We partied with VCs at an astrology app launch. On the menu: anxiety, love, and manifesting money.

Business Insider's Grace Lett and Sydney Bradley at an astrology app's launch party in New York City. Sydney Bradley/BI It was the day after the Fall Equinox, and we were partying on a rooftop, pulling tarot cards about our love lives.The location might surprise you: a venture capital firm's office overlooking the Manhattan skyline.Wait, what's astrology got to do with venture capital? We were at a launch party for a social-astrology app called Lora. The party was hosted by Lora founder Michelle Parsons at the offices of her pre-seed backer — AlleyCorp — in SoHo.Astrology is a hot subject in tech.Co-Star, a leading social app for the star-inclined, was acquired by AI company Midjourney this summer, casting a spotlight on the space. Investors and the astrology-obsessed alike want to know: Will an AI-era app take the crown as the next big app in the sector? We got our tarot read. Sydney Bradley/BI "This is a space I've been thinking about for a long time," said Luc Ryan-Schreiber, an investor at AlleyCorp who spearheads the firm's incubation projects — including Lora. "With AI, there was an opportunity to do something a little bit more interactive."Lora, for instance, lets users interact with an AI-powered chatbot that offers advice on personal development, relationships — pretty much anything you want — based on your astrological birth chart.While there is a litany of other astrology apps ready for download, perhaps the biggest competitors in the market are the larger LLM models themselves. Anyone can upload their star chart to ChatGPT or Claude, and then spend hours on end prompting the machine to spit out answers.Lora's founder, Parsons, said she didn't want to put out another app that gives people the answers they want to hear. Instead of "sycophantic" responses from an AI bot or a straightforward daily horoscope, Parsons wants Lora to help people recognize "patterns" in their lives, whether in relationships or in private. Lora founder Michelle Parsons previously cofounded queer social app Lex and held posts at Hinge, Netflix, and Spotify. Courtesy of Lora There are still humans involved in Lora's experience, too, in the form of real-life astrologists, tarot readers, or coaches people can hire directly within the app.Some of those humans were at the party.We sat down with Anne Benveniste, a self-described alignment coach, who provides services on Lora, to read three tarot cards we each pulled. As two single women living in New York City, naturally, we had questions about our love lives. The biggest lesson we both took home from Benveniste: Pain is the price of love. Drinks were astrology-themed. Sydney Bradley/BI Techies and astrologers are both looking to the starsOn the elevator journey to the roof, we got cozy with fellow Lora party attendees. Not a word was spoken until someone broke the silence by asking everyone for their Big Three. (That's your sun, moon, and rising sign.)Walking into the party, we were met with a manifestation board where guests wrote down their prayers for prosperity, love, and money. $50K monthly recurring revenue; that someone special, also $100K; no seasonal depression.A DJ was blasting house music, and an open bar with astrology-themed cocktails was grab-and-go ready. Grace chose the Fixed sign margarita that had the lovers tarot card clipped to the cup, while Sydney sipped on a Mutable sign garden spritz with the strength tarot card. Guests jotted down what they were "manifesting." Sydney Bradley/BI Meanwhile, people in tech got busy talking about the stars."When I was a VC, I'd ask founders what their star sign was," said VC-turned-founder Zehra Naqvi. (She's a Pisces.)She was one of several startup founders in attendance at Lora's launch party.We asked Eric Phillips Waldstein, founder of dating app Beyond, what brought him to the rooftop shindig."Michelle, but you know, more broadly, the universe," said Waldstein (a Sagittarius). Lora's Parsons is an advisor for his company. He added that the vibes were certainly "better" than a typical VC party.We chatted with attendees about topics including other astrology tools they've tried, AI, the state of dating apps, socializing IRL, and the brisk end of summer.In line for a tarot reading, Mia Cooper, an attendee who works in tech (and is a Pisces), is considering a career change and hoping to get some clarifying answers at Lora's party. Lora gave out astrology merch. Sydney Bradley/BI "People are managing a lot of anxiety," Benveniste said. "So many of my readings ended up in discussions around how to release uncomfortable experiences in a healthy way and create space to hear their inner compass." Read next Grace is a senior editor on the Business Insider Today newsletter and works on Business Insider's Owned & Operated audience team, leading email strategy. She is based in New York and has previously worked at the Boston Globe, Mashable, and the Columbia Missourian. Sydney Bradley has been covering media and tech for Business Insider since 2020. She breaks news and writes extensively about Instagram and Facebook, as well as new social media startups, dating apps, the creator economy, venture capital, and tech culture.She regularly contributes to BI's "After Hours" series, where our reporters dive into the social scenes shaping tech, media, and finance.Sydney's reporting on Instagram was nominated as a finalist for the 2021 Los Angeles Press Club National Entertainment Journalism Awards.She graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in American Studies. You can follow Sydney's work on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram at @sydneykbradley.Have a tip? You can also contact her via encrypted messaging app Signal (@sydneykbradley.123), encrypted email (sydneykbradley@proton.me), or standard email (sbradley@businessinsider.com). Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here’s our guide to sharing information securely. After Hours Startup VC More