Why is Ollie shutting down?
Ollie, a startup that promised an AI assistant that respected its users’ privacy, is shutting down. Co-founder and CEO Bill Lennon announced the decision on X on Friday, and the app will officially close on November 6, about a week away.
“I’m really proud of what we accomplished,” Lennon said. “We built an incredible personal assistant with a small team, and learned a ton. I’m grateful to our amazing team, our users, our investors, and everyone who supported us on this journey.”
The company’s exit comes at a time when the text-based AI assistant market has grown quickly. Increasingly powerful models underpinning these apps have made them far more useful for everyday tasks, drawing a crowd of new entrants.
Ollie offered a subscription-based service focused on helping families stay connected and organized. The app linked to a user’s email and calendar and included built-in tools for booking appointments, planning meals and paying bills. The company had also planned to eventually move into household budgeting.
Ollie discussed its $7.5 million seed round, led by Khosla Ventures, with TechCrunch in September. That funding was not enough to carry the company forward. Lennon said the team “got close, but ultimately couldn’t keep up.”
“With Muse, Instinct, and others entering the space, it became harder to stand out, grow, and raise the capital we needed to succeed,” he added.
Privacy was a central part of Ollie’s pitch. The company was one of the first mainstream apps to achieve SOC 2, a privacy compliance standard that companies can earn through an independent audit. Still, privacy has rarely been a profitable selling point in the tech industry. Many new digital assistants raise their own privacy concerns, as companies like Instinct have shown.
What should Ollie customers do before the app closes?
Lennon said Ollie’s customers will receive instructions in the coming days on how to export their data and request refunds.
Cet article a été rédigé avec l'assistance de l'IA.
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