Around the world, there were an estimated 2.5 billion people who identified as Christian as of 2023, accounting for nearly one third of the world’s population. Christianity consists of a range of denominations, with the largest being Catholics, followed by Protestants and Eastern Orthodox Christians. There were 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide as of 2011. Today, many believers seek new ways to deepen their faith amidst the changes of modern life.

Religious practice today is evolving continuously. A national survey in 2020 of Evangelical churches revealed that 65% had experienced a decrease in charitable giving, while nearly half of the surveyed churches reported that their online attendance had at least doubled the size of their regular in-person attendance. In-person church attendance, meanwhile, dropped in the US over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many churches stop holding services in person. The share of US adults that went to in-person religious services at least once a month dropped from 33% in 2019 to 30% in 2022. Roughly 20% of Americans said they attend religious services less often in person than before the pandemic.

On the other hand, online options for religious observance have never been more expansive. Podcasts, simulcast worship services, message boards, and mailing lists provide ways for churchgoers to stay in touch with their congregation no matter where they are. Hallow* is a Catholic prayer and meditation app that offers guided meditations, daily readings, and community challenges. It aspires to give people an accessible and convenient way to integrate prayer and meditation into their daily lives, fostering a stronger community and connection among Catholics worldwide. Its mission is to help users deepen their relationship with God through prayer and meditation.

Hallow was founded in 2018 by Alex Jones (CEO) and Erich Kerekes (CTO). Both studied engineering as undergrads at Notre Dame and worked as consultants at McKinsey before founding the company.

Jones was raised Catholic, but as he grew older and went through high school and college, he “fell away” from the Catholic faith and became agnostic. As Jones entered the workforce, he met friends who helped him reconnect with Christianity. He regularly practiced mindfulness meditation on popular meditation apps to find dedicated time to grow closer to God. However, Jones found that most of these meditation apps were focused on agnostic or Buddhist methods, and he yearned for a better way to meditate in a way that was more aligned with the Christian tradition.

He started talking to priests, pastors, and fellow Christians to understand better how he could meld meditation and faith, and he quickly rediscovered the longstanding tradition of Christian prayer. After Jones and a few friends tried to incorporate prayer into their daily lives and found it deeply impactful, they asked themselves, “how can we get these prayer techniques out into the world in an accessible, intuitive, convenient format?” They decided to build a mobile app as the answer to that question, and in 2018, Hallow was born.

The name of the company, which means “to make holy”, was inspired by the Lord’s Prayer, which goes, “Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name” — Jones mentioned that this particular prayer changed his life and brought him back to the faith. Jones quit his job in consulting and worked with two friends to code and design the app's first version. It launched in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store eight months after the team developed the initial concept.

Source: Starter Story

Hallow has many features geared toward helping users connect with the Catholic faith. The product is guided by the concept of Lectio Divina, a “traditional monastic practice of scriptural reading, meditation, and prayer intended to promote communion with God.”

Guided meditations: Hallow offers a range of guided meditations to help users deepen their prayer practice including daily reflections, themed meditations, and sleep meditations. Users can choose from different lengths and styles of meditation and track their progress over time.

Daily readings: Hallow provides daily readings from the Bible and other spiritual texts, along with reflections and commentary, to help users understand the text and its relevance to their lives. Users can customize their reading plans and explore different themes and topics.

Custom prayer routines: Hallow allows users to create personalized prayer routines, choosing from a range of prayers and incorporating their intentions and reflections. Users can set reminders to help them stay on track and track their progress over time.

Source: Hallow

Community challenges: Hallow offers community challenges to help users stay motivated and engaged in their prayer practice. Users can join challenges with others from around the world, set goals, and track their progress. Challenges are designed to foster a sense of community and accountability among users.

Source: Hallow

Sleep stories: Hallow's stories are designed to help users sleep peacefully and enter restful sleep. Users can choose from different stories and themes and listen to soothing sounds and music to help them unwind and relax.

Source: Hallow

Praylists: Hallow's “praylists” feature allows users to create customized lists of prayers and meditations that they can access easily from within the app. This feature is helpful for users who have specific prayer intentions or want to keep track of their favorite meditations and prayers.

