Ex-Yahoo CEO’s AI Startup Dazzle Raises $8M

Keep feeling fascination. Marissa Mayer, the former Yahoo CEO who was Google’s 20th employee, has secured $8 million in funding for her new AI venture Dazzle.
The seed round values her company at $35 million and was spearheaded by Kirsten Green of Forerunner Ventures, a venture capitalist with a storied record of identifying iconic consumer brands.
Green’s involvement sends a clear signal that Dazzle is positioning itself for the emerging wave of AI-powered consumer applications. Even more telling, Mayer has committed her own capital to the venture, demonstrating serious skin in the game for this project’s success.
“Throughout my career, I’ve loved making complex technology more intuitive,” said Mayer, Founder and CEO of Dazzle AI, in the announcement. “With Dazzle, our goal is to make AI feel simple, helping people get more done and delighting them along the way. Now that foundational models have reached a level of consistent excellence, they’ve become a reliable infrastructure. The new frontier is applications—leveraging that power to create real, tangible value.”
Prepare to be Dazzle-d
The funding announcement revealed an impressive roster of heavyweight investors jumping on board, including Kleiner Perkins, Greycroft, Offline Ventures, Slow Ventures, and Bling Capital. This level of investor interest points to something significant brewing behind those closed doors.
Dazzle emerged from the ashes of Mayer’s previous venture Sunshine, which went off into the sunset. She dissolved it after raising $20 million from notable firms like Felicis, Norwest Venture Partners, and Unusual Ventures. But the real story gets even better—when Sunshine was shut down, those investors received 10% equity stakes in the new Dazzle venture, essentially creating instant momentum.
Dazzle is eyeing the development of a next-generation AI personal assistant, which would put it squarely in competition with the biggest tech giants.
The comeback strategy
Mayer appears to be applying hard-learned lessons from Sunshine’s challenges to build something more resilient this time around. Sunshine, originally launched as Lumi Labs in 2018, focused on photo-sharing and contact management but ultimately couldn’t achieve sustainable growth.
The transition has been remarkably smooth—Sunshine’s team of approximately 15 employees is expected to move to the new venture, carrying their momentum forward. Data from two months ago shows that Dazzle acquired all of Sunshine’s holdings with near-unanimous shareholder approval, indicating careful planning rather than a desperate pivot.
Dazzle’s site is up and running, with a waitlist for those interested.
Green and keen
The funding and investor backing reveal Dazzle could become a major disruptor in the rapidly evolving AI consumer market. With Green’s track record of spotting breakthrough consumer brands and the substantial $35 million valuation for a company still operating in stealth mode, expectations are existent.
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