GEEK News
Seattle tech vets Marco Matos and Kabir Shahani rethink marketing for big brands with new AI startup
From left: Allison Light, head of product at Adora; Marco Matos, CEO; and Max Frause, head of customer success. (Adora Photo) Adora, a new Seattle-based marketing technology startup co-founded by former Pinterest executive Marco Matos and serial entrepreneur Kabir Shahani, emerged from stealth with a platform designed to help enterprise brands create and measure marketing content faster and...
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Seattle startup Membrion raises $20M to deploy industrial wastewater treatment units
Membrion founder and CEO Greg Newbloom. (GeekWire Photo / Dan DeLong) Membrion, a Seattle startup that develops industrial wastewater treatment technology, announced that it raised $20 million in a fresh investment round. The company has raised $40 million since spinning out of the University of Washington in 2016. Membrion sells modular treatment units that use electrical fields and...
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Stoke Space reportedly raising another massive round of funding for its Nova rocket program
Stoke Space’s booster engine blazes during its first hot-fire test in 2024. (Stoke Space Photo) Stoke Space, one of the Seattle area’s up-and-coming space startups, is said to be raising hundreds of millions of dollars in a funding round that it hasn’t yet publicly acknowledged. A report about the round, based on two unidentified sources, was published today by The Information. The...
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How a scrappy biotech startup backed by Microsoft’s co-founders set the stage for two Nobel winners
Mary Brunkow speaks at an event Tuesday at Seattle’s Institute for Systems Biology celebrating her 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. (ISB Photo) The groundbreaking immunology research behind two Nobel Prizes awarded this week traces back to a largely forgotten Seattle-area biotech startup that was backed by Microsoft’s co-founders. Darwin Molecular launched in 1992, and Mary...
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AI2 Incubator launches $80M fund as it doubles down on real-world AI applications in Seattle and beyond
AI2 Incubator leaders, from left: Oren Etzioni, technical director; Yifan Zhang, managing director; Vu Ha, technical director; and Jacob Colker, managing director. (AI2 Incubator Image) AI2 Incubator is entering its next phase. The Seattle-based startup organization — known for spinning out companies at the intersection of AI and real-world applications — has closed an $80...
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Fresh off $50M round, this Seattle startup cuts data center cooling energy and eyes a bigger prize
Racks of servers inside an AWS data center in 2023. (AWS Photo / Noah Berger) When Phaidra CEO Jim Gao describes the AI agents that his Seattle company built to improve data center efficiencies, one can imagine an army of behind-the-scenes digital minions working away. Their job is to fine-tune data center operations with a focus on cooling the electronics — which typically accounts for 30%...
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New platform, familiar risks: Zillow and Expedia bet on OpenAI’s ChatGPT apps rollout
The new Zillow app inside ChatGPT lets users search for homes directly in the chat interface. (Zillow Illustration.) Zillow and Expedia were among the first companies to launch apps inside OpenAI’s ChatGPT this week, securing early positions in what analysts are already calling the potential “Windows of AI.” The move puts the iconic Seattle brands in a new ecosystem with...
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Scientists enlist AI to map regions of the brain in unprecedented detail — and that’s just the start
An AI-produced rendering shows a map of mouse brain regions, overlaid with network motifs. (UCSF Illustration) Scientists say an artificial intelligence program that they compare to ChatGPT has helped them create one of the most detailed maps of the mouse brain to date, with 1,300 regions and subregions marked on the map. Some of those subregions have never been charted before — and the...
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Qualtrics to acquire healthcare data giant Press Ganey Forsta in $6.75B deal
Qualtrics’ Plano, Texas office. (Qualtrics Photo) Qualtrics is making its largest acquisition ever with a $6.75 billion deal to buy Press Ganey Forsta in a bid boost the company’s experience management platform. Press Ganey Forsta builds software to help companies understand their customers and stakeholders. It focuses on healthcare and has more than 43,000 customers globally....
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Jeff Bezos says orbital data centers will be the ‘next step’ for space ventures that make Earth better
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, speaks at Italian Tech Week 2025 in Turin. (Italian Tech Week via YouTube) What’s the next killer app for the final frontier? According to Jeff Bezos, it’s a future fleet of gigawatt data centers, flying in orbit and powered by sunlight. Bezos — who founded the Amazon retail giant as well as his privately held Blue Origin space venture —...
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‘Seattle biotech is on fire’: Industry produces three Nobel Prize winners in two years
Nobel Prize winners, from left: Mary Brunkow, senior program manager at the Institute for Systems Biology, Fred Ramsdell, co-founder and chair of Sonoma Biotherapeutic’s scientific advisory board; and David Baker, University of Washington biochemist. (ISB, Sonoma Biotherapeutics, UW Photos) Seattle is showing the rest of the world what kind of innovative scientific discovery is happening in...
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Startup Radar: Seattle founders build AI tools for leadership training, spatial reasoning, vibe coding
From top left, clockwise: Simsola CEO Tammy Wang; Rem CEO Jorge Banuelos; CodeChimp CTO Sylviane Zhao; EvolvArts CEO Christopher Lin; and Vergent CEO Andrew Liang. Our latest Startup Radar spotlights Seattle-area companies building software for everything from insurance commissions to leadership training. This regular series features early stage startups across the Seattle region that are...
