GEEK News
June 05, 2015 - 04:04 PM
A familiar dance: Ex-Microsoft product manager opens ballet school, and leans into her tech skills
Adrienne Chan leaps in front of Bellevue Classical Ballet, the dance school she opened after leaving Microsoft. (Photo courtesy of Adrienne Chan) Adrienne Chan‘s pivot away from a career in tech could more aptly be considered a pirouette. The former Microsoft product manager is the co-founder of a new ballet school in Redmond, Wash., where she’s reconnecting with the dancing she practiced...
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Seattle security startup Oleria lands $19M in latest funding round
Oleria CEO Jim Alkove. (LinkedIn Photo) Oleria, a Seattle-based cybersecurity startup that manages employee access to applications and data, raised $19 million in a new round of funding. The company confirmed the funding after GeekWire spotted a new SEC filing this week. Oleria has now raised more than $60 million to date. Founded in 2023, Oleria’s software is designed to help companies...
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Upward, a Seattle fintech startup led by former Remitly execs, raises $8M and partners with Mastercard
Upward co-founder Danielle Hill (left) and Aaron Gregory. (Upward Photo) Seattle startup Upward raised $8 million and announced a strategic partnership with Mastercard to make it faster and simpler for businesses to roll out financial products. Founded in 2021 by early Remitly executives, Upward provides infrastructure that lets businesses embed payments, cards, and banking products without...
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Tech Moves: Smartsheet names SVP; AWS exec departs for startup; WatchGuard’s new CEO
Drew Garner at Smartsheet’s Engage conference in Seattle this week. (Photo courtesy of Garner) — Drew Garner is now senior vice president of engineering for Smartsheet. Garner joins the Bellevue, Wash., work productivity software giant as Rajeev “Raj” Singh recently took the helm as CEO. The two have significant overlaps in their resumes, with Garner rising to the role of chief technology...
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Uncommon Thinkers: A scientist’s journey from rural India to turning ‘science fiction’ into drug candidates
Anindya Roy, co-founder and chief scientific officer of Lila Biologics, up to his elbows in a box that shields an oxygen-sensitive enzyme he was testing during an experiment. (Photos courtesy of Roy) Editor’s note: This series profiles six of the Seattle region’s “Uncommon Thinkers”: inventors, scientists, technologists and entrepreneurs transforming industries and driving positive change in...
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File sharing? Nope, Seattle Torrent women’s pro hockey team named for violent stream of water
Branding for the new Seattle Torrent women’s pro hockey team. (Instagram via pwhl_seattle) The morning after heavy rain pummeled Seattle with its wettest day of the year, another rush of water arrived in the city in the form of the name for a new women’s pro hockey team. The Seattle Torrent unveiled their brand identity on Thursday as the team gets set for its inaugural season in the...
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Seattle’s Parse Biosciences to be acquired by Qiagen for $225M
Parse Biosciences co-founders are CTO Charles Roco and CEO Alex Rosenberg. (Parse Photo) Seattle’s Parse Biosciences is teed up for an acquisition by Qiagen, a Netherlands-based holding company, in a $225 million cash deal announced this week. The transaction is expected to close in December. Parse was co-founded in 2018 by Alex Rosenberg, who was a University of Washington postdoctoral...
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Microsoft forms Superintelligence team to pursue ‘humanist’ AI under Mustafa Suleyman
Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, shown here at a Madrona event in 2024, will lead the company’s new Superintelligence Team. (GeekWire File Photo / Todd Bishop) Microsoft has formed a new Superintelligence team within its AI division, aiming to develop what it calls “humanist superintelligence” — advanced AI that remains under human control. The team, announced Thursday morning in a...
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Real estate startup Digs raises $5M to boost software platform for residential builders
Digs co-founders Ty Frackiewicz (left) and Ryan Fink. (Digs Photo) Digs, a Vancouver, Wash.-based startup that sells software for homebuilding, raised $5 million. Founded in 2022, Digs’ software helps residential homebuilders streamline various aspects of their workflows including document organization, communication, and other tasks. It focuses on the pre-construction and...
