Marissa Mayer's Dazzle Secures $8M in Seed Funding as Former Yahoo Leader Bets Big on Consumer AI

After six years leading Sunshine—a photo-sharing and contact-management platform that failed to gain meaningful traction—Marissa Mayer has made a decisive pivot. The celebrated tech entrepreneur has shut down the struggling venture and is now channeling her energy into Dazzle, an ambitious new company developing next-generation AI personal assistants for everyday users.

The transition signals Mayer’s commitment to capturing the emerging wave of consumer-facing artificial intelligence. Despite keeping product specifics under wraps, the company has already attracted serious backing: a $8 million seed investment at a $35 million pre-money valuation, with prominent venture capitalist Kirsten Green of Forerunner Ventures leading the round. Additional supporters include Kleiner Perkins, Greycroft, Offline Ventures, Slow Ventures, and Bling Capital, while Mayer herself has contributed personal capital to the endeavor.

Why This Matters for AI’s Consumer Future

Green’s leadership of Dazzle’s funding round carries significant weight. Her track record includes identifying and backing breakout consumer brands like Warby Parker, Chime, and Dollar Shave Club—companies that successfully disrupted established categories. The venture capitalist has previously emphasized that while enterprise AI captured early attention, consumer-oriented AI applications represent the “late bloomer” poised for explosive growth.

“I think she really has a great sense for where people and platforms are going,” Mayer reflected on working with Green. For a founder of Mayer’s stature, Green’s confidence in Dazzle serves as a critical credibility marker, especially given Sunshine’s well-documented struggles in the market.

Learning from Sunshine’s Shortcomings

Sunshine’s journey offers valuable lessons. Originally launched as Lumi Labs in 2018, the company initially focused on contact management before expanding into event management and photo-sharing features. The products faced multiple obstacles: early privacy concerns surrounded the app’s practice of extracting home addresses from public databases, and subsequent offerings were plagued by outdated design and limited user adoption.

Over its lifetime, Sunshine accumulated $20 million in funding from Felicis, Norwest Venture Partners, and Unusual Ventures. When the company wound down, these investors received 10% equity stakes in Dazzle. Mayer acknowledged that Sunshine’s core challenge was ambition scope—the problems the company addressed felt too “mundane” and lacked sufficient scale.

“I don’t think we got it to the state of overall polish and accessibility that I really wanted it to be,” she admitted, but framed the experience as foundational for Dazzle’s stronger foundation.

A Track Record of Transformation

Mayer’s career trajectory lends credibility to her latest venture. Before leading Yahoo, she was Google’s 20th employee, instrumental in crafting Google Search’s interface and spearheading development of Google Maps and AdWords—products that fundamentally reshaped how people access information and digital services.

“I have had the rare privilege of being at two companies that really changed how people do things,” Mayer told TechCrunch. “Yahoo, for many, defined the internet. Google, in terms of Search and Maps, changed everything. I really aspire to build a product that has that kind of impact again.”

The Dazzle team began prototyping the new platform last summer, a process that quickly overshadowed Sunshine’s work in scope and potential. “We realized that this was something that we were much more excited about,” Mayer explained, noting Dazzle’s capacity for “a much bigger impact” compared to its predecessor.

What’s Next

Dazzle is scheduled to emerge from stealth mode in early 2025. Its website at dazzle.ai remains password-protected, with public access still restricted as the company prepares for broader market introduction.