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Delivery drivers in diapers? Amazon starts ’em young with toy van for kids in new holiday catalog
The Amazon toy delivery van, left, featured in the company’s new holiday gift book for kids. (Amazon, Frank Catalano Photos) Is Amazon priming little kids for future careers as delivery drivers? The new, 92-page Amazon holiday gift catalog features a ride-on delivery van suitable for kids ages 2 and up. The blue van with the Prime logo on the side has a seat on top and a handle — perfect...
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Seattle scientists Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell win Nobel Prize for immunology research
Mary Brunkow, senior program manager at the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB), left, and Fred Ramsdell, co-founder and chair of Sonoma Biotherapeutic’s scientific advisory board, won the 2025 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. They are based in the Seattle area and share the award with Shimon Sakaguchi of Osaka University in Japan. (ISB and Sonoma Biotherapeutics Photos Mary Brunkow of...
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Raj Singh named Smartsheet CEO, returning to his enterprise tech roots in the Seattle area
Raj Singh, the Concur co-founder and newly named Smartsheet CEO, speaking at a past Seattle tech event. (GeekWire File Photo) The new CEO of Smartsheet is Rajeev “Raj” Singh. That news elicited a murmur of surprise when it reached the GeekWire newsroom, just as we suspect it might for others familiar with Singh, Smartsheet, and Seattle tech as it’s announced this morning. Singh, the...
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Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Sept. 28, 2025
Get caught up on the latest technology and startup news from the past week. Here are the most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Sept. 28, 2025. Sign up to receive these updates every Sunday in your inbox by subscribing to our GeekWire Weekly email newsletter. Most popular stories on GeekWire Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is handing off day-to-day commercial execution to longtime sales...
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The Agentic Entrepreneur: How the next wave of AI is changing the startup playbook
This week on the GeekWire Podcast: A deep dive on the ways that AI and agents are changing how companies are created, built, and operated. We’re on location at Pioneer Square Labs in Seattle with investor and entrepreneur T.A. McCann, managing director at the startup studio and venture capital firm. He explains how AI agents are automating complex functions, letting small teams do the...
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Boundless Immigration cut staff days before it announced acquisition of European competitor
Boundless CEO Xiao Wang, right, hosted a Seattle Tech Week panel in July 2025. Also pictured are panelists Lisa Wehden of Plymouth and Ankit Dhawan of BluePill AI. (GeekWire Photo / Lisa Stiffler) Seattle startup Boundless Immigration laid off an undisclosed number of employees last week, shortly before announcing on Oct. 1 its acquisition of Localyze, a Berlin-based company that primarily...
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Remitly co-founder ready to build next ‘big company’ — helping leverage AI in sports and live events
Shivaas Gulati is a longtime Seattle entrepreneur and investor. (Whitby-Boot Photography / Southend United) Shivaas Gulati is ready to build his next “big company,” and he’s excited to do it in Seattle. While he’s keeping details close to the vest, the co-founder of digital remittance company Remitly told GeekWire this week that he’s launching Arkero AI, a startup that aims to help sports...
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Out of Office: Luca Cazzanti’s AI and data skills are in play while coaching kids in the sport he loves
Luca Cazzanti, a Seattle AI and data professional, shows off his soccer skills during a break from his coaching duties at Ingraham High School in North Seattle. (Jocelyn Leon Photo) Out of Office is a new GeekWire series spotlighting the passions and hobbies that members of the Seattle-area tech community pursue outside of work. Name: Luca Cazzanti. Day job: Vice president of data and AI...
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Pacific Northwest loses $1B hydrogen hub as Trump cancels clean energy projects nationwide
Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association projects and partners. (PNWH2 Image) The Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association (PNWH2), a multi-state hub launched to establish a hydrogen economy, lost $1 billion of federal funding in cuts announced yesterday by the Trump administration. The initiative was one of seven regional hydrogen hubs selected two years ago by the U.S. Department of Energy....
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Spotted in Seattle: Amazon delivery firms using GM’s boxy, white BrightDrop electric vans
A BrightDrop van being used for Amazon deliveries on Thursday in Seattle. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Those boxy, white, electric delivery vans you may be seeing on the streets of Seattle are being used to deliver Amazon packages. GeekWire spotted one of General Motors’ BrightDrop vans in the Ballard neighborhood this week and got an up-close look at the exterior and interior of the...
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Pure Watercraft founder resurfaces with Seattle startup focused on autonomous craft for the military
Thallios founder Andy Rebele at Magnuson Park on Lake Washington in Seattle. His grandfather was stationed at nearby Naval Base Sand Point, and Rebele now finds himself heading up a defense tech startup. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Andy Rebele didn’t just drift away from Seattle’s maritime startup scene after the demise of Pure Watercraft, the electric propulsion company he spent 13...