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Glowforge hits restart: After restructuring, co-founders acquire key assets of laser engraver startup
Glowforge co-founder and CEO Dan Shapiro with the company’s Aura laser engraver in 2023, at the startup’s offices in Seattle. (GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Ten years after Glowforge was founded in Seattle, the startup’s longtime leaders are rebooting the laser-engraver business. Following months of turmoil involving multiple rounds of layoffs, a failed funding round, and the...
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Seattle startup Accipiter Bio emerges with $12.7M and big pharma deals for AI-designed proteins
An illustration of a protein created by Accipiter Bio that has two active sites, shown in light and darker green, that can simultaneously bind two targets. (Accipiter Bio Image) A Seattle biotech startup born from a Nobel laureate’s lab has landed $12.7 million and partnerships with pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Kite Pharma by using AI to design proteins that mount a multi-pronged attack on...
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Raj Singh sets his vision for Smartsheet in the AI era: ‘Time to step out of the shadows’
Longtime Seattle-area technology leader Raj Singh gives a keynote speech at the Smartsheet Engage conference in Seattle on Wednesday. Singh was named CEO of the enterprise software maker last month. (GeekWire Photos / Taylor Soper) Rajeev “Raj” Singh has made a career out of seeing the next wave before it hits. He bet on software-as-a-service with travel expense giant Concur...
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Internal memo: Microsoft creates new way for workers to flag issues after Gaza surveillance probe
(GeekWire File Photo / Todd Bishop) Microsoft is creating a new internal mechanism for employees to report concerns about how its technology is developed and used — making the process similar to how workers already flag incidents of workplace misbehavior, security issues, or legal concerns. In a message to employees Wednesday morning, company President Brad Smith said Microsoft was...
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Seattle startup Hearvana raises $6M for AI-powered sound enhancement
Shyam Gollakota, co-founder of Hearvana. (UW Photo) Hearvana, a Seattle startup using AI to create “superhuman hearing capabilities,” raised $6 million in pre-seed funding. The company was launched this spring by University of Washington computer science researchers, including co-founder Shyam Gollakota, a renowned tech inventor. Gollakota previously told GeekWire that Hearvana is...
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Washington energy startup lands DOE funding for researching liquid metal walls in fusion generators
Romi Mahajan, CEO of ExoFusion. (LinkedIn Photo) Clean energy startup ExoFusion today announced it has received funding from the U.S. Department of Energy through its Fusion Innovative Research Engine (FIRE) program. The FIRE award will support research into the use of liquid metal walls in fusion generators and will be led by Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory with ExoFusion co-founder...
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How Amazon is bringing name brands to Whole Foods, without putting them on the shelves
This Amazon video, released Wednesday morning, shows how the process works. Amazon this morning offered the first official glimpse of a new “store within a store” concept it’s testing to bring name-brand items to Whole Foods Market without sullying the grocer’s signature organic vibe. The approach, first reported a few days ago by The Wall Street Journal, puts screens on the shelves that...
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Nobel winner’s lab notches another breakthrough: AI-designed antibodies that hit their targets
Image of antibodies created from scratch. (UW Institute for Protein Design / Ian C. Haydon Graphic) Researchers from Nobel Laureate David Baker’s lab and the University of Washington’s Institute for Protein Design (IPD) have used artificial intelligence to design antibodies from scratch — notching another game-changing breakthrough for the scientists and their field of research. “It was...
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Layoffs at Microsoft and Amazon spark ethical questions about their impact on Seattle amid AI frenzy
Microsoft President Brad Smith speaks at the company’s headquarters campus last month to unveil a new initiative to provide AI software to educators and students across its home state. (GeekWire Photo / Taylor Soper) Editor’s note: This column was written by Robert Trumbull, a Seattle-based author who writes about the ethics of tech. It’s clear that Amazon and Microsoft are operating from...
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Portal Space Systems introduces Starburst, a new breed of maneuverable spacecraft
An artist’s conception shows Portal’s Starburst spacecraft in the foreground with its Supernova space vehicle (and Earth) in the background. (Portal Space Systems Illustration) Bothell, Wash.-based Portal Space Systems has added another spacecraft to its product line: a rapid-maneuverability vehicle called Starburst, which takes advantage of technologies that are being developed for its more...
