The uncertainty of the pandemic has been difficult for many from a mental and emotional standpoint. Spiritual guidance has prospered in the face of this uncertainty as we flock towards ways to quell anxiety, loneliness, and fear about the future to the point where NYC psychic Betsy LeFae is able to charge $997 for an hour-long virtual reading for those seeking clarity. Sanctuary is a mobile-first platform that makes spiritual guidance more accessible. The app offers a free daily horoscope and premium options for real-time one-on-one text-based readings with astrologers, tarot card readers, and psychics. As the world scrambled to virtual, Sanctuary experienced a 500% increase in users that booked a live reading during the pandemic.
AlleyWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Ross Clark to learn more about the company’s mission to modernize spiritual guidance, traction, strategic plans, latest round of funding, which brings the total funding raised to $6.5M since 2016, and much, much more.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
We raised a $3M Seed round led by BITKRAFT Ventures with participation from KEC Ventures, Greycroft, Azure Capital Partners, Advancit Capital, Gaingels, and Uncommon Denominator.
Tell us about the product or service that Sanctuary offers.
Sanctuary is a mobile platform reinventing alternative spirituality for the modern consumer. We offer our users free daily horoscopes including both sun and rising signs, access to their personal profile, and summaries of their birth chart’s planets and signs. Paid users can access live, one-on-one text-based readings with professional astrologers, tarot readers, and psychics — reinventing the traditional reading. Astrology readings use your unique astrological birth chart to look at your past, present, and future. Psychic readings use the power of intuition and your own energy to provide insights, while tarot readings use a mystical deck of cards to examine your challenges and path through life. All readings are available in increments that start at 10 minutes in length and go up to 60 minutes—offering everything from bite-size insights about press questions to a full exploration of what’s in store.
What inspired the start of Sanctuary?
I come from the media and entertainment world where I saw how incredibly popular astrology was on social platforms ranging from Facebook to Snapchat. Yet when I looked around, all of the offerings were really dated web-based experiences. I felt there was an opportunity to build a mobile platform in the alternative spirituality space and to reimagine it for today’s world. Astrology is a complex system but most importantly it’s a story about you. We wanted to build an immediate, modern way for folks who are looking for answers to connect with our content and readers. With an app, you can create a constant, daily connection with your users and mobile widens the possibilities of what you can do with technology.
How is Sanctuary different?
Sanctuary is the first, and only, app to provide mobile-first readings. In the offline world, booking a reading with a professional astrologer can be an expensive, cryptic, and long-winded process. With Sanctuary, we have democratized access. You can literally connect with an astrologer, tarot reader or psychic anytime, anywhere through our mobile platform.
What market does Sanctuary target and how big is it?
Sanctuary is part of the mystical services market which is a $2.2B+ industry and the broader $3.7B New Age services and products market. As a point of reference, the New Age services market is ~4X the $1.2B meditation market which has minted two unicorns (Headspace and Calm) and attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital.
What’s your business model?
We have built a freemium mobile platform. In our app, the daily horoscopes we create for your sun and rising signs are our most popular free feature and content. We recently added a tarot pull to the daily flow and a first-in-kind birth chart feature which have both been well-received new additions. Our paid offering is live, one-on-one text-based readings with professional astrologers, tarot readers, and psychics are immensely popular and reinvent the traditional reading.
How has COVID-19 impacted the business??
With our free offerings, we’ve seen a real deepening of engagement from Sanctuary members who check their daily horoscopes, with weekly and monthly engagement rapidly increasing. The demand for our live readings exploded in 2020 and we have never been busier. Interest in astrology is skyrocketing as more people turn to cosmic insights to provide meaning to events in their own lives in these uncertain times. Sanctuary saw a 500% increase in the number of users that requested live readings during the pandemic.
Our experts have mentioned that the types of questions clients are asking have changed, and that many are looking for clarity in their life path. In particular, the question of “should I move?” has been on the minds of many of our users.
What was the funding process like?
We’ve raised money from some of the world’s best investors to help bring astrology into the digital era. When it comes to fundraising, the most important step in the process is finding partners who share your vision and get excited about your company. Many founders believe they have the wrong pitch when in reality they have the wrong audience. Once you’ve identified the right audience, the rest of the pieces come together quite quickly. We fit perfectly into BITKRAFT’s, an investment platform for gaming, esports, and interactive media, thesis on using game design principles and mechanics to disrupt industries.
We’ve raised money from some of the world’s best investors to help bring astrology into the digital era. When it comes to fundraising, the most important step in the process is finding partners who share your vision and get excited about your company. Many founders believe they have the wrong pitch when in reality they have the wrong audience. Once you’ve identified the right audience, the rest of the pieces come together quite quickly. We fit perfectly into BITKRAFT’s, an investment platform for gaming, esports, and interactive media, thesis on using game design principles and mechanics to disrupt industries.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Since we raised during the pandemic, I found the biggest challenge to be adapting to a different pitching process that was entirely virtual. Meeting with investors via Zoom is much different than being together in the same room and requires a different type of energy. I also became a pro at picking virtual backgrounds.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
We have built an exciting revenue model with a clear growth strategy, we are a market leader with high potential to revolutionize the traditionally offline mystical services market through our unique brand positioning, and the overall market has seen significant growth in recent years with no signs of slowing down.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
We want to continue to enhance our readings. I’m really interested in expanding the formats we offer to move beyond text-based and also expand the types of readings we offer as well.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Be laser-focused on your burn rate. Manage cash efficiently and look for creative ways to drive revenue.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
Our collective need for emotional well-being has never been stronger. We will continue to create content and experiences that empower our community to navigate these complex and challenging times. We recently expanded our reading offerings, adding tarot and psychic readings to the mix. I’m personally excited to grow our community of expert practitioners and am focused on expanding the experiences with content in our app.
What’s your favorite outdoor dining restaurant in NYC
The quintessential NYC meal — eating a slice of pizza from Sacco’s while standing on the sidewalk.
