The team from Cove, a startup supported by Sequoia Capital that developed an AI-enhanced collaboration board, has moved to Microsoft. This news came via an email to customers, which also notified them that Cove’s service is being discontinued. Founded in late 2023 by Stephen Chau, Andy Szybalski, and Mike Chu—previously known for their work on Google Maps features such as Street View—the company secured $6 million in a 2024 seed funding round. Investors included Sequoia Capital, Elad Gil, Homebrew, Adverb, Scott Belsky, and Lenny Rachitsky.

Cove’s platform offered an infinite digital whiteboard where users could employ AI to generate various elements for activities like planning trips. The founders believed that while AI chat interfaces were static, a canvas allowed greater flexibility to explore different directions with prompts. The tool also integrated a built-in browser, PDFs, and images to provide richer context for its AI, which could then produce new cards, tables, and lists. In the market, Cove faced competition from platforms such as Miro, TLDraw, and Kosmik.

In its customer email, Cove stated that the full team is transitioning to Microsoft and the product will cease operations on April 1, with all user data scheduled for deletion. The company has refunded March subscriptions and is providing a data export option. A blog post on Cove’s site elaborated: “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.” Additionally, Cove noted that “the ideas behind it will live on” within Microsoft. It’s worth mentioning that Microsoft integrated its Copilot AI into its own collaboration tool, Whiteboard, back in 2023.