Pray, Inc.

Corporate brand

Pray, Inc. (Pray.com) is an American Christian content and technology company offering a social networking and mobile app for daily prayer, faith-based audio, and community.

Last updated September 28, 2026

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Overview

Pray, Inc., commonly known as Pray.com, is an American Christian content and technology company best known for its mobile application and social networking service designed to facilitate religious communities. Launched in 2016, the platform was founded by Steve Gatena, Michael Lynn, Ryan Beck, and Matthew Potter. It combines social networking features with daily prayers, sermons, biblical content, and podcasts, positioning itself as a specialized social media platform for religious groups. The service allows congregations to establish their own groups where members and leaders can participate in discussions, livestream services, and manage donations. Users can also join "prayer communities" to post and respond to prayer requests. For subscribers to premium services, Pray.com provides access to biblically-inspired meditations, bedtime stories, and Bible stories for children. The company also produces radio drama-style productions with actors such as Kristen Bell and Blair Underwood narrating biblical stories. Pray.com gained significant attention during the COVID-19 pandemic, when its user base surged by 955% as churches turned to virtual ministry services amid restrictions on in-person gatherings. The platform has hosted National Day of Prayer events, including a 2021 virtual event featuring remarks from President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence. In 2020, the company suffered a major security incident exposing sensitive data of millions of users, and in 2022 it faced accusations regarding the sale of user data to third-party brokers. In February 2024, the app was removed from Apple's App Store in China as part of the country's broader efforts to restrict access to religious content. Pray.com describes itself as a social impact company driven by a mission to grow faith and cultivate community. Its vision is to create a world where everyone leaves a legacy of helping others. The company has raised funding from investors including Science Inc., Greylock Partners, Spark Capital, and TPG Growth. In the 2020s, Pray.com began using artificial intelligence to generate imagery, and in 2025 it launched an AI Bible YouTube channel.

History

Pray, Inc., operating as Pray.com, was launched in 2016 as a Christian social networking service and mobile application designed to facilitate religious communities. It was founded by Steve Gatena, Michael Lynn, Ryan Beck, and Matthew Potter. Gatena serves as CEO, Lynn as CFO, Beck as CTO, and Potter as a co-founder. The company describes itself as a social impact company driven by a mission to grow faith and cultivate community. In 2017, the platform raised US$2 million in seed funding from Science Inc., Greylock Partners, and Spark Capital. This was followed by a Series A funding round in March 2018, in which the company secured an additional US$14,000,000 from TPG Growth, Science Inc., and Greylock Partners. Founder Steve Gatena has highlighted difficulties in securing funding, noting some venture capitalists' negative attitudes towards faith-based technology. Pray.com first hosted a National Day of Prayer event in 2020 when it streamed to nearly one million viewers on Facebook. In 2021, Pray hosted a virtual event for the National Day of Prayer in the United States. The event featured remarks from public figures including United States President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence. President Biden spoke of his faith and prayed for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event featured musical performances from Gary Valenciano, Brooke Ligertwood from the Christian band Hillsong Worship, Lecrae, Heather Headley, and Michael Neale. Other notable speakers included Ronnie Floyd, Ed Young, Mark Driscoll, and Samuel Rodriguez. Pray.com partnered with SiriusXM, DirecTV, and Facebook to stream the event across multiple platforms. Pray.com was featured as a pop-up channel on SiriusXM, channel 154, to host the prayer event and celebrate people of all faith. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly increased Pray.com's user base, with downloads surging by 955%. During this period, the platform collaborated with churches to support virtual ministry services as in-person gatherings were restricted. The Federal Election Commission issued an opinion in 2021 that allows the platform to feature members of the United States Congress. In 2020, the company suffered a major security incident exposing sensitive data of millions of users. The app inadvertently exposed sensitive personal data of up to 10 million users as a result of unsecured cloud databases that were stored on Amazon Web Services. In 2022, an investigation from BuzzFeed accused the app of not properly disclosing that they sell private data from users to third-party data brokers for commercial purposes. In February 2024, the app was removed from Apple's App Store in China as part of the country's broader efforts to restrict access to religious content. The app was targeted due to China's stringent regulations on religious material, particularly content distributed through digital platforms. Pray.com began using artificial intelligence to generate imagery in the 2020s. In 2025 they launched the AI Bible YouTube channel, with some videos having millions of views. The videos received mixed reviews from theology scholars with Brad East stating that they had a "Marvel aesthetic in all the worst ways" while Paul Hoffman stated he was "always a fan of anything that drives interest ... in the Bible."

2025
Launched AI Bible YouTube channel
2024
App removed from Apple's App Store in China
2022
BuzzFeed investigation accused the app of not properly disclosing sale of user data to third-party brokers
2021
Hosted virtual National Day of Prayer event featuring President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence
2021
Federal Election Commission issued an opinion allowing the platform to feature members of the United States Congress
2020
Hosted first National Day of Prayer event, streamed to nearly one million viewers on Facebook
2020
Security incident exposed sensitive data of up to 10 million users
2018
Series A funding round secured US$14,000,000 from TPG Growth, Science Inc., and Greylock Partners
2017
Raised US$2 million in seed funding from Science Inc., Greylock Partners, and Spark Capital
2016
Pray.com launched as a Christian social networking service and mobile application

Products and positioning

The world's #1 app for daily prayer and faith-based audio content; a social impact company driven by a mission to grow faith and cultivate community.

Pray.com mobile app
Social networking and daily prayer app with devotionals, sermons, and podcasts
Pray Premium
Subscription service offering biblically-inspired meditations, bedtime stories, and children's Bible stories
Bedtime Bible Stories
Radio drama-style audio series with celebrity narrators such as Kristen Bell, Blair Underwood, Drew Brees, and Lecrae
Prayer communities
Feature allowing users to post and respond to prayer requests
Congregation groups
Groups for congregations to discuss, livestream services, and manage donations

Marketing campaigns

National Day of Prayer 2020
National Day of Prayer 2021

Sources7 sources

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