Color: We Are Not Shutting Down

Updated. Color Labs, the photo sharing startup which became well-known for securing a whopping $41 million in venture capital but has since had a bumpy road with lagging user numbers and turmoil at the executive levels, is not shutting down operations, contrary to a report first published by VentureBeat that is circulating today.

“Color is not shutting down,” a spokesperson speaking on behalf of Color and its largest investor Sequoia Capital said in a phone call this morning. The spokesperson declined to comment further.

In addition, sources close to Color say that neither they, nor anyone they work with, had received the email published by VentureBeat that was supposedly sent to Color employees last night. The email purportedly read in part: “As you may or may not have heard, Color is going through a number of changes. Last week, the Board and major shareholders voted to wind down the company.”

We’re hearing that Color executives are currently trying to pin down where and how the report originated.

Sequoia is still an investor in Color, contrary to a report by Business Insider that it had been removed from Sequoia’s website. In recent weeks Sequoia has been renovating its website, which may have something to do with some people noting an absence of the company’s name, though the profile seems to be active now. The omission was not intended, from what we understand.

This post will be updated with more information as it becomes available.

Update: VentureBeat has updated its article to say that it has only verified that the email was sent to one employee, rather than to all of Color’s employees, as it had previously reported. VentureBeat has also named the author of the email as Andrew Urushima, Color’s VP of Finance. We’ve reached out to Urushima directly and will be sure to update with anything we hear back.