Sunshine, the patron AI startup based by former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer in 2018, has seen brighter days.
The small startup is shutting down and its belongings are being offered to a brand new entity integrated by Mayer, referred to as Dazzle, in keeping with an e-mail considered by WIRED. Mayer despatched the e-mail to Sunshine shareholders on September 17, informing them that Dazzle has formally integrated and is able to purchase Sunshine’s holdings.
The deal requires approval from shareholders, together with Sunshine cofounder Enrique Muñoz Torres, Norwest Enterprise Companions, Felicis Companions, Ron Conway’s SV Angel, the PR agency Archetype Company, and others. As of Sunday afternoon, 99 p.c of shareholders had signed, in keeping with sources near the scenario. Mayer herself is the corporate’s largest shareholder and investor.
The e-mail didn’t elaborate on what Dazzle’s objective can be, however sources inform WIRED that Mayer is eyeing a brand new form of AI private assistant. Sunshine’s roughly 15 workers expect to search out new roles at Dazzle, sources say.
“After cautious consideration, Sunshine’s administration, and 99.99% of its shareholders, decided the strongest path ahead for the corporate was to promote to Dazzle AI, a brand new firm already integrated and with dedicated funding,” Mayer mentioned via a spokesperson. “As Sunshine’s largest investor, shareholder, and CEO, Marissa is pleased with what the staff constructed and appears ahead to carrying that momentum into new alternatives round Dazzle.”
Mayer based Sunshine, initially referred to as Lumi Labs, again in 2018 after her five-year turnaround try at Yahoo. Previous to turning into CEO of Yahoo, Mayer had a storied profession at Google, the place she was worker quantity 20. Mayer designed the interface for Google Search, and helped develop Google Maps and Google AdWords.
The thought for Sunshine’s first product, an app for managing contacts, stemmed from Mayer’s personal expertise tapping into her deep community of Silicon Valley luminaries as she was making an attempt to launch her firm. That app, Sunshine Contacts, launched in 2020. By that time, the startup had raised $20 million in enterprise capital funding, along with Mayer’s private contributions.
Early on, the Sunshine app was stricken by complaints that it probably violated consumer privateness. The app, which used AI to determine and merge duplicate individuals in your telephone’s contacts checklist, was additionally pulling in data from Whitepages to robotically add dwelling addresses to contacts.
In 2024, Sunshine launched a photograph sharing app referred to as Shine. Like Sunshine Contacts, Shine was extensively considered as a flop.