Source: Hallow

Daily gospel and rosary: Hallow's Daily Gospel and Rosary feature provides users daily Bible readings and guided Rosary meditation. Users can customize the Rosary meditation with different themes and intentions, making it a more personalized and meaningful experience.

Journaling: Hallow's journaling feature allows users to record their reflections and thoughts on their prayer practice. Users can write notes, record their progress, and even attach photos to their entries. This feature helps users track their growth and better understand their faith journey.

Source: Hallow

Customer

Jones breaks downs the target customer into the 3 following segments:

1. Folks who are Christian and already meditate and have searched for ways to meditate within their faith.

2. Catholics who are struggling with their prayer lives but haven’t yet acknowledged to themselves that they feel less engaged in prayer.

3. Spiritual but not religious people who might benefit from exploring their faith or a religious person who has been more focused on the sacraments but hasn’t yet tried to develop a personal relationship with God.

Hallow is targeted primarily at Catholics who are looking to build a better life with God and return to spirituality through prayer. These users may seek a tool to help them stay on track with their daily prayers, provide guidance for meditative practices, or offer spiritual resources such as daily reflections or scripture readings.

Market Size

The COVID-19 pandemic changed believers’ behavior significantly, creating a strong tailwind for prayer apps like Hallow, driving “years of adoption in weeks.” Because churches had to shut down due to social distancing, churches, and churchgoers increasingly had to turn to technology to maintain prayer habits and access church communities.

Around the world, there were an estimated 2.5 billion people identified as Christian as of 2023, accounting for nearly one third of the world’s population. There were 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide in 2011, the most populous denomination of Christians, followed by Protestants and Eastern Orthodox Christians. In 2018, 81% of Catholics said that they prayed every week. 55% of Americans reported praying daily.

Venture funding in faith-based apps has surged from just $6.1 million in 2016 to $175.3 million in 2021. The pandemic also contributed to increased religiosity in the US — a third of Americans said their faith grew stronger during the pandemic. Another indicator of the large market opportunity at the intersection of Christianity and mobile apps is the proliferation of the Bible App (essentially a digital Bible), downloaded on over 500 million devices as of April 2023.

Competition

Pray: Founded in 2016, Pray is a mobile application that provides users with a library of prayers and daily devotionals. The app has over 5 million downloads on Google Play Store as of May 2023 and offers free and paid content. Pray also offers a social media platform for religious communities where congregations can create their own groups. Pray has raised $34 million in financing.

Daily Prayer App: Founded in 2019, the Daily Prayer App is a mobile application that provides users with daily prayers and Bible readings. The app has over 100K downloads on Google Play Store as of May 2023 and offers free and paid content.

Bible App: The Bible App provides users access to a digital Bible in multiple translations and languages. The app is on over 400 million devices as of December 2021 and offers both free and paid content. YouVersion, the company behind the Bible App, was founded in 2008.

Glorify: Glorify is a daily Christian worship and well-being app that aims to strengthen a user's relationship with God through bite-sized daily devotionals. It offers guided meditation, along with audio bible passages and Christian music. It was founded in 2020 and has raised $84 million in funding.

While most apps offer prayers and devotional content libraries, most lack guided meditations, sleep stories, praylists, personalized prayer routines, and other features that Hallow has that potentially make it a more comprehensive tool for practicing Catholics than other options.

Hallow operates on a freemium model. The app is free to download and has a free version with basic features. In the US and English-speaking regions, Hallow has an $8.99 monthly subscription (or a $59.99 annual subscription) that unlocks premium content. The pricing varies in other regions, such as Poland and the Philippines. All paid subscriptions start with a free trial, so users can try the premium content for free before deciding whether to pay.

Hallow also offers a $99.99/year family plan that supports up to 6 accounts, a $2.50/month plan for students, 50% off for Catholic School educators, and parish-wide subscription packages. Hallow also pledges to give a subscription to organizations in need (e.g., faith immersion programs, retreats, Christian non-profits) for every subscription purchased.

In December 2021, Hallow disclosed that it had crossed the 1.5 million downloads mark and 25 million prayers completed. In September 2021, it said the revenue grew 500% year-over-year. Then, in September 2022, it was reported that Hallow had crossed 3.7 million downloads and had over 100 million prayers completed across 150 countries. This means that in ~9 months, Hallow more than doubled downloads and quadrupled the number of prayers completed. As of April 2023, Hallow’s job listings noted that they’ve crossed 7 million downloads and 150K 5-star review marks, indicating continued strong user growth. In May 2023, Hallow had 10 million downloads and crossed 225 million prayers completed.

