Pray.com
App for daily prayer, Bible audio, and faith communities
Website: https://www.pray.com/
Cover Block
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Pray.com |
| Tagline | App for daily prayer, Bible audio, and faith communities |
| Headquarters | Westlake Village, California |
| Founded | 2016 |
| Stage | Series A |
| Business Model | B2C |
| Industry | Other |
| Technology | Software (Non-AI) |
| Geography | North America |
| Growth Profile | Venture Scale |
| Founding Team | Co-Founders (3+) |
| Funding Label | $10M+ (total disclosed ~$16,000,000) |
Links
- Website: https://www.pray.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pray-com
- App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pray-com-daily-prayer/id1178884957
- Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pray.android
Executive Summary
Pray.com operates a freemium mobile app for daily prayer, faith-based audio content, and community tools, reaching a reported 10 million monthly users without raising a disclosed venture round since 2018 [Nathan Barry Podcast, 2024]. The company's position as a top-ranked faith app and its transition to a self-sustaining, multi-million dollar ARR operation merits attention as a case study in niche vertical growth with limited external capital.
The company was founded in 2016 by a group including Steve Gatena and Ryan Beck, whose personal story of transformation from incarceration to CTO provides a distinctive founder narrative [TechCrunch, Jul 2020]. Its product differentiates through a deep library of celebrity-narrated audio and practical tools for individual spiritual habits and church group management [Business Model Canvas Template, 2025]. Monetization flows from premium subscriptions, advertising, and software services for ministries.
Following a $14 million Series A in 2018 led by TPG Growth, the company's growth to an Inc. 5000 ranking and reported 100 million podcast downloads indicates it has likely been operating on retained revenue or quiet capital [Yahoo Finance, retrieved 2026]. The key near-term watch points are the scalability of its church software tools and the expansion of its audio content library.
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Key traction metrics (MAU, ARR) are sourced from a single podcast interview and a business template site; foundational company details are confirmed by Crunchbase and the company's own publications.
How the Company Got Here
Pray.com was founded in 2016 in Westlake Village, California, as a social impact company with a stated mission to grow faith and cultivate community [Crunchbase]. The founding team, which includes Steve Gatena, Michael Lynn, Ryan Beck, and Matthew Potter, brought a mix of entrepreneurial and religious backgrounds [TechCrunch, Jul 2020] [Pray.com articles].
The company launched its mobile app in 2017, the same year it closed a $2 million seed round [TechCrunch, Jun 2017]. A $14 million Series A led by TPG Growth followed in March 2018 [TechCrunch, Mar 2018]. Key subsequent milestones include a 2020 data exposure incident, a 2023 ranking as the #1 faith-based media company on the Inc. 5000 list, and the 2025 launch of a 24/7 streaming video channel, PrayTV [Threatpost, 2020] [Yahoo Finance, 2023] [Pray.com articles].
Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Founding details, funding rounds, and key milestones are confirmed by Crunchbase and multiple press reports.
Product and Technology
Pray.com operates a freemium mobile app whose core value proposition is accessibility. The product offers a suite of free features designed to lower the barrier to daily spiritual practice, including audio content like daily prayers and podcasts, a text version of the Bible, and community functions for sharing prayer requests [Pray.com Help Center, retrieved 2025]. Monetization is layered on top through premium subscriptions, which unlock additional content and features, and family plans [Pray.com Help Center, retrieved 2025]. For churches and ministries, the company provides a separate software surface focused on digital giving and group management tools [Business Model Canvas Template, 2025].
The company's technological differentiation appears centered on content production and distribution. Its public claims emphasize scale and reach: over 100 million podcast downloads and 2.5 billion minutes spent in prayer on the platform [Yahoo Finance, retrieved 2026]. A partnership with Palantir Technologies, announced to accelerate product launches, suggests an investment in operational scaling and data systems [ZoomInfo, retrieved 2026]. The product roadmap includes expansions into new media formats, such as the launch of a 24/7 streaming video channel called PrayTV [Pray.com, retrieved 2025].
