AI-native startups are now trying their luck in astrology, aiming to supplement or replace current aggregator business models with hyper-personalised algorithms with greater accuracy.
Currently, market leaders in faith-tech, such as AstroTalk and InstaAstro, rely on the marketplace model, using their platforms as intermediaries between users and astrologers and charging both.
However, as startups such as Melooha, AstroSage AI, Vaya, AstroSure AI, and HiAstro, among others, continue to attract modest cheque sizes, questions are likely to persist over how real their disruption will prove to be and whether they can scale meaningfully.
Data from Venture Intelligence shows that among the top 10 deals between 2023 and 2025, the two largest went to AstroTalk: a $20 million round in February 2024 from Left Lane Capital, followed by a $14 million cheque in June that year from Elev8 Venture Partners and Left Lane Capital.
Apart from that, most rounds have been under $5 million. HiAstro has raised $4 million from AdvantEdge Partners and others. MyNaksh has raised $1 million. Notably, across the 10 deals, half were made in 2025.
Even investors say that, while the sector is ripe for disruption, it is still in its early stages.
Second wave
Meanwhile, players are going big.
“We built our entire prediction engine in-house using the help of astrologers and created our own software intellectual property,” said Vikram Labhe, founder and chief executive of Melooha. “The goal has been to make sure answers are available in real-time and with a lot of consistency.”
Around since 2022, the Nagpur-based company has raised $635,000. It plans to begin fundraising in April for $5-15 million and hopes to close the round by the second half of 2026.
AstroSage, one of the oldest in the faith-tech industry and bootstrapped since its inception back in 2000, has chosen a different approach. Company founder Punit Pandey said they had a mobile app as early as 2004, eventually creating a proper one by 2011-12.
But back then, the business model was more geared towards being an aggregator. Even now, the Noida-based company has nearly 35,000 astrologers, accounting for 65% of its revenue. “The remaining 35% comes from AI,” said Pandey. “The growth for the human side of the business has slowed to about 1-2% every month, while AI is about 20%.” In the next four to five months, the company expects AI revenue to overtake that of the aggregation platform.
Vaya, which raised $1.5 million in a seed round co-led by venture capital firm Accel and Arkam Ventures, currently operates as an aggregator platform and has invested significantly in building AI capabilities for both users and astrologers. Daily horoscopes and partner compatibility readings are personalised, with portions of the latter unlocking over several days.
For astrologers, the New Delhi-based startup has injected AI workflows into every part of their consultation process. “Things like the Dasha system, or chart analysis, are tracked and fetched by AI from a user's chart to help astrologers deliver advice at scale,” said Maahin Puri, founder and chief executive of Anuvaya Labs, the parent company of Vaya.
To build personalised advice and suggestions for users, these firms have worked closely with astrologers.
Vaya, for example, has brought in astrology experts on a contract basis to help them context engineer their models. “They’re the ones that help us design the evaluation rubrics for our models,” said Puri. While the company also uses a large language model to scrutinize its data sets, it uses human evaluation metrics to offset biases and train its model properly.
AstroSage chose to leverage its decades of market presence. It has about 1.5 million daily users, whose data it has collected over the years to improve the accuracy of its models. Additionally, it uses a mix of internal and external models for its 40 AI-based astrology avatars, which are also voice-enabled.
Investor interest
Whether it's consumer tech or consumer AI, the fundamentals remain the same: Increasing average revenue per user, user volume, customer satisfaction, and greater consistency.
“The moat is if you’re able to build emotional connections, build memory, and remember context, bringing a sense of community. Here AI becomes the obvious add-on,” said Natasha Malpani, founder at early-stage venture fund Boundless Ventures. “If companies are going AI-native and are able to use it to solve issues of scaling, supply, demand, and improving the unit economics, we’ll see incumbents adding the technology and a host of AI-native astrology companies come up.”
Others, like Auxano Capital, believe that, to scale and grow, diversifying revenue streams is an inevitability, given the large size of the faith-tech market. “It begins to depend on people’s beliefs as well, at which point you can’t just do standalone products. You might start as that initially for product market fit, but scale comes with connecting it with other services,” said Brijesh Damodaran, managing partner at the firm.
His argument is that eventually, they’ll need to become like holiday packages that people buy. “People want a one-package solution eventually.”
Another barrier for adoption and scale, especially for a service like AI-based astrology, is trust. Vaya said over 60% of its new customers come from word of mouth and referrals alone, and that it spends very little on actual performance marketing.
“Many users tend to hesitate to disclose personal details. Digital and especially AI-first products provide a private, anonymous interface with no human involvement, making it much more appealing to such users,” said Hari Balaji, partner, technology consulting at EY India. “However, trust is a critical factor. If users don’t already trust the platform to keep their information private, we will not see them scale meaningfully.”