Marissa Mayer launches new startup Dazzle with $8M seed round

Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has launched a new startup called Dazzle, an AI-focused company developing next-generation personal assistants that has already raised an $8 million seed round.

Although Mayer has yet to disclose specific details about Dazzle’s product, she confirmed that the company has raised an $8 million seed round at a $35 million valuation. The round was led by Forerunner Ventures’ Kirsten Green, with additional backing from Kleiner Perkins, Greycroft, Offline Ventures, Slow Ventures, and Bling Capital. Mayer also invested her own money but emphasized that Green led the round. Green is widely known for early bets on major consumer brands including Warby Parker, Chime, and Dollar Shave Club.

Mayer shared that the Sunshine team began experimenting with Dazzle last summer. The project quickly surpassed Sunshine in both ambition and perceived opportunity. “We realized that this was something that we were much more excited about,” she said, adding that Dazzle offers the potential for “a much bigger impact.”

Founded in 2018 under the name Lumi Labs, Sunshine initially launched a subscription-based contact management app called Sunshine Contacts. Despite Mayer’s high-profile leadership, the product failed to gain momentum. Privacy concerns arose after users learned the app pulled home addresses from public records to enhance contact data, and the company never fully recovered. In 2024, Sunshine expanded into event management and introduced “Shine,” an AI-powered photo-sharing product, but it was widely criticized for its dated design and again failed to attract a large user base.

Sunshine raised a total of $20 million from investors including Felicis, Norwest Venture Partners, and Unusual Ventures. Upon winding down the company, those investors received 10% ownership in Dazzle, according to Mayer.

Looking back, Mayer acknowledged Sunshine’s shortcomings, describing the problems it addressed as too “mundane” and insufficiently ambitious. She also admitted the product never reached the level of polish and accessibility she had envisioned.

Now, Mayer believes the hard lessons from Sunshine will help her build a more durable and meaningful company with Dazzle.

Before becoming Yahoo’s CEO, Mayer was Google’s 20th employee, where she helped shape the design of Google Search and led key products including Google Maps and AdWords.

Dazzle is expected to emerge from stealth early next year.