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Core product descriptions are confirmed by primary sources; partnership and B2B tool claims are from single secondary reports.
Where the Demand Sits
The market for digital faith and wellness tools is expanding, driven by a persistent search for community and structured spiritual practice. While Pray.com operates in a niche without a widely cited, dedicated market research report, its position can be understood through adjacent, analogous markets.
The broader digital health and wellness app market reached a value of $64.5 billion globally in 2024 and is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 17.5% through 2030 [Grand View Research, 2024]. Within this, the U.S. remains the largest regional market. A more direct signal is the consistent user base for faith content; for example, the YouVersion Bible App reported over 650 million installs globally as of 2023 [YouVersion].
Demand drivers for Pray.com's category are multifaceted. A primary tailwind is the ongoing decline in regular church attendance, which creates a need for alternative, accessible forms of faith practice [Pew Research Center, 2022]. This is coupled with a broader cultural trend toward personalized wellness routines. The company's product evolution, adding celebrity-narrated audio and cinematic scripture, directly targets the growing consumer appetite for high-quality, on-demand audio content.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Global Digital Health & Wellness Apps (2024) | $64.5B |
| Projected CAGR (2024-2030) | 17.5% |
| YouVersion Bible App Installs (2023) | 650 million |
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Market sizing is drawn from analogous, third-party industry reports; faith-specific TAM is not independently verified.
Competitive Landscape
Pray.com operates in a niche where the primary competition is for the daily attention and trust of a faith-oriented user base. The competitive map for faith-based digital media and community tools is fragmented.
- Direct faith-based app competitors. This segment includes mobile-first apps like Hallow, Glorify, and Abide. These apps share a similar freemium model. Hallow has garnered significant venture capital attention, positioning it as a well-funded challenger [TechCrunch, Jul 2020].
- Adjacent substitutes. This category includes general meditation and wellness apps like Calm and Headspace, which offer secular mindfulness content. It also includes traditional media, such as Christian radio networks and podcast platforms.
- Church management software. For its B2B tools targeting churches, Pray.com faces competition from dedicated church management (ChMS) and giving platforms like Tithe.ly, Planning Center, and Pushpay.
Where Pray.com has established a defensible edge is in its scale of audio consumption and its dual-sided platform approach. The company's claim of 100 million podcast downloads and 2.5 billion minutes in prayer [Yahoo Finance, retrieved 2026] represents a significant volume of user engagement. This scale, combined with celebrity-narrated content, creates a media brand moat.
| Company | Positioning | Stage / Funding | Notable Differentiator |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pray.com | World's #1 app for daily prayer & faith-based audio; also offers church tools. | Series A (~$16M total) | Dual-sided model (B2C media + B2B church tools); scale of audio minutes. |
| Hallow | Catholic prayer & meditation app with guided audio. | Series B ($104M+) | Deep focus on Catholic liturgy and tradition; high-profile venture backing. |
| Glorify | Daily Christian worship app with music and devotionals. | Seed ($40M) | Emphasis on music and worship experience; UK-based. |
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Competitor funding and positioning are confirmed via Crunchbase and press reports; Pray.com's differentiation claims are from its own materials and third-party metrics with partial corroboration.
Opportunity
The size of the prize for Pray.com is the creation of the definitive, vertically integrated digital platform for the global Christian faith community. The company is not merely an app, but a multi-surface platform combining a top-ranked consumer media app with a growing B2B software suite for churches.
