Microsoft has absorbed the engineering team from Cove, a promising AI collaboration startup, effectively ending the independent service. The move was announced in an email to Cove users, stating the platform will shut down on April 1, 2026, with all data to be deleted and subscriptions refunded.

Cove was founded in late 2023 by former Google Maps veterans Stephen Chau, Andy Szybalski, and Mike Chu. The company secured $6 million in seed funding in 2024 from investors including Sequoia Capital. Its product was an infinite digital whiteboard where AI could generate elements like cards and tables, moving beyond standard chat interfaces to a more flexible, editable canvas. Users could incorporate web pages, PDFs, and images to provide context for the AI.

In a blog post, Cove's founders expressed enthusiasm for continuing their mission within Microsoft AI, suggesting the core ideas would persist. Microsoft has already integrated AI capabilities, via Copilot, into its existing Whiteboard application. This acquisition points to a strategic effort by Microsoft to deepen its talent pool and technology for next-generation collaborative tools. The company has not yet detailed how the Cove team's expertise will be applied across its ecosystem. For now, competitors like Miro and TLDraw remain as alternatives for former Cove customers.

Source: TechCrunch