Seance , an app for seeking out spiritual advisors, has announced raising the amount of $1M at the pre-Seed stage of the project.
The Seance application includes a multifunctional platform that enables users to remotely consult an astrologer or a psychic advisor, receive personalized psychic readings or forecast for the future. In addition, the application provides various options for love compatibility of couples so they can learn about possible problem areas in their relationships and receive the guidance of how to reconcile the problems.
The special feature of the app is the psychic service marketplace: the platform allows customers to select advisors based on their profiles, other customer' ratings, and the rating on Yelp. Also, the platform allows advisors, in turn, to have the opportunity to provide services to customers at their own price rates.
Such "uberization" of the psychic services market is feasible due to the following two factors:
1) A large scale of the industry market. According to IBISWorld, the industry of psychic services in the United States has reached revenue of $2 bn and continues to grow each year. This colossal market is divided among 88 thousand businesses, most of which consists of individual entrepreneurs. In the absence of major brands in the industry, such a multitude of businesses creates an ideal market for investments in an uber-like startup.
2) Technological development enables us to abandon the old-fashioned methods of work: outdated sites, phone numbers and the shortage of transparency in services. Today, the entire industry can successfully operate within the framework of a single platform reducing consumer's costs associated with the lack of information about the advisor, difficulties with making a payment, and the absence of quality guarantees. In contrast, Seance offers customers a 100% money-back guarantee in case of their dissatisfaction with services.
Investors are actively engaged in the process of investing in the industry: Silicon Valley's technology companies have already been collecting millions of dollars from investment funds to develop similar applications. The lack of strong competition and the vast interest in supernatural services of both the aging audience and the millennials make spiritual advising one of the most undervalued and promising industry markets in the service sector.
Seance does not disclose the names of its investors and continues to follow the plan for product development: in April, it presented its MVP and, in accordance with the company's financial plans, by 2020, Seance is expected to occupy more than 1% of the digital segment of the US market. In addition, the app also takes aim at the markets of India, UK, Australia, and New Zealand, the total volume of revenue of which is comparable with the US market.
Currently, more than 50 spiritual advisors operate on the platform. Subscribing customers receive coins, which can be spent on answers to specific questions or personalized readings. Basic services such as horoscope readings are available to the customers without a subscription.
Source: Seance
