Drive Capital has led a congregation of investors in a $40 million round for a Chicago startup that makes a popular prayer app for Roman Catholics.
Hallow, an app focused on Catholic prayer and guided meditation, said Wednesday it raised the Series B from Columbus-based and others including Cincinnati-based Narya VC, billionaire Peter Thiel, Teamworthy Ventures, Contrary Capital, Uncork Capital, Susa Ventures and Scott Malpass. The startup had closed its $12 million Series A in April.
Alex Jones, Alessandro DiSanto and Erich Kerekes founded Hallow three years ago. With a library of more than 3,000 sessions of Bible readings, prayers and other Catholic-centric content, the app has been downloaded more than 1.5 million times across 150 countries, the company said, and has helped facilitate some 25 million prayers.
“The amazing part is that Hallow is only getting started,” TJ Dembinski, the Drive Capital partner who led the investment, said in a news release. "Hallow has a massive opportunity to bring faith into the hands of 1.3 billion Catholics around the world, as well as anyone in search of peace and comfort in their lives."
This is a rare direct-to-consumer play for Drive, which has Columbus portfolio companies that include healthcare administrative AI, gene therapy development and manufacturing, and an autonomous welding robot.
Hallow gives some of its content away for free, but charges users $60 per year to access its entire app. The startup says user growth has skyrocketed this year, with eight times the prayers this October as the same time last year.
Religion is one of the many aspects of life where people turned to digital sources during the coronavirus pandemic, Dembinski said in the release.
"More than ever, our world is tired," Jones said in a blog post Wednesday. "We’re exhausted by the pandemic, tired of politics, depressed by the suffering and pain in the world, stressed with juggling child care and work, made anxious by our addictions, large and small. We are looking for rest, for peace, for a light amidst all of this darkness."
Hallow is carving out a niche in the booming meditation app market, which includes juggernauts like Calm and Headspace, both valued at more than $1 billion.
