The AI image and video lab bought the horoscope app used by millions of Gen Z users. Co-Star CEO Banu Guler becomes Midjourney's Chief Design Officer as the company builds toward its own consumer apps.
2026-07-25 · by Moe Ameen
Midjourney, the AI research lab best known for its image and short-video generators, has acquired Co-Star, the social astrology app, according to reporting published July 24, 2026 by TechCrunch and Bloomberg. Deal terms were not disclosed. The acquisition had reportedly closed earlier in the year — in the spring — and was previously unannounced.
Co-Star is one of the more recognizable consumer astrology apps: it generates personalized birth charts and daily horoscopes that users share with friends, and it has drawn a large, mostly young audience — figures cited in reporting include roughly 4.3 million monthly active users, tens of millions of downloads, and reach among a sizable share of young Americans. Co-Star uses a mix of AI and human writers to produce its horoscopes and compatibility readings. Its team of about two dozen employees joined Midjourney, and Co-Star CEO Banu Guler is becoming Midjourney's Chief Design Officer while, per reporting, retaining control of Co-Star itself.
The deal reads less like a bet on astrology and more like a bet on people. Midjourney has historically been a model-and-tools company that reaches users largely through Discord rather than its own polished app. Co-Star brings something Midjourney lacks in-house: a team with a track record of building a consumer product that millions of people open every day and treat as personal. It also fits a broader diversification Midjourney has signaled in 2026, including a medical-imaging division. Guler framed the shared thesis around the idea that computers can be tools that reveal our humanity to ourselves — a personalization-first framing rather than a raw-capability one.
Treat the audience metrics and the "closed in the spring" timing as reported figures rather than official disclosures, and expect Midjourney to say more as it builds out its own consumer apps.
The takeaway from Midjourney buying Co-Star isn't astrology — it's that the value was in personalization at scale and a daily-habit surface, not in another generator. Co-Star turned one astrological template into millions of readings that each felt written for the individual, delivered on a reliable cadence. A creator has the mirror-image version of that job: one idea that has to feel native to each platform and show up consistently, without a two-dozen-person team to build it. That is precisely the gap Kompozy closes.
Point Kompozy at a single source — a note, a transcript, a link — and it generates the full spread in your Persona Brief voice: avatar and persona video, clipped shorts, carousels, quote and photo images, an X thread, a blog article, and a newsletter, each reframed for where it's going rather than reposted flat. Where Co-Star personalizes per reader, Kompozy personalizes per platform and per audience, keeping your face and brand styling consistent through Gemini face-lock and HyperFrames. Then it does the part that actually built Co-Star's moat — cadence: schedule and publish across the eight social platforms plus blog and email from one review pipeline, or run it on autopilot so the daily show-up happens without you assembling each post. Midjourney had to acquire a company to get a consumer habit engine; a creator gets the content-and-distribution version of it as a workflow.
Yes. Reporting published July 24, 2026 by TechCrunch and Bloomberg said Midjourney, the AI image and video lab, acquired the social astrology app Co-Star. Financial terms were not disclosed, and the deal had reportedly closed earlier in the year, in the spring.
The strategic value is personalization and consumer distribution, not horoscopes specifically. Co-Star brings millions of daily-habit users and a team experienced at building consumer apps — something Midjourney lacks, since it has reached users largely through Discord. It fits Midjourney's broader 2026 push into its own consumer apps and other divisions such as medical imaging.
Co-Star's team of about two dozen joined Midjourney, and CEO Banu Guler is becoming Midjourney's Chief Design Officer while, per reporting, retaining control of Co-Star. Treat the audience figures and closing timeline as reported rather than officially disclosed until Midjourney says more.
It underlines that reach and a consistent, personalized audience habit compound more than any single AI tool. You can't buy a consumer team, but you can own your distribution. Kompozy generates video, carousels, images, blogs, and newsletters from one source in your brand voice, then schedules and publishes them across the eight social platforms plus blog and email — the cadence engine a creator needs.