Apple has officially absorbed the founding team of WhyLabs, the Seattle startup it acquired in a secretive deal.
GeekWire first reported about the acquisition earlier this year.
Now the founders are working at Apple in various AI-related roles, according to LinkedIn.
- Alessya Visnjic, former WhyLabs CEO, is an engineering leader at Apple
- Andy Dang is a principal engineer
- Sam Gracie is a principal designer
- Maria Karaivanova is a product leader
The WhyLabs website is now updated with information about the company “discontinuing operations” and open-sourcing its platform.
Apple and WhyLabs execs haven’t responded to our messages about the deal.
The deal appears on a European Commission webpage that tracks tech acquisitions under the Digital Markets Act. “Apple will acquire the right to make employment offers to and hire certain Americas-based employees of WhyLabs and a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual and irrevocable license to use all WhyLabs’ intellectual property,” according to the description of the deal.
The EU lists the deal as dated Jan. 24, noting that such acquisitions are typically published at least four months after notification. That suggests the WhyLabs acquisition came together in 2024.
WhyLabs built software to help companies monitor their AI applications for security and performance. It was part of a wave of AI observability tools that emerged alongside the rapid adoption of AI software.
The company joins a growing list of Seattle tech startups gobbled up by Apple. The Cupertino tech giant previously paid $200 million in 2020 to acquire Xnor, a Seattle startup that specialized in edge-based AI tools.
Apple also acquired Seattle-based machine learning startup Turi in 2016 and Union Bay Networks in 2014.
Apple has a substantial engineering hub in Seattle across multiple offices. Earlier this year it inked a big new lease in South Lake Union and currently has more than 200 open Seattle-based roles.
Apple has been seen as lagging behind rivals in the AI race. The company is working on an AI-powered search system slated to debut next year, according to Bloomberg, and has reportedly explored acquiring AI heavyweights including Perplexity and Mistral.
WhyLabs spun out of Seattle’s Allen Institute for AI, the Seattle-based research institution that also housed Xnor. It was valued at $37 million following a $10 million Series A round in 2021, according to PitchBook. Investors included AI Fund; Defy Partners; Bezos Expeditions; Madrona; and Ascend.
Visnjic previously spent eight years at Amazon helping develop its machine learning infrastructure. Dang and Gracie were also former Amazon employees. Karaivanova was a former Cloudflare executive and principal at Madrona.
WhyLabs was ranked No. 81 on the GeekWire 200, our list of top privately held startups in the Pacific Northwest. It was a finalist for Startup of the Year at the GeekWire Awards in 2023.
