Pray.com is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

social networking service A social networking service or SNS (sometimes called a social networking site) is an online platform which people use to build social networks or social relationships with other people who share similar personal or career content, interests, ac ...

and

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on ...

that serves as a social media platform for religious communities. The Pray platform includes social media, daily prayers, sermons, biblical content, and podcasts. Pray.com was founded in 2016 by Steve Gatena, Michael Lynn, Ryan Beck and Matthew Potter.

Pray.com platform

Social media

Pray.com serves as a social media platform for religious communities. Congregations can create their own groups on the platform, where members and leaders can engage in discussions, livestream services, and solicit and receive donations. The social media communities on Pray.com allow members to participate in “prayer communities” where Pray users are able to ask for and answer prayer requests.

Biblical content

A paid subscription includes access to premium audio content, such as biblically-inspired meditations and

bedtime stories A bedtime story is a traditional form of storytelling, where a story is told to a child at bedtime to prepare the child for sleep. The bedtime story has long been considered "a definite institution in many families".Dickson, Marguerite Stockma ...

, and

Bible stories The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

for children. Pray.com produces

Radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

style with actors voicing stories from the bible. Some of the actors have been

Kristen Bell Kristen Anne Bell (born July 18, 1980) is an American actress. Beginning her acting career by starring in stage productions while attending the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, she made her Broadway stage debut as Becky Thatc ...

and

Blair Underwood Blair Erwin Underwood (born August 25, 1964) is an American actor. He made his debut in the 1985 musical film '' Krush Groove'' and from 1987 to 1994 starred as attorney Jonathan Rollins in the NBC legal drama series '' L.A. Law''. Underwood has ...

History

Funding

In June 2017, Pray.com announced it had raised $2 million in seed funding, led by

Science Inc. Science Inc. is a Los Angeles-based startup studio that develops, invests in, and acquires various businesses. Science Inc. invests money and offers mastery, to bring corporations to profitability. In 2011, Michael Jones founded the organization ...

with participation from

Greylock Partners Greylock Partners is one of the oldest venture capital firms, founded in 1965, with committed capital of over $3.5 billion under management. The firm focuses on early-stage companies in the consumer, enterprise software and infrastructure as wel ...

and

Spark Capital Spark Capital is a venture capital firm in the United States, responsible for early-stage funding startups of consumer, commerce, FinTech, software, frontier, and media sectors. It has branches in San Francisco, Boston, and New York City. Hi ...

. In March 2018, Pray.com announced it had raised an additional $14 million in a

Series A round A series A round (also known as series A financing or series A investment) is the name typically given to a company's first significant round of venture capital financing. The name refers to the class of preferred stock sold to investors in exc ...

led by

TPG Growth TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American investment company based in Fort Worth, Texas. The private equity firm is focused on leveraged buyouts and growth capital. TPG manages investment funds in growth ...

with participation from Science Inc. and Greylock Partners. Gatena, in an interview with

Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg Televi ...

, recalled a mixed reception to faith-based technology from a few venture capital firms: “A few were very disrespectful and borderline discriminatory against our customers."

COVID-19 pandemic

Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

's limitations on religious gatherings, Pray.com has experienced major growth in active users, subscribers, and downloads. Downloads for Pray.com increased by 955% during the pandemic. During the pandemic, Pray.com partnered with churches to provide a platform for their ministries while in-person services were restricted by law.

National Day of Prayer

Pray first hosted a

National Day of Prayer The National Day of Prayer is an annual day of observance held on the first Thursday of May, designated by the United States Congress, when people are asked "to turn to God in prayer and meditation". The president is required by law () to sign ...

event in 2020 when it streamed to nearly one million viewers on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

. In 2021, Pray hosted a virtual event for the

in the United States. The event featured remarks from public figures including United States President Joe Biden and former Vice President

Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, ...

. President Biden spoke of his faith and prayed for an end to the

. Biden remarked: “It means the world to me to know that there are people across the country who include Jill and me in their prayers. And I hope you know that you and your families are in our prayers as well. Today I am praying for the end of this great COVID crisis.” The event featured musical performances from

Gary Valenciano Edgardo Jose Santiago Valenciano (, born August 6, 1964), also known as Gary V., is a Filipino singer-songwriter, dancer, musician, actor, music producer and television host. Valenciano has released 39 albums, and won the Awit Award for "Bes ...

Brooke Ligertwood Brooke Gabrielle Ligertwood (née Fraser; born 15 December 1983) better known by her maiden name Brooke Fraser, is a New Zealand singer and songwriter best known for her hit single " Something in the Water", released in 2010. Fraser released two ...

from the Christian band

Hillsong Worship Hillsong Worship (formerly Hillsong Live) is a praise and worship collective from Sydney, Australia and Orange County, California. They started making music in 1983 at Hillsong Church. Fifteen of their songs have appeared on the ''Billboard'' m ...

Lecrae Lecrae Devaughn Moore (born October 9, 1979), mononymously known as Lecrae, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record and film producer, record executive, actor, and entrepreneur. He is the president, co-owner and co-founder of the in ...

Heather Headley Heather Headley (born October 5, 1974) is a Trinidadian-born American singer, songwriter, record producer and actress. She won the 2000 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the titular role of ''Aida''. She also won the 2010 Grammy A ...

and

Michael Neale Michael C. Neale (born 10 March 1958) is a British behavior geneticist and professor at the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is known for his research in the field of psychiatric g ...

. Other notable speakers included

Ronnie Floyd Ronald Wayne Floyd (born November 11, 1955) is an American religious leader and a former pastor and Southern Baptist executive. Ronnie was the Senior Pastor of Cross Church (formerly called First Baptist Springdale), a Southern Baptist megachu ...

Ed Young (pastor) Edwin Barry "Ed" Young (born March 16, 1961) is the founding and senior pastor of Fellowship Church. He is a New York Times and Amazon Best-Selling author, with an international ministry that includes the televised broadcast, Ed Young Television ...

Mark Driscoll Mark A. Driscoll (born 1970) is an American evangelical pastor and author who founded the now defunct Mars Hill Church. He is the senior and founding pastor of the Trinity Church in Scottsdale, Arizona, which was founded in 2016. In 1996, Dr ...

, and

Samuel Rodriguez Samuel Rodriguez Jr. (born September 29, 1969) is an Evangelical American Christian leader born to Puerto Rican parents in the United States. He is a pastor, movie producer, author, civil rights activist and television personality. He is the pres ...

. Pray.com partnered with

Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California, El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary ...

and

to stream the event across multiple platforms. Pray.com was featured as a pop-up channel on

, channel 154, to host the prayer event and celebrate people of all faith.

FEC opinion

The

Federal Election Commission The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency of the United States whose purpose is to enforce campaign finance law in United States federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Cam ...

, in 2021, issued an opinion that will allow Pray.com to feature members of the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washi ...

on its platform.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.pray.com/ Internet properties established in 2016 Social networking services Mobile applications