Bulletins

Alloy, the Reid Hoffman-backed Democratic data firm, is shutting down

The company broke the news in an email to its partners Monday, according to Recode. The decision to shut down follows a tumultuous two years for the company, which was backed by $35 million in funding from both Hoffman and former United States chief technology officer Todd Park.

Alloy set out to reinvent Democrats' data operations, but ended up being rejected by the Democratic National Committee and other leading Democratic organizations amid competing efforts within the party and concerns about the accuracy of Alloy's data. The company instead carved out a niche, focusing on data related to unregistered voters. In an interview with Protocol this fall, Alloy CEO and co-founder Haley Van Dyck acknowledged that Alloy's future was uncertain. "There's going to be a lot of reshuffling after the election and a lot of unknowns for what will happen for the whole ecosystem," Van Dyck said at the time.

In the email to partners, Alloy said it would continue operating some of its tools through January 2021. Alloy's communications director did not immediately respond to Protocol's request for comment.

Read more: Protocol's investigation into Alloy's evolution.

 Issie Lapowsky

Issie Lapowsky ( @issielapowsky) is Protocol's chief correspondent, covering the intersection of technology, politics, and national affairs. She also oversees Protocol's fellowship program. Previously, she was a senior writer at Wired, where she covered the 2016 election and the Facebook beat in its aftermath. Prior to that, Issie worked as a staff writer for Inc. magazine, writing about small business and entrepreneurship. She has also worked as an on-air contributor for CBS News and taught a graduate-level course at New York University's Center for Publishing on how tech giants have affected publishing.

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Bulletins