Most luxury concierge services are built for life’s big moments like finding a last-minute villa or making the finishing touches on a once-in-a-lifetime trip. But a new app is betting the ultrarich want help in life’s small moments, too.
Aurora, an invite-only app, pairs AI with human experts to manage members’ dining, travel, luxury goods, wellness services, and more. Members are charged a $10,000 annual fee, plus a $5,000 initiation fee, according to company materials reviewed by Fortune. The company bills itself as a “luxury lifestyle manager” since members can connect their calendars and wearable tech like Whoop and Oura, and Aurora uses that data to anticipate what they’ll need before they ask.
But getting in isn’t guaranteed.
“We actually developed a rejection email before an acceptance email,” cofounder and CEO Jonah Lowenstein told Fortune. Aurora isn’t invite-only to be “bureaucratic and slow people down,” he said. It’s “a promise to our members and to our partners that we’re going to curate right from end to end.”
For example, if a member’s wellness data shows they’re jet-lagged after a flight, Aurora might suggest—and, if the member wants, book—a sauna and recovery session, an IV drip to their room, or a physical therapist for a sports massage, Lowenstein said. It can even use Whoop data to target specific muscle groups “that you don’t even have to tell your masseuse about because Aurora already knew,” he said.
It’s part of a broader trend of wellness as a status amenity for the ultrawealthy. Luxury apartment buildings have started offering med-spa services like IV hydration and Botox to compete in an “amenities arms race,” and ultrawealthy residents now expect hotel-level amenities at home.
The key, though, is that Aurora blends AI insights with the human touch. New members are encouraged to start with an onboarding call so the team can learn their preferences, lifestyle, and details as small as their partner’s favorite flowers.
“You have the speed and the memory and the accuracy of technology, but then you’ve got the taste and the relationships and the expertise of humans,” Lowenstein said.
‘Surviving is not living’
Lowenstein grew up in London, where he spent his childhood doing acting and voiceover work, and in college, he built an immersive events company for students. His goal with Aurora, he said, has always been to lift people “above the line,” beyond simply getting by.
“Surviving is not living,” he said. “Living is living.”
A chance meeting in a London café connected him with the person who would become Aurora’s chairman, Alex Macdonald, who cofounded digital concierge Velocity Black, which Capital One acquired in 2023. Lowenstein said he spent 30 days straight at Macdonald’s office, asking “day and night” about what they’d built before, and walked away with a $500,000 check.
For its first six months, Aurora ran on essentially no technology. Lowenstein and his cofounders answered member requests by hand, with an alarm that went off whenever a member messaged.
That human element also helps Aurora get members into hard-to-book places. Lowenstein said the team’s long-standing relationships with restaurant owners and hospitality groups across the world are key, and partners know Aurora’s vetted members show up for reservations and are good guests. Aurora can lock in Wimbledon debenture seats well in advance, he said, and it has fielded requests as specific as a member overseas asking for a type of rye bread found in New York delis at 2 a.m. U.S. time.
Aurora has signed up several hundred members in its first eight months, Lowenstein said, with more than half using the app daily and more than 85% weekly. The aim, he added, is for Aurora to be “just as relevant on a Tuesday” as on an extraordinary day.
Aurora also hosts members-only events from Navy SEAL breathwork in Miami to private car racing in New York, and Lowenstein said more are planned in Singapore and Dubai. A poker night event hosted by Aurora drew Kevin Hart, who called it “one of those great New York nights you don’t forget and want to recreate time and time again.”
“Their team curated an event that stood out as something memorable and special,” Hart told Fortune. And “it was clear that everyone in the room felt the same way.”
Lowenstein said Aurora has raised about $12 million from VCs, family offices, and angel investors, and it’s preparing to raise a Series A “very shortly.” Next up, Lowenstein told Fortune exclusively, are collaborative features that will let members plan alongside their spouses, siblings, executive assistants, children, and closest friends.
“I think that’s also where the future of this goes,” Lowenstein said. “Who are the people you love being around? Who are the people who you think have awesome taste?”