Astrotalk set to raise $30 million in fresh round from StepStone, Elev8 Venture Partners

Astrotalk sells astrology-related services to users through chats and phone calls on its app/website.

About two months after it secured $20 million in its maiden institutional fundraise from New York-based Left Lane Capital, Astrotalk, the spiritual tech startup, is stitching together a fresh round. The company, which provides astrology consulting services, is in advanced stages to raise $30 million from The StepStone Group and Elev8 Venture Partners, three people aware of the developments told Moneycontrol.

The fresh fund raise signals a strong appetite among foreign investors, which could also result in an increase in valuation for Astrotalk. In February 2024, when it raised $20 million, the Noida-based company was valued at $200 million; in the ongoing round, it is eyeing a valuation of about $250-280, two people cited above told Moneycontrol. The talks are still ongoing so the contours of the deal may change slightly, they added.

Astrotalk’s co-founder, Anmol Jain, however denied such talks. “We categorically deny any such news and would request the editorial team not to publish such speculative stories,” Jain said in response to Moneycontrol’s queries. Elev8 Venture Partners and StepStone did not reply to queries.

Elev8 Venture Partners is run by Navin Honagudi, who co-founded and ran Kae Capital for a decade until 2022. Post that, he launched a $200 million fund with Venture Catalysts as an anchor investor. About half of Elev8’s $200 million pool came from South Korea-based KB Investment, which co-invests in companies. Like KB Investment, even The StepStone Group is a global fund and is headquartered in the United States.

The financials

Astrotalk has scaled profitably and seen strong traction from users, which further explains the heightened VC interest and the back-to-back funding rounds. Its revenue grew from Rs 115 crore in FY22 to Rs 283 crore in FY23, as per regulatory filings. During the same period, its net profit increased from Rs 5.7 crore to Rs 8.5 crore.

The company earns money by operating on a revenue-sharing model with the more than 15,000 active astrologers on its platform. It sells astrology-related services to users through chats and phone calls on its app and website. It charges customers anywhere between Rs 10 and Rs 200 for every minute of consultation, depending on the nature of the query.

Each month Astrotalk facilitates over 30 lakh (3 million) such sessions, as per reports. The company had primarily focused on North India until its fundraise in February but is now expanding operations to tap into the southern markets and widen its revenue streams. It is even open to acquiring smaller companies and growing inorganically with the fresh funds.

The startup competes with GaneshaSpeaks.com, Astroyogi, InstaAstro, and several others. However, none of these companies have attracted investments like Astrotalk has.

StepStone’s third bet 

For The StepStone Group, which manages over $140 billion in assets and is a limited partner (fund sponsor) in VC funds like Nexus Venture Partners, Lightspeed and others, this will be its third direct bet in India, the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem.

It first invested $75 million in Zepto in August 2023 and participated in Pocket FM’s $103 million round in March 2024. The group writes cheques ranging from $1 million all the way up to $150 million in a single round.

In an interview to Moneycontrol in August 2023, Ashton Newhall, partner at StepStone, said the US-based asset management firm is very enthusiastic about the investment opportunity in India, signalling that the investor could be seen signing more direct deals in India.