London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Jan 29, 2026

Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's new company launches its first product

Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's new company launches its first product

Marissa Mayer, the former Yahoo CEO and the first female engineer at Google, is finally revealing more details about her next chapter.
Over the years, Mayer has been the subject of fascination. First, she was a rare female executive at the helm of a major tech company. Since then, people have been similarly interested in what would come after she departed Yahoo following its sale to Verizon in 2017.

On Wednesday, Mayer announced that her secretive startup Lumi Labs -- which she cofounded in 2018 with Enrique Muñoz Torres, who also worked at Yahoo and Google (GOOG) -- has been rebranded as Sunshine and has its first product: Sunshine Contacts.

Sunshine Contacts is an app that aims to help organize and improve one's iPhone contact list using technology it develops, such as artificial intelligence. (The app is currently invite only. An Android app is in the works, according to Fast Company.) In part, Sunshine Contacts just cleans things up by correcting spelling errors and getting rid of duplicate contact entries. More sophisticated features promise to provide updated context about contacts when reaching out to them, such as surfacing the most recent correspondence so it's top of mind.

Sunshine is expected to launch a suite of services in addition to Sunshine Contacts. Mayer, who serves as CEO, said in a statement that "essential technologies that help us stay connected to those who matter most are antiquated.

"They've been around forever and we all see them as 'good enough,' despite their outsized impact on our interactions and relationships. At Sunshine, we believe there's an immense opportunity to make the mundane magical," said Mayer, whose company has raised more than $20 million in venture capital to date. "It's been an extremely challenging and rewarding problem to tackle and we're just getting started."

Mayer, Google's 20th employee, is credited with the success of many of its most famous products and oversaw important launches, including Gmail and Google Maps. She's said to have introduced over 100 products and features while at Google.

Mayer's time at Yahoo, however, was less lauded. She was viewed as the company's best hope at maintaining relevance, and under her leadership, Yahoo spent billions acquiring companies including blog startup Tumblr, which it has since sold. Mayer also attracted big names like journalist Katie Couric, but ultimately, she was unable to turn around Yahoo in her five years leading the business.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
AstraZeneca Announces £11bn China Investment After Scaling Back UK Expansion Plans
Starmer and Xi Forge Warming UK-China Ties in Beijing Amid Strategic Reset
Former South Korean First Lady Kim Keon Hee Sentenced to 20 Months for Bribery
Tesla Ends Model S and X Production and Sends $2 Billion to xAI as 2025 Revenue Declines
China Executes 11 Members of the Ming Clan in Cross-Border Scam Case Linked to Myanmar’s Lawkai
Trump Administration Officials Held Talks With Group Advocating Alberta’s Independence
Starmer Signals UK Push for a More ‘Sophisticated’ Relationship With China in Talks With Xi
Shopping Chatbots Move From Advice to Checkout as Walmart Pushes Faster Than Amazon
Starmer Seeks Economic Gains From China Visit While Navigating US Diplomatic Sensitivities
Starmer Says China Visit Will Deliver Economic Benefits as He Prepares to Meet Xi Jinping
UK Prime Minister Starmer Arrives in China to Bolster Trade and Warn Firms of Strategic Opportunities
The AI Hiring Doom Loop — Algorithmic Recruiting Filters Out Top Talent and Rewards Average or Fake Candidates
Amazon to Cut 16,000 Corporate Jobs After Earlier 14,000 Reduction, Citing Streamlining and AI Investment
Federal Reserve Holds Interest Rate at 3.75% as Powell Faces DOJ Criminal Investigation During 2026 Decision
Putin’s Four-Year Ukraine Invasion Cost: Russia’s Mass Casualty Attrition and the Donbas Security-Guarantee Tradeoff
Wall Street Bets on Strong US Growth and Currency Moves as Dollar Slips After Trump Comments
UK Prime Minister Traveled to China Using Temporary Phones and Laptops to Limit Espionage Risks
Google’s $68 Million Voice Assistant Settlement Exposes Incentives That Reward Over-Collection
Kim Kardashian Admits Faking Paparazzi Visit to Britney Spears for Fame in Early 2000s
UPS to Cut 30,000 More Jobs by 2026 Amid Shift to High-Margin Deliveries
France Plans to Replace Teams and Zoom Across Government With Homegrown Visio by 2027
Trump Removes Minneapolis Deportation Operation Commander After Fatal Shooting of Protester
Iran’s Elite Wealth Abroad and Sanctions Leakage: How Offshore Luxury Sustains Regime Resilience
U.S. Central Command Announces Regional Air Exercise as Iran Unveils Drone Carrier Footage
Four Arrested in Andhra Pradesh Over Alleged HIV-Contaminated Injection Attack on Doctor
Hot Drinks, Hidden Particles: How Disposable Cups Quietly Increase Microplastic Exposure
UK Banks Pledge £11 Billion Lending Package to Help Firms Expand Overseas
Suella Braverman Defects to Reform UK, Accusing Conservatives of Betrayal on Core Policies
Melania Trump Documentary Sees Limited Box Office Traction in UK Cinemas
Meta and EssilorLuxottica Ray-Ban Smart Glasses and the Non-Consensual Public Recording Economy
WhatsApp Develops New Meta AI Features to Enhance User Control
Germany Considers Gold Reserves Amidst Rising Tensions with the U.S.
Michael Schumacher Shows Significant Improvement in Health Status
Greenland’s NATO Stress Test: Coercion, Credibility, and the New Arctic Bargaining Game
Diego Garcia and the Chagos Dispute: When Decolonization Collides With Alliance Power
Trump Claims “Total” U.S. Access to Greenland as NATO Weighs Arctic Basing Rights and Deterrence
Air France and KLM Suspend Multiple Middle East Routes as Regional Tensions Disrupt Aviation
U.S. winter storm triggers 13,000-plus flight cancellations and 160,000 power outages
Poland delays euro adoption as Domański cites $1tn economy and zloty advantage
White House: Trump warns Canada of 100% tariff if Carney finalizes China trade deal
PLA opens CMC probe of Zhang Youxia, Liu Zhenli over Xi authority and discipline violations
ICE and DHS immigration raids in Minneapolis: the use-of-force accountability crisis in mass deportation enforcement
UK’s Starmer and Trump Agree on Urgent Need to Bolster Arctic Security
Starmer Breaks Diplomatic Restraint With Firm Rebuke of Trump, Seizing Chance to Advocate for Europe
UK Finance Minister Reeves to Join Starmer on China Visit to Bolster Trade and Economic Ties
Prince Harry Says Sacrifices of NATO Forces in Afghanistan Deserve ‘Respect’ After Trump Remarks
Barron Trump Emerges as Key Remote Witness in UK Assault and Rape Trial
Nigel Farage Attended Davos 2026 Using HP Trust Delegate Pass Linked to Sasan Ghandehari
Gold Jumps More Than 8% in a Week as the Dollar Slides Amid Greenland Tariff Dispute
BlackRock Executive Rick Rieder Emerges as Leading Contender to Succeed Jerome Powell as Fed Chair
×