Humans have always been fascinated with the idea of future prediction. Across cultures and ages, this fascination hasn’t worn out. People diligently read daily horoscope predictions in newspapers and follow the advice. The charm of astrology has carried into the digital age and tech savvy individuals are shifting from humans to mobile apps for seeking guidance on their future.
Many techpreneurs are exploring the idea of building a mobile app for astrology as the future of the investment seems bright.
Why should you bother investing in building an astrology app?
Market size is decent
According to an article on the Verge, the market size for astrology and related mystical services is pegged at $2.2 billion. This is a sizable amount of money and the market is still open as the number of organized players is very low. Given the interest of people in astrology and related services, the market size estimate seems to be on the conservative side with more room to explode.
Millennials are interested
Science foundation reported that the number of young Americans opposed to the idea of astrology is low. In fact, it is so low that the foundation says that the comparable percentage of skeptics has not been so low since 1983.
As depicted in the above graph, the percentage of millennials who are interested in astrology and do not consider it as pseudoscience is increasing.
According to many, astrology relates well with the narcissistic personality of the millennials. But, if we look closer then astrology appeals to the basic human need of feeling special. Humans love it when something makes them feel unique and special whether it’s a brand or astrology. As Mr. Birnbaum, one of the investors in Sanctuary puts it,
“What’s better than something that is basically a story about you?”
All the startups know that anything that appeals to the millennials is good investment. This is because the millennials are the most prized customer segment for any business as they are a population group that has a growing income. Also, according to a research, the millennials are expected to inherit some $68 trillion worth of wealth from their preceding generation. Thus millennial participation in an app makes it investment grade.
Venture capital is investing in astrology
Venture capitalists know that astrology is really popular amongst the millennials and the fact that astrology is having its cultural moment in recent times. The popularity of astrology is attracting venture capital to the field of astrology and forecasting application development is in vogue today within the VC circles. Also, the startups they are funding are a far cry from the shady astrology websites from the web 1.0 era.
Take an example of Co-star, an AI powered astrology app that delivers quirky one liner to the users on a daily basis. Started in 2017 by Banu Guler, Ben Weitzman, and Anna Kopp, the astrology startup has already 3 million+ downloads and more than 400K followers on Instagram. The success of Co-star has attracted $5 million in funding from Maveron and Aspect Ventures who happen to be successful Silicon Valley venture capitalist firms.
Banu Guler, the co-founder faced many rejections from investors regarding the app. But she understood her customers very well as she states, “I get that you’re not into astrology,” but if you had access to a 20-something or teenager who is a girl, that’s who you need to talk to.” Also, there is a “scientific touch” to astrology with Co-star as the company claims to use NASA data to track the movement of stars.
Although the app in itself is free it makes money by charging users to compare their chart to that of a friend. It answers questions like, why did the two of you start fighting? Or can you two be soul mates?
According to Anarghya Vardhana, a partner at Maveron Co-star has the potential to become as big as Tinder or Spotify.
According to investors like Ms Vardhana, people are seeking smaller and more specialized communities online where they can feel connected. Astrology applications help in removing the feeling of loneliness that the people of the world feel today.
Belief systems in astrology
In astrology, there are various belief systems across cultures. Mentioned below are the few popular ones.
Vedic or Indian astrology
One of the most ancient systems of astrology still practiced today, the Indian of Vedic astrology system, also happens to be one of the most popular ones.
Western astrology
The western system of astrology is loosely based on Indian astrology’s sun sign system. The major difference of this system with the Indian astrology system is that the western system reads a person’s future based on the movement of the zodiacs while the Indian system is much more complex and takes into consideration various calculations based on the exact birth time of the person.
Chinese Astrology
Based on their birth year, it broadly classifies people into 12 animal signs like tiger, monkey, cock etc. It follows the lunar calendar and the 12 year cycle on which the animals are named is concurrent with the revolution period of the planet Jupiter around the Sun. The system determines the future by conducting calculations of the positions of 5 important planets, moon, Sun and various comets at the time of a person’s birth.
Numerology
It is the study of numbers with the belief that they have the power to influence a person’s future. Numerology studies the numbers concerning the date of birth of a person. It also studies the numbers related to name spellings and other important words in a person’s life.
Palmistry
Palmistry is concerned with prediction of future by reading the lines and marks on a person’s hand, forehead and even feet. Also known as chiromancy, the practice is popular in many cultures across the world.