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Seattle startup unveils AI-powered enterprise smart glasses for roofers and electricians
Seattle-based Zuper announced Zuper Glass, AI-powered smart glasses for trades professionals such as roofers and plumbers. (Zuper Photo) Seattle-based Zuper, which provides software for companies with field workers, is getting into the smart-glasses game with the release of Zuper Glass, an AI-powered product built for skilled tradespeople. Zuper Glass is designed for a range of...
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Seattle tax hike on big businesses set to pass after early voting returns
(GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Voters in Seattle have overwhelmingly approved Proposition 2, which will reshape the city’s business and occupation (B&O) tax that applies to gross revenue. It will impact both small startups and large tech companies such as Amazon. The ballot measure garnered a 67.7% approval in King County’s unofficial election results posted Tuesday evening. The...
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Startup Radar: Seattle founders build new tech for dog parents, travelers, product leaders, and students
From top left, clockwise: Boop CEO Nancy Li Smith, Dotted CEO Eric Neuman, FurFriends CEO Avery Morton, and AceRocket CEO Dong Zhang. Our latest spotlight on up-and-coming startups in Seattle covers a lot of ground — dog-influenced connections, shareable travel itineraries, personalized exam prep, and streamlined product reporting. This regular series spotlights early stage startups that...
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Philips lays off 33 employees at Seattle-area healthcare device manufacturing facility
(Philips Photo) Philips Ultrasound is laying off 33 employees from its Bothell, Wash., facility, which serves as a hub for the engineering and manufacturing of ultrasound equipment and other healthcare devices. The cuts were disclosed in a new filing from the Washington Employment Security Department and will take effect Dec. 31. Production operators, warehouse operators and...
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She left tech to open a romance bookstore, and AI is helping the small business blossom
Marissa Coughlin and Constantine Vetoshev, owners of Swoon City, a new romance bookstore in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) When Marissa Coughlin left her latest tech job to open a romance bookstore and crafting hub in Seattle, she didn’t leave technology behind completely. In fact, alongside her partner, Constantine Vetoshev, who still works in tech,...
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Ai2 loosens Big Tech’s grip on Earth insights with open-source AI models for climate and conservation
OlmoEarth Studio, the Allen Institute for AI’s new workspace for building and fine-tuning environmental AI models. The interface lets users choose base maps, tag locations, and manage field data for projects such as wildfire fuel monitoring. (Ai2 Screenshot) A new platform from the Allen Institute for AI promises to deliver insights into the state of the planet, in near...
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Seattle hiring AI officer to guide how the tech can improve city processes, partnerships and more
Seattle City Hall in downtown Seattle. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) The City of Seattle is interviewing candidates for a City AI Officer position to lead how artificial intelligence is utilized across departments and offices. The new job is in line with the city’s recent release of a “responsible AI plan,” which provides guidelines for Seattle’s use of artificial intelligence and its...
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Seattle VC firm Founders’ Co-op raises $50M for new fund to back more Pacific Northwest founders
Chris DeVore, founding managing partner at Founder’s Co-op, at the GeekWire Summit in 2022. (GeekWire File Photo / Dan DeLong) Seattle venture firm Founders’ Co-op unveiled its sixth fund — $50 million, matching the size of its previous fund — to back another batch of early-stage tech startups. Chris DeVore, founding managing partner at Founders’ Co-op, said about 80–90% of investments will...
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OpenAI’s $38B cloud deal with Amazon takes ChatGPT maker further beyond Microsoft
Image via Amazon. ChatGPT maker OpenAI, exercising newfound freedom under its renegotiated Microsoft partnership, will expand its cloud footprint for training and running AI models to Amazon’s infrastructure under a new seven-year, $38 billion agreement. The deal, announced Monday, positions Amazon as a major infrastructure provider for Microsoft’s flagship AI partner, highlighting...
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Microsoft expands UAE investment to $15.2B with major Nvidia GPU shipments
Inside Microsoft’s HQ in Redmond, Wash. (GeekWire Photo / Taylor Soper) Microsoft announced additional investments in the United Arab Emirates as it looks to expand its data center footprint and capitalize