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Nothing is like a horoscope.
If you have not heard of Co-Star, you may be in the wrong circle. In some social scenes, it's almost ubiquitous. When conversations start regularly by comparing astrological charts, it is useful to have this information. The trend is so remarkable that the application has even been evoked in a New York Times article about VCs flocking to startups in astrology.
This week, the company behind the most popular iOS astrology app has probably announced it has collected $ 5.2 million worth of seeds. Maveron, Aspect, 14w and Female Founder Fund all participated in the round, which follows a $ 750,000 pre-financing. The company plans to use these funds to create an Android companion for its iOS-only application, develop its team and "create features that encourage new ways of getting closer, new ways of taking care of ourselves and new ways of getting together. develop".
TechCrunch spoke to Banu Guler, CEO and co-founder of Co-Star, about talking to potential investors to find money for an idea that Silicon Valley's echo chambers might not find. conventional.
"We certainly talked to people who were disdainful," Guler told TechCrunch in an email. "But the reality is that the interest in astrology is skyrocketing … It's just about finding the right investors who see the value of astrology and the potential for growth . "
"There are people who think that astrology is stupid or not very serious. But according to our experience, the number of people who find value and meaning in astrology is much greater than the number of people who are shocked. "
If you have ever used a traditional astrology application or website to view your natal chart, that is to say to determine the position of the planets on the day and time of your birth, you have probably already noticed how most of these services share more in common with old Geocities sites than with modern and bright apps. In contrast, the application of Co-Star is clean and clever, with encyclopedia type illustrations and a simple presentation. It's not something with an infinite parchment in which you'll get lost, but it's nice to dive into Co-Star, check your algorithm-generated horoscope and see what's the sign of your aggressive ex's rise passive.
In a world still obsessed with the long-denied Meyers-Briggs test, you can think of astrology as a kind of cosmic organizational psychology, but more interested in the emotional realities of people than in how they work at work. For many young people – and queerers, from personal experience – astrology is a very fun way to take stock of life. Instead of directly predicting future events (good luck with that), it is more commonly used as a means of evaluating relationships, events, and anything else. If the memes of astrology on Instagram are an indication, there is a whole cohort of people who use astrology as a framework to talk about their emotional lives. This search for authenticity – and arguably the proliferation of truly inspired viral content – is probably fueling the rise of astrology.
"By placing the human experience in the context of a vast universe, Co-Star creates a shortcut to a real conversation in a sea of small conversations: a way of talking about who we are and our relationships with them. with each other, "writes the company on its funding announcement. "It does not reduce the complexity. That does not judge. He understands.
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