pray.com, a Platform Connecting Faith Leaders with Their Communities, has been Selected to Participate in the Laudato Si' Start Up Fellowship Advised by His Eminence Cardinal Turkson
The digital destination for faith on web and mobile also announces $2 million seed funding round
SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 29, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- pray.com, the platform that empowers people to live with purpose by providing daily inspirational content, digital faith communities, and simple mobile giving, today announced $2 million in seed funding. The round was led by startup studio Science Inc., the company that builds and invests in disruptive startups, with participation from Facebook investor Greylock, and early Twitter investor Spark Capital.
The official pray.com app allows users to participate in community prayer, receive daily inspirational content from Faith Leaders, and make charitable gifts to a 501(c)3 religious organization of their choice. By joining a pray.com community, users can share meaningful prayers, support friends and family, live chat with small groups, and more.
Steve Gatena and co-founders Michael Lynn, Ryan Beck and Matthew Potter founded pray.com with the mission to empower people to live with purpose and connect with faith. With this latest round of funding, pray.com is developing technology that helps people connect with and act on their deepest beliefs. The idea was formed after one of the founders experienced a significant loss, which sparked his exploration of faith.
"We are building a deeply fulfilling and purpose driven platform at pray.com," commented Steve Gatena, Founder & CEO of pray.com. "Ryan has dedicated his life to the ministry, Mike has been involved with non-profits for the last seven years, and Matt is an expert in building apps for local community leaders. Together, with our great team of investors, we will create a world where everyone leaves a legacy of helping others. We are an interfaith platform, we believe in the first amendment right to religious liberty, and we believe access to digital faith communities should be available to everyone."
"Current social networks offer popular ways to communicate in public but pray.com taps into a more intimate and personal dialogue that people typically have with their faith leaders," said Michael Jones, CEO of Science Inc. "Through mobile technology we can increase the sense of offline community at scale. We see a unique value proposition with pray.com where all people can confide in a single tool to build relationships and share spiritual messages across the globe in a highly organized and personal way."
Pray.com has also been selected to participate in the Laudato Si' Fellowship, part of an accelerator program advised by His Eminence Cardinal Peter Turkson. "We cannot solve today's problems with yesterday's tools. We must embrace rapid, continuous, and disruptive innovation on a massive scale – innovation that allows governments, citizens, faith groups, private companies and investors to join forces in pursuit of the common good," said Peter Thomson, the President of the UN General Assembly, explained in a statement.
As the Laudato Si' Challenge looks to elevate innovative companies that are transforming crisis into opportunity through technology, pray.com brings a harmonious mission by providing accessible prayer and connecting people through faith.
Serving as the foremost social network for faith leaders and their communities, pray.com is now available on both iTunes and Google Play app stores.
About pray.com
pray.com is the digital destination for faith. It is a free mobile application that gives you the ability to connect directly with faith leaders and explore faith communities. pray.com empowers its users to live with purpose and connect with faith.
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SOURCE pray.com
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