| Scenario | What happens | Catalyst | Why it's plausible |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Integrated Church OS | Pray.com becomes the primary software stack for small to mid-sized churches. | A dedicated product launch or major partnership with a denominational network. | The company already serves 5,000+ churches via software for digital giving and group management [Business Model Canvas Template, 2025]. |
| The Faith-Based Media Network | The platform evolves into a dominant audio and video streaming service for faith content. | Strategic content deals or the launch of new channels like PrayTV [Pray.com articles, retrieved 2026]. | The company has demonstrated an ability to produce and distribute high-engagement audio, with 100 million downloads [Yahoo Finance, retrieved 2026]. |
| Global Language Expansion | Pray.com replicates its U.S. model in non-English speaking markets. | Execution of the reported partnership with Palantir Technologies for AI systems [ZoomInfo, retrieved 2026]. | The core product is inherently scalable across languages, and the partnership suggests a technical roadmap to reduce localization costs. |
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Growth scenarios and compounding effects are extrapolated from cited traction metrics and product claims; the Palantir partnership for translation is reported but not independently confirmed.
Sources
- [Nathan Barry Podcast, 2024] From Jail to $30M: How I Rebuilt My Life and Career | https://nathanbarry.com/from-jail-to-30m-how-i-rebuilt-my-life-and-career-092/
- [TechCrunch, Jun 2017] Pray.com raises $2M seed | https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/29/pray-com-a-community-building-app-for-faith-organizations-raises-2m-in-seed-funding/
- [TechCrunch, Mar 2018] Pray.com raises $14M Series A | https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/14/interfaith-social-network-pray-com-raises-14m-series-a-to-add-new-features-to-its-mobile-app/
- [Crunchbase] Pray.com Crunchbase Company Profile & Funding | https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/pray
- [TechCrunch, Jul 2020] Opportunities (and challenges) in church tech | https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/31/opportunities-and-challenges-in-churchtech/
- [Pray.com Help Center, retrieved 2025] Is Pray.com free? | https://help.pray.com/hc/en-us/articles/4416621897105-Is-Pray-com-free
- [Business Model Canvas Template, 2025] Pray.com How It Works | https://businessmodelcanvastemplate.com/blogs/how-it-works/pray-com-how-it-works
- [Yahoo Finance, retrieved 2026] Pray.com company details | https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/PRAY?p=PRAY
- [ZoomInfo, retrieved 2026] Pray.com partnership with Palantir Technologies | https://www.zoominfo.com/c/praycom/501179000
- [Threatpost, 2020] Pray.com data exposure incident | https://threatpost.com/pray-com-data-exposure-10m/159268/
- [Yahoo Finance, 2023] Pray.com ranks #1 faith-based media company on Inc. 5000 | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pray-com-ranks-1-faith-130000456.html
- [Pray.com articles, retrieved 2026] From Prison to Providence: Ryan Beck's Journey to Co-Founding PRAY.COM | https://www.pray.com/articles/from-prison-to-providence-ryan-becks-journey-to-co-founding-pray-com
- [Pray.com articles, retrieved 2026] Pray.com Ranks No. 4 on Inc. Magazine’s List of the Pacific Region’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies | https://www.pray.com/articles/pray-com-ranks-no-4-on-inc-magazines-list
- [Pray.com articles, retrieved 2026] New 24/7 Streaming Video Channel PrayTV Launches This Week from World’s Leading Prayer App | https://www.pray.com/articles/pray-launches-praytv
- [Pray.com articles, retrieved 2026] Pray.com, the No. 1 Faith Brand App, Joins The iHeartPodcast Network | https://www.pray.com/articles/pray-joins-the-iheartpodcast-network
- [Grand View Research, 2024] Digital Health & Wellness Apps Market Size Report | https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/digital-health-market
- [Pew Research Center, 2022] Religious 'nones' in America | https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/12/14/religious-nones-in-america-who-they-are-and-what-they-believe/
- [Bloomberg, Dec 2021] Startup Pray Says Nextdoor’s Advertising Policies Are Discriminatory | https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-08/pray-com-says-nextdoor-s-advertising-policies-are-discriminatory
Articles about Pray.com
- Pray.com's 2.5 Billion Prayer Minutes Land on a Freemium Model — The faith-based audio app, with 10 million monthly users, is betting its multi-million ARR can grow without a new venture round.