Tough luck? Astrotalk’s $100 million deal with Hornbill Capital comes unstuck over NSFW content flagged during due diligence

Puneet Gupta, co-founder and CEO, Astrotalk

A deal where Hornbill Capital, an India-focussed hedge fund, was in the advanced stages of investing $100-120 million (Rs 880-1,050 crore) in Astrotalk, an astrology tech startup, has now fallen through, people familiar with the developments told Moneycontrol.

What happened between Hornbill Capital and Astrotalk?

Hornbill Capital was set to invest $100-120 million in Astrotalk at a valuation of $1-1.2 billion, more than tripling the eight year old company's worth from $300 million in under two years. The negotiations between the two parties had also reached advanced stages.

“Hornbill expressed some discomfort over the Not Safe for Work (NSFW) content, including videos and chats, it discovered on Astrotalk, the app and platform, during the due diligence (DD) stage. No investor wants to take on that kind of a risk and have exposure to a grey area,” one of the persons cited above said.

There’s more:

However, another set of sources, close to Astrotalk, said the two sides are not proceeding with a deal over a mismatch in valuations. “Astrotalk wanted a higher valuation, or dilute lesser equity but Hornbill was not on the same page,” a source said.

“It is also likely that some of Hornbill’s executives invest in Astrotalk in their personal capacity,” the source said. “The round is anyway being optimised for valuation, the company doesn’t need money for operations,” he added.

When Astrotalk’s round fructifies, it will largely be a secondary share sale where founders Puneet Gupta and Anmol Jain dilute their stake. A secondary transaction makes sense as Gupta owns around 72 percent stake in the company and Jain owns another 3 percent or so, as per Tracxn, a private markets data provider. For any round to happen, there will be a secondary component as well.

While Hornbill did not reply to Moneycontrol’s queries, Astrotalk called the story baseless.

"All this is completely baseless as we never signed any term sheet with any investor," Anmol Jain, co-founder, Astrotalk, said in response to detailed queries.

What is Astrotalk’s valuation?

During the negotiations, Astrotalk was commanding a valuation of $1-1.2 billion, more than 3X of its $300 million valuation in 2024.

What does Astrotalk do?

Astrotalk connects users with verified and experienced astrologers who provide personalised guidance based on birth details and life circumstances, as per its website.

Earlier this year, co-founder Anmol Jain, turned heads by mentioning on social media that over 40,000 astrologers earned a whopping Rs 511 crore in FY25 on the Astrotalk platform.

“(The) goal is to take this number to Rs 1,000 crore+ this year (FY26),” Jain said in a June 2025 LinkedIn post.

How does Astrotalk make money?

The staggering payout, and predictions of the amount doubling in 12 months, comes on the back of massive growth at Astrotalk.

The company reportedly ended FY25 with a revenue of Rs 1,200 crore, nearly double of Rs 651 crore clocked in FY24. During the same period, it increased its profits from Rs 100 crore to Rs 250 crore, as per media reports.

Astrotalk earns money by facilitating user interactions with verified astrologers and more. The company is also opening up new revenue streams with offline stores and other products and services.

Astrotalk has so far raised $30 million (around Rs 250 crore) from New York-based Left Lane and Elev8 Venture Partners.