<div id="readability-page-1"><div> The team behind Cove, a Sequioa-backed startup that was working on an AI-powered collaboration board, has joined Microsoft, according to an email sent to customers informing them that Cove’s service is shutting down. Cove was founded in late 2023 by Stephen Chau, Andy Szybalski, and Mike Chu, who worked on Google Maps features like Street View. The startup raised $6 million in a seed round from Sequoia Capital, Elad Gil, Homebrew, Adverb, Scott Belsky, and Lenny Rachitsky in 2024. Its tool was an infinite whiteboard that let users use AI to generate different blocks for tasks like trip planning. The founders felt that the chat interface for AI was not editable, and a canvas provided more flexibility when going in different directions with prompts. Cove also allowed users to use a built-in browser, PDFs, and images to give more context to its AI, which could create new cards, tables, and lists. The startup competed with the likes of Miro, TLDraw, and Kosmik. <figure><img height="383" src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Hero-image.jpeg/query-dz02ODA?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" width="680" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Hero-image.jpeg/query-dz02ODA"/><figcaption>Image Credits: CoveImage Credits:Cove</figcaption></figure> The company said in an email to customers that the entire Cove team is joining Microsoft and the product will shut down on April 1, and all user data will be deleted. Cove mentioned that it has refunded all subscriptions for March and is offering a data export process. “When we started Cove, we set out to reimagine how people collaborate with AI. As model capabilities have accelerated, our conviction in that mission has only grown stronger. We’re thrilled to continue this work at Microsoft AI, where we’ll have the opportunity to pursue an even bigger vision,” the company said in a blog post on its site. In addition, the company said that “the ideas behind it [Cove] will live on” within Microsoft. Notably, Microsoft added Copilot to its own collaboration product, Whiteboard, in 2023. TechCrunch reached out to Microsoft to understand how it plans to integrate Cove’s technology within its ecosystem, but did not immediately hear back. </div></div>

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Microsoft has acquired the team behind Cove, a Sequoia-backed AI collaboration platform, which will cease operations on April 1. Founded in late 2023, Cove raised $6 million and offered an AI-powered infinite whiteboard for task management. The founders expressed excitement about continuing their mission at Microsoft AI, where they aim to expand their vision. All user data will be deleted, and subscriptions for March have been refunded. Microsoft has not yet commented on how it will integrate Cove's technology into its ecosystem.

Microsoft hires the team of Sequioa-backed AI collaboration platform, Cove