Midjourney is acquiring Co-Star as it moves beyond images

Signals Inbox·July 26, 2026·AI Creative Tools

Midjourney is buying Co-Star, the astrology app with roughly 4.3 million monthly users, and making founder Banu Guler its chief design officer. The surprising part is not astrology. Midjourney is buying the consumer product skills it needs to move beyond Discord, websites, and one-off image generation into apps people may open every day.

Q1What actually happened?

Midjourney officially announced that it is acquiring Co-Star, a social astrology app. Co-Star founder Banu Guler is becoming Midjourney’s chief design officer and building a cross-functional design, product, and frontend team. Co-Star will keep operating under her control, and the deal price was not disclosed.

Q2Why would an image company buy an astrology app?

Because Midjourney is not really buying astrology. It is buying a team that knows how to turn personalization into a consumer habit. Co-Star built a recognizable voice, strong mobile design, social compatibility features, and daily notifications that brought users back. Those are very different skills from training a great image model.

Q3How large is Co-Star?

Co-Star reportedly has around 4.3 million monthly users. It had already passed 20 million downloads by 2021, largely without traditional marketing, and said it had reached about one-quarter of American women aged 18 to 25. Midjourney is therefore getting more than a small product studio. It is acquiring a proven consumer brand and a live audience.

Q4What problem does this solve for Midjourney?

Midjourney became one of the biggest names in generative images, but much of its early growth happened through Discord and later its website. That helped it scale quickly, but it also meant another platform often controlled the user experience. Co-Star gives Midjourney people who know how to build standalone apps that feel simple, personal, and worth opening every day.

Q5Is Midjourney really moving beyond images?

Yes. It has already expanded from still images into video, licensed its visual technology to Meta, and announced a medical project built around full-body ultrasound scanning. Co-Star adds another piece: consumer software. Midjourney is starting to look less like one image generator and more like a company trying to apply its technology across media, health, and everyday apps.

Q6So what is the real signal?

The consumer AI fight is moving from who has the prettiest model to who can build the strongest habit. Midjourney already has technical quality and a recognizable brand. Co-Star gives it product taste, mobile experience, and millions of active users. The next question is whether that team can turn Midjourney from a tool people use for a task into a product people live inside.