The Series A round was led by True Ventures, a venture capital fund from Silicon Valley, with the participation of Early Game and Play Ventures.
Bible Chat is a mobile application for Christian communities and those who find peace and emotional balance through religion.
The app, launched by Laurentiu Balasa and Marius Iordache, has had enormous success, being the fastest-growing mobile app in Europe across all categories and the fastest-growing faith app in the world. Bible Chat has reached 10 million users and annualized revenues of $15 million in just one year since its launch.
Bible Chat ranks 13th among the most downloaded mobile apps in the App Store, alongside WhatsApp and Instagram. It is the first time in history that an app launched in Romania has achieved such a feat.
"We thank the investors who gave us their trust and support for the Series A. We will continue the mission of Bible Chat (www.thebiblechat.com) to minimize human suffering. Millions of people depend on our team's work monthly, and they find support in Bible Chat that helps them face life's spiritual, emotional, and psychological challenges. I want to thank Marius and all the colleagues in our small team for being next to me for so long," said Laurentiu Balasa, the company's founder and CEO.
"Towards the end of last year, Laurentiu sent me two screenshots that, I think, tell the story of a successful tech startup very well. The first image presented the graph of the company's revenues in the first 4 years since launch. The second image shows the revenue graph in year 5. I kept those screenshots because they tell the story of perseverance, stubbornness, and resilience without which an entrepreneur cannot succeed," said Cristian Munteanu, Managing Partner of Early Game Ventures, the venture capital fund that was the first investor in the company in 2019.
"What makes me most happy," said Dan Calugareanu, Partner of Early Game, "is that Bible Chat is already proving to be an inspiration for other tech entrepreneurs in Romania. And the founders, Laurentiu and Marius, also make the effort to talk to other entrepreneurs, give them advice, and help them. It is their way of contributing to the development of the startup ecosystem in Romania and giving back, as the Americans say."
EGV invested in 28 companies from the first fund between 2019 and 2023. Among them, the most famous are Druid, Bible Chat, MeetGeek, Kinderpedia, SymphoPay, and Ogre. In April 2024, the Early Game Fund II was launched with a total value of €60 million, which seeks the most innovative technological startups in Romania and CEE, which are at the beginning of their journey. So far, 4 investments have been made from the new fund in cybersecurity, AI, and longevity startups.