In May 2023, the company announced a $50 million Series C led by Goldwater Capital, bringing its total funding raised to $105 million. It did not disclose its valuation as of its latest round.

Growing Global Christian Population

The global Christian population is expected to experience substantial growth in the coming decades, from 2.5 billion in 2023 to around 3.3 billion by 2050. Christians have the second highest birth rate in the world amongst the largest religious groups (trailing only Muslims) at 2.7 children per woman. In particular, sub-Saharan Africa’s Christian population is expected to double by 2050. Overall, this presents Hallow with a large population of users and a growing total addressable market.

Partnerships with Catholic Organizations

Hallow has a growth opportunity to establish deeper partnerships with Catholic organizations to have a direct channel to a large and engaged Catholic audience. Hallow has pursued this channel from its earliest days. Immediately after launch, Hallow reached out to “parishes, dioceses, Christian organizations, Catholic high schools, etc... Any organization that shared in the mission of bringing people to God.” Continuing to deepen its partnership with the Church could help the company both with user acquisition and retention.

Penetration into Other Geographies

Hallow could deepen its penetration in other geographies beyond its core base in the US. Though it already has users in 150 countries, it could benefit by creating more content tailored to specific countries and languages. For example, the three countries in the world with the largest Catholic populations are all primarily non-English speaking (in order, these are Brazil, whose main language is Portuguese; Mexico, whose main language is Spanish; and the Philippines, whose main language is Tagalog). The US only accounts for ~6% of the world’s Catholic population, so many user growth opportunities exist in other geographies. By expanding into new regions, Hallow could tap into the large Catholic populations in Latin America, Europe, and other parts of the world. Deepening its penetration into other geographies could help Hallow become a global platform for Catholics seeking to deepen their relationship with God through prayer and meditation.

Becoming a Media Platform

Hallow has a growth opportunity to expand to become a broader content and media platform, as this could enable the app to reach a wider audience and create additional revenue streams. By expanding into other forms of media, such as podcasts, video content, and books, Hallow could deepen its engagement with existing users and attract new users looking for a more comprehensive approach to their spiritual lives. This expansion could also provide opportunities for collaborations with other faith-based organizations and influencers, further growing Hallow's reach and impact.

Christianity Declining in the US and Europe

Over the past few decades, Christianity has experienced a decline in the US and Europe. The share of Catholics and Protestants as percentages of the total US population has shrunk. The percentage of adults who reported attending church at least monthly has declined from 54% in 2007 to 45% in 2019, and the percentage of Americans who identify as Christian is expected to decline from a mark of 78% in 2010 to 66% in 2050.

Source: Pew Research

The same trend is present in Europe. Europe’s Christian population is “expected to shrink by about 100 million in the coming decades.” The US and Europe represent wealthier markets with higher consumer discretionary spending and higher customer LTVs, so the decline of Christianity in both geographies could prove a market headwind for Hallow, even as the total Christian population worldwide continues to grow because of birth rates in developing markets.

Potential for Controversy

As the app grows, it may face pressure to take a stance on controversial topics on which the Catholic community may have preexisting stances. This could lead to backlash from some users or negatively impact the app's reputation. Vice, for example, has already published an editorial piece criticizing Hallow on this front. Hallow will need to navigate these challenges carefully to avoid alienating its user base while also avoiding negative attention from the media.

With approximately a third of the world's population identifying as Christian, many seek new ways to deepen their faith. The rise of internet applications and mobile technology presents an opportunity for individuals to connect with their faith in a more accessible and personalized way, in the same way, that meditation apps have helped tens of millions become more spiritual. Hallow was founded to help users deepen their relationship with God through prayer and meditation, offering a range of features designed to help users incorporate prayer into their daily routines. Hallow could become the default way that 1.3 billion Catholics engage with their faith outside of physically going to church, giving them an accessible and convenient way to integrate prayer and meditation into their daily lives and fostering a stronger sense of community and connection among Catholics around the world.

*Contrary is an investor in Hallow through one or more affiliates.