Marissa Mayer’s new startup Dazzle raises $8M led by Forerunner Kirsten Green.

The former CEO of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer, refuses to be on the sidelines of the AI ​​revolution.

After spending the last six years running Sunlight, sharing images and starting to monitor underachievers, the technology leader has created. closed company to start Dazzlea new startup focused on creating the next generation of AI personal assistants.

Although Mayer didn’t share the details of Dazzle’s operations, he did reveal that the new company has raised $8 million in seed funding at a cost of $35 million. The round was led by Forerunner Kirsten Green, and Kleiner Perkins, Greycroft, Offline Ventures, Slow Ventures, and Bling Capital. Although Mayer acknowledged that he put up his own capital in the startup, he emphasized that the round was led by Green, a venture capitalist with a reputation for identifying brands such as Warby Parker, Chime, and Dollar Shave Club.

Green coins indicate that Dazzle is close to the waves are coming of new AI consumer businesses. The founder of Forerunner Ventures previously told TechCrunch that while the AI ​​industry was an early leader in this technology, consumer-focused AI is a “late bloomer” that’s ready to explode.

Even for the founders of Mayer’s fame, putting Green as a financial director is a sure sign of Dazzle, especially after Sunlight was deemed a flop. “I think he has a good idea of ​​where people and platforms are going,” Mayer said.

Mayer told TechCrunch that the band Sunshine began recording Dazzle last summer, a project that riffed on their previous work through ambition and opportunity. “We realized that this was something we were excited about,” he said, noting that Dazzle has “much bigger” potential than what Sun builds.

Originally launched as Lumi Labs in 2018, Sunshine was first launched with a subscription-based contact management app called “Sunlight Contacts.” Despite its founder’s popularity, the drug struggled to gain traction. Privacy advocates raised alarms over the program’s practice of extracting home addresses from publicly available sites to enrich its contact list, and the company has not rekindled initial suspicions. By 2024, the company has expanded its offerings adding event management and “Shine,” an AI-powered photo sharing tool. The new offering was heavily criticized for its outdated design and similarly failed to appeal to the masses.

Sunshine raised $20 million in funding from investors, including Felicis, Norwest Venture Partners, and Unusual Ventures. After the company was liquidated, investors received 10% of Dazzle’s earnings, Mayer said.

Reflecting on Sunlight’s struggles, Mayer was confident of his potential, admitting that the company’s problems were “common” and inadequate. “I don’t think we got to the kind of polish and presence that I really wanted,” he added.

Mayer is now betting that the lessons from Sunlight will help him build a strong and profitable business with Dazzle.

Before becoming head of Yahoo, Mayer was the 20th employee at Google, where he helped create Google’s ‘look and feel’ search engine, and oversaw the development of Google Maps and AdWords.

“I’ve had the rare opportunity to be in two companies that have changed the way people do things,” Mayer told TechCrunch. “Yahoo, for many, defined the Internet. Google, in terms of Search and Maps, has changed everything. I’m eager to create something that has that same challenge.”

Dazzle is expected to come out of stealth mode early next year.