Marissa Mayer Shuts Down AI Startup, Sells Assets to New Venture
▼ Summary
– Marissa Mayer is shutting down her startup Sunshine and selling its assets to her new AI company Dazzle.
– Dazzle will focus on developing an AI personal assistant, and all Sunshine employees will transfer to the new company.
– Most of Sunshine’s investors, including Norwest Venture Partners and Felicis Partners, have approved the asset sale.
– Sunshine initially launched a contact management app in 2018 but faced low adoption due to privacy concerns and poor performance.
– The company had raised $20 million in 2020 and was largely self-funded, with its apps receiving minimal downloads.
Marissa Mayer, the former chief executive of Yahoo, is winding down her consumer software venture, Sunshine, and transferring its assets to a new artificial intelligence enterprise named Dazzle. This strategic move, initially covered by Wired, came to light through an email distributed to Sunshine’s shareholders. According to the publication, which referenced confidential sources, Dazzle intends to develop an AI personal assistant, and all existing Sunshine staff will transition to the new entity.
The majority of Sunshine’s financial backers, including Norwest Venture Partners, Felicis Partners, and SV Angel, reportedly approved the transaction. Established in 2018, Sunshine initially introduced a subscription-based contact management application called “Sunshine Contacts.” However, the product struggled to gain a foothold in the market, largely due to user apprehension regarding data privacy.
In 2024, the company attempted to revitalize its offerings by incorporating event management and photo sharing features, enhanced with artificial intelligence capabilities. Despite these additions, both applications failed to attract significant user interest, with each accumulating just over 1,000 downloads on the Google Play Store. Sunshine secured approximately $20 million in funding during 2020, though Mayer has indicated that she personally provided a substantial portion of the company’s financial support.
(Source: TechCrunch)
