples, watch live darshan and consult astrologers from a phone.
Temple services bring in about 70 percent of revenue, with astrology consultations and Vama Mall making up the rest. Vama Mall sells temple blessed spiritual products, while the app also carries devotional shows under the Vama TV label.
Its app listing now claims more than 20 lakh devotees, over 550 temples and more than 1,000 astrologers. A booked puja is performed by official temple priests in the user’s name and gotra, with a high definition video sent on WhatsApp and prasad delivered home.
That product detail is the business in miniature. Vama is not selling a generic horoscope feed. It is selling a verified ritual, completed at a named temple, with video proof and a physical delivery at the end.
From a telecom insight to a temple network
Manu Jain came to the idea from telecom, where he had watched astrology content draw steady demand among subscribers. Acharya Dev, a third generation astrologer, had worked as a consultant at the company where Jain worked, and the pair built Vama around curation and authenticity.
Early backing came from Huddle Ventures and 7Square Ventures, followed by a seed round that closed at 1.25 million dollars in late 2022 with Lisa Gokongwei-Cheng leading a top up. Wavemaker Partners then led a 1.5 million dollar seed extension in 2023.
The September 2025 pre-Series A round of Rs 22 crore, led by Wavemaker Partners with 500 Global and Sadev Ventures joining, set up the current raise. At that time the company reported revenue of Rs 19.5 crore in FY24, double the previous year, and more than 150,000 transacting users.
Its stated plan then was to grow from 250 temple partnerships toward 500 and reach one million users within two years, while moving toward profitability on contribution margins above 10 percent. The current app claim of over 550 temples sits above that earlier temple target.
Why the valuation step up is modest
A 20 percent step up is restrained by startup standards, and it fits the shape of this round. This is a top up to an existing pre-Series A, not a new priced round with a new lead venture fund setting terms from scratch.
The comparison that sets the ceiling is AppsForBharat, whose Sri Mandir platform raised Rs 175 crore in a Series C round led by Susquehanna Asia Venture Capital. That company has raised more than 50 million dollars in total and is expanding across more than 20 temple towns.
Vama is playing a different game at a smaller scale. It is building depth in temple services and astrology rather than racing Sri Mandir on downloads, and a family office backer suits that slower, distribution led path better than a growth fund chasing scale.
What happens next will be visible in the filings. If further tranches close, the round will grow beyond Rs 19.03 crore, and the family office stake will rise with it. For now, Vama has a new and well connected backer, a higher valuation and a still open round.
