In a twist of events, the spiritual tech startup, My Tirth India, has hit the headlines after the insolvency of operations due to a deficiency in funding. The news is shocking because, in recent times, investments in the spiritual tech sector have multiplied.
PC: TechnoVans
My Tirth India was founded early 2019 with a dream of enabling tours to the top religious destinations of India and integrating together the temples, priests, hotels, travel agents, astrologers, ayurveda, and yoga onto their platform. The startup had raised close to $1 million from the late Subrata Roy, who was the principal shareholder and mentor of the company.
According to co-founder and CEO Indraneel Dasgupta; they’ve tried to create employment in the maximum amount, ranging from cities to villages and towns. As a result, they are able to rediscover its culture, traditions, and heritage through the hustle and bustle of the capital city. Now, after the tragic demise of their principal shareholder and mentor recently, sums of money have become very difficult to gather, and lack of agreed funds has forced them to finally decide to altogether cease operations of the company.
Spiritual tourism amounts to 65% to 70% of the whole pie in Indian travel, which contributes to 10% of India’s GDP. In the last 15 months, upwards of a dozen startups in the spiritual tech space have been able to raise more than $40m in funding. Their names are Ustav App, DevDham, InstaAstro, AstroTalk, Vama, Melooha.
Such a takedown of My Tirth, India, will really be a body blow to the spiritual tech industry, which has been growing through the roof in a time of surge investment. It had not been able to raise more money or to replace its late mentor with a suitable new one, showing how tough times can be for a start-up in such a competitive and dynamic landscape.
In addition, reports tend to reveal that other principal requirements of a successful startup include holding financial stability together with a strong leadership team. This translates to the fact that the death of a critical investor or a mentor can suddenly portend disaster in the day-to-day operations of an organization and the long-term viability of that organization.
The shutdown of My Tirth India will, therefore, be a lesson in prudence for other startups in the spiritual technology industry in times to come. It’s a reminiscence that diversified funding sources, robust succession planning, and continuous innovation together with customer satisfaction are keys to passing through the turbulent startup ecosystem.
