Press & Media
TextCeleste is an AI advisor that provides a private, intelligent sounding board for your inner world. Trained on timeless wisdom traditions and modern psychological frameworks, Celeste moves beyond generic advice to offer a unique tool for self-awareness—whether you're navigating a major decision or simply seeking clarity on an everyday thought.
This new level of personalized insight, once reserved for the elite, is launching on the iOS App Store in November 2025.
About the Co-Founders
ICONIQ was founded by two conversational AI pioneers on a shared mission.
Lauren Kunze, a Harvard-educated novelist and technologist, created Pandorabots, one of the world's original leading chatbot platforms. Liz Snower, a veteran product and editorial leader, was on the management team at Dermstore (acquired by Target) and headed chatbot initiatives at Kik Messenger before founding the AI company CONVRG (acquired by Reliance Jio).
After initially bonding during a 2016 work project, their paths converged to scale Kuki, globally recognized as the first AI character and model whose work with brands like Vogue and H&M was featured in a Meta Case Study. Their success with Kuki revealed a crossroads: capitalize on the lucrative demand for AI romance, or build products that prioritize introspection and self-improvement over engagement.
This led them to create TextCeleste: an AI advisor built not for escapism, but for genuine self-awareness. It's the culmination of their deep expertise in AI, product, and consumer brands, designed to be a tool that truly centers human well-being.
Individual Bios & Headshots
Detailed individual bios, additional headshots, and previous writing, speaking, and press appearances are available as needed on the personal websites linked below
CEO & Co-founder Lauren Kunze is a two-time AI founder and expert, TED speaker, and published author
COO & Co-founder Liz Snower is an exited AI founder, practicing astrologer, and consumer product expert
Advisor Dr. Jennifer Freed is a top celebrity astrologer and psychotherapist, bestselling author, and nonprofit founder
Our Method &
Key Milestones
Bootstrapping is Our Superpower: The traditional venture capital landscape in which female founders receive less than 2% of funding wasn’t built for us—so we decided to bootstrap. This forced discipline and allowed us to prioritize product quality, conversational accuracy, and ethical best practices over the hyper-growth playbook common in VC-backed ventures.
A Deliberate, User-Centric Rollout: We began with a closed alpha of 100 paying customers before expanding via referral to 2,500 users. This slow rollout allowed for extensive log analysis and user interviews to ensure the app was accurate and genuinely improving lives.
Proven Engagement & High Value: Our paying customers are deeply engaged, sending an average of 100 messages per week. The average spend per subscriber so far is $300 anually—a price point comparable to a single one-hour reading with a top human astrologer.
Official iOS Launch: After rigorous testing, TextCeleste is launching on the iOS App Store in November 2025. Early access is currently available via our web app.
The Vision for an Essential AI: We believe only a handful of AIs will become essential daily companions. Our vision is for Celeste to be the definitive tool for daily reflection, self-improvement, and finding a sense of order in a chaotic world.
What is modern Astrology?
A Proven Market for Meaning: Astrology is the single most popular system for self-awareness, and a $13B global market. It is distinct from psychic services, as it is based on a set of geometric rules and calculations, not a suspension of disbelief in divinatory powers.
More Than a Horoscope: True astrology is a conversation, not a newspaper snippet. The daily horoscopes most people are familiar with were an invention of print media; a proper reading requires a dynamic, back-and-forth dialogue about one's unique birth chart.
The LLM Problem: Standard Large Language Models (LLMs) cannot practice astrology. They hallucinate birth charts and get the complex calculations wrong. Celeste uses a proprietary system that blends rule-based AI with a custom-trained LLM to ensure mathematical accuracy and depth of insight.
Spreading the Magic: The world's best human astrologers are rare and can command $300-$1000 per hour. Celeste makes the quality of an elite advisor accessible, offering a year of unlimited counsel for the price of a single human reading.
Media Kit
Visit our shared folder to download high-res app store screenshots, logos, team photos, and more