Midjourney buys astrology app Co-Star

In short: Midjourney has acquired Co-Star, an astrology app where people share birth charts and get horoscope-style advice.

What happened

Midjourney, the company best known for tools that generate images and videos from text prompts, has acquired the social astrology app Co-Star, according to Bloomberg. The price and other deal details were not shared.

Co-Star reportedly has about 4.3 million monthly active users. People mainly use it to create an astrological birth chart (a map of the sky at the moment you were born) and share it with friends inside the app.

Co-Star produces horoscopes, compatibility notes, and other advice based on a user’s information. TechCrunch reports that it uses a mix of AI and human writing, which is a bit like having a computer draft text and an editor help shape the final wording.

As part of the acquisition, Co-Star’s team of around two dozen employees is joining Midjourney. Midjourney is strongly associated with its Discord community, where many users access its tools, and it does not currently have a standalone Midjourney app.

Why it matters

This deal is a sign that Midjourney is looking beyond its original image and video tools. For everyday users, the most noticeable change could be where and how Midjourney products show up, especially if the Co-Star team helps Midjourney build its own consumer app instead of relying so much on Discord.

Source: TechCrunch AI