Rio-based startup InChurch plans US expansion

Capitalized after a seed round raised last year, Brazilian church-focused tech startup inChurch is readying its international expansion.

Founded in 2017 by advertising executives Pedro Franco and Sydney de Menezes, the faithtech has a client portfolio of more than 30,000 (mostly evangelical) churches in 23 countries that use its church management platform but no physical presence outside Brazil. The company’s first international office will be based in Orlando, Florida.

The focus for the expansion is the company’s education arm, UninChurch. Created last year to support churches in training their employees and volunteers, the platform offers mentoring and training in the areas of communication, management, leadership and technology. Javier Casademunt, also a director and associate professor at ESADE Business School, is leading the content and management of the business unit.

“We want to [focus on] education first in our internationalization strategy, with UninChurch, and then bring in the technology [the inChurch platform]”, Menezes said in an interview with Startups. According to the entrepreneur, Florida is “a mirror for the world”, the idea is to use the US base to reach several countries. Moreover, he noted that many Brazilian pastors typically head to Orlando for their holidays, which presents an opportunity to offer training as part of their visits to the US.

The expansion is supported by part of the 5 million Brazilian reais ($970,000) in seed funding the company raised in 2021. The round was led by Smart Money Ventures, a startup investment club owned by Fábio Póvoa, co-founder of startup conglomerate Movile and César Bertini, founder of Brazilian tech firm MC1. Prior to that, inChurch had already been blessed with an angel investment from Pedro Moll, whose family owns the Rede D’Or healthcare empire.

FURTHER READING: Brazilian VCs respond to growing demand for smart money

In addition to Brazil, inChurch solutions are also in use in religious organizations based in Germany, Angola, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Comoros, Ecuador, Spain, United States, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Niger, Portugal, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Uruguay.

Faith in the digital age

InChurch’s platform consists of a portfolio of apps, websites, self-service totems that can be used for donations or prayer requests, as well as point-of-sale devices. The goal is to optimize the processes and day-to-day management of churches while also enhancing communication with members.

For instance, of the apps provided by the startup enables church members to follow news, watch videos, check the church’s schedule and register for events, access the Bible in digital format, among other possibilities.

After increasing the number of users of the platform by 182% last year to more than 700,000, the projection for 2022 is to reach 2 million registered users. According to Franco, that goal should be reached in the next few months, when the firm launches a new addition to its product suite.

“As our model is B2B2C, churches are the most interested party when it comes to having its members on the platform. Our work is more about supporting these churches than directly capturing new users”, the entrepreneur noted.

This year, the proceeds from inChurch’s recent round will also go towards improvements to the platform, as well as sales and marketing to further scale the business. The founders also claim that a Series A round could be taking shape soon – but that’s for a future report.

(translation by Angelica Mari)