Midjourney Acquires Co-Star to Build a Consumer Product Empire
Midjourney acquires astrology app Co-Star and names its CEO as Chief Design Officer, signaling a major push into consumer software products
- Midjourney acquires Co-Star, the cult astrology app with tens of millions of users, in an undisclosed deal.
- Banu Guler, Co-Star's founder and CEO, joins Midjourney as Chief Design Officer to lead all design, product, and frontend work.
- Co-Star app continues to operate independently under Guler's complete control -- no changes for users.
- Midjourney is building 8 products (4 hardware, 4 software); this deal fills a critical consumer product leadership gap.
- Co-Star raised $21M total; Midjourney is self-funded with $200M+ ARR and no outside investors.
- The move signals Midjourney's pivot from pure model provider to consumer product company, competing in AI-driven personal apps.
Midjourney is acquiring Co-Star, the cult-favorite astrology app with tens of millions of users. The deal brings Co-Star founder and CEO Banu Guler into Midjourney as its new Chief Design Officer, where she will build a cross-functional design, product, and frontend team. For a company that has spent its entire existence as a pure-play image model, this is a sharp turn toward consumer product ambitions.
Two very different companies, one deal
Midjourney has never taken external funding and runs on roughly 40 to 45 employees, yet has built a $200M+ ARR business through organic growth and reinvested profits. CEO David Holz has kept the company fully independent, a rare posture in the AI industry. That financial independence is what makes this acquisition possible: Midjourney can make unconventional bets without answering to a board.
Co-Star was founded in 2017 by Banu Guler, Anna Kopp, and Ben Weitzman, and raised approximately $21 million in funding, including a $15 million Series A led by Spark Capital in April 2021. The app uses NASA-sourced astronomical data and proprietary algorithms to generate detailed astrological interpretations from a user's exact birth date, time, and location. Its minimalist design and sharp notification tone built a devoted following, particularly among Gen Z. The acquisition price has not been disclosed.