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$438 million later, what does this faith-tech company actually do?

July 20, 2026 · 1 min read

(RNS) — Nearly half a billion dollars, gone, over thirteen years.

That’s how much a company called Gloo has lost trying to build an all-in-one digital & administrative powerhouse for what it’s calling the “Faith & Flourishing Ecosystem” of American churches.

A tech company that can handle email & texting, data analytics, web hosting, podcast hosting, IT infrastructure, sermon-to-social video clips, all the way to AI-generated devotionals and study guides. That’s just a taste.

Our guest is RNS reporter Bob Smietana, and we’re asking:

What happens if it works? What happens when one for-profit company, one whose SEC filings admit it might not survive the year, becomes the back office for a huge slice of American Christianity?

Who holds that data? Who shapes that message? What happens if all of that data falls into the wrong hands?

RELATED: Faith-based AI company Gloo faces moment of truth after $438M in losses

Source: Religion News Service · Read the full story →

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💬 Comments (3) 🌐 Translate comments

Sophia Evans

I keep thinking about that line where they say one company could end up as the back office for a huge slice of American Christianity. After seeing how data breaches happen at regular businesses, the idea of all those church member lists, giving records, and sermon notes sitting in one place that’s already lost nearly half a billion dollars makes me uneasy. Who’s actually responsible if it all goes sideways?

Hannah Anderson

I get why that makes you uneasy, Sophia—the thought of one company holding all those member lists and giving records does feel risky, especially with their track record of losses. We've had enough trouble with our parish email list getting spammed as it is. Who do you think should be watching over that kind of data instead?

Margaret Anderson

Yeah, that parish email spam is the perfect example—ours got hit twice last year and it took Father a month to get the list cleaned up. I'd rather see the data stay with each local church or maybe a nonprofit tied to a denomination instead of one big for-profit that's already burning through cash. What do you think about something like a church-owned cooperative for the tech side?