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Smartsheet cuts jobs shortly after departure of longtime CEO
Smartsheet, the Bellevue, Wash.-based enterprise software company that went private earlier this year in an $8.4 billion acquisition, has cut jobs amid its leadership transition. A person familiar with the situation told GeekWire that more than 120 employees were impacted. Smartsheet confirmed Thursday that it made layoffs but declined to disclose a number. The reductions come shortly...
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Tech Moves: Truveta co-founder joins GeneDX; Auger hires another Amazonian; Microsoft board change
Lisa Gurry. (LinkedIn Photo) — Longtime tech leader Lisa Gurry is now chief business officer for GeneDx. Gurry spent more than 23 years at Microsoft before helping launch Seattle health tech startup Truveta as its chief marketing officer in 2020. She later led operations and growth at Truveta, which reached unicorn status earlier this year after raising $320 million. The company’s technology...
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Tech Vets: Motivated by the mission, ex-Army officer’s startup draws on military and gaming experience
Jonathan Pan visits with members of 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment at Joint Base Lewis–McChord south of Tacoma, Wash. (Photo courtesy of Jonathan Pan) [Editor’s note: “Tech Vets: Profiles in Leadership and Innovation,” is a GeekWire series showcasing U.S. military veterans leading companies within the Pacific Northwest tech industry. The series explores how military experience fosters...
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How to avoid getting squashed by OpenAI, and other startup insights from the company’s strategy chief
Jason Kwon, OpenAI’s chief strategy officer, speaks Wednesday at Madrona’s IA Summit in Seattle. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) Apple’s Sherlock killed the third-party Watson search utility for the Mac. Microsoft’s bundling of Internet Explorer into Windows steamrolled Netscape Navigator. And whatever OpenAI does next could upend today’s startup ideas just as quickly. How startups can avoid...
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Fertile ground for innovation: A list of agriculture tech startups in Seattle and Washington state
(Carbon Robotics Photo) With top-tier tech talent and a deep farming heritage, Seattle and the broader Pacific Northwest are emerging as one of the country’s key hubs for agriculture technology. The region sits among the nation’s top five agtech ecosystems, said Erik Benson, managing director at Voyager Capital, which hosted its first-ever Agtech CEO Summit this week in Seattle. Benson...
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Seattle startup introduces ‘Juno,’ a digital assistant to handle admin tasks for mental health clinicians
Justin Ith, left, and Michelle Arenas, co-founders of health tech startup Alpyne Labs. (Alpyne Labs Photo) A new Seattle health tech startup is taking aim at the administrative tasks that are a burden to mental health clinicians and practice owners. Alpyne Labs‘ first product is Juno, an AI-powered digital assistant that can take care of benefits checks, billing, scheduling, notes...
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Washington state port town becomes testing ground for ocean carbon removal technology
Ebb Carbon’s Project Macoma carbon removal demonstration project in Port Angeles, Wash. (Ebb Carbon Photo) Ebb Carbon has launched its marine carbon removal pilot project on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula in the city of Port Angeles. The startup uses an electrochemical process to create seawater that is chemically more basic than acidic. The basic or alkaline water can capture carbon from...
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‘Expect compliance chaos’: Sweeping new sales tax law on digital ads in Washington takes effect
(Photo by Microsoft 365 on Unsplash) Washington’s expansion of retail sales tax to a wide range of services went into effect Wednesday, reshaping how companies across tech, marketing, and nonprofit sectors bill for everything from digital advertising to custom software and IT support. Companies have been scrambling to figure out how they are affected by Senate Bill 5814 since it was passed...
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Amazon’s ‘model factory’ is training the next generation of AI on the tech giant’s own business
Rohit Prasad, Amazon’s senior vice president and head scientist for artificial general intelligence, left, speaks at the Madrona IA Summit in Seattle with Madrona’s S. “Soma” Somasegar. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) Amazon is using its massive collection of internal services and applications as “reinforcement learning gyms” to train its next generation of artificial intelligence, according to...
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Washington joins 4 other states in lawsuit against Zillow and Redfin over rentals partnership
This story first appeared on Real Estate News. Five states including Washington are suing Zillow and Redfin over a rental listings agreement the companies reached earlier this year — just one day after the Federal Trade Commission filed its own lawsuit against the home search giants. The new complaint was filed on Oct. 1 in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia. How we got...
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Seattle startup Temporal hits $2.5B valuation after $105M secondary round
Temporal CEO Samar Abbas. (LinkedIn Photo) Temporal, a developer tools startup based in Seattle, closed a $105 million secondary transaction led by GIC, pushing its valuation to $2.5 billion. Tiger Global and Index Ventures also participated in the deal. That’s a bump up from its previously disclosed valuation of $1.72 billion, when the company raised a $146 million Series C round earlier...
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Phaidra raises $50M to help AI data centers ‘run smarter, not just harder’ by boosting energy efficiency
Phaidra leaders, from left: CTO Vedavyas Panneershelvam, CEO Jim Gao, and COO Katherine Hoffman. (Phaidra Photo) Phaidra, a Seattle startup using artificial intelligence to make data center operations more energy efficient, today announced $50 million in new funding. The company is developing AI agents to coordinate the electricity, liquid cooling and workload management systems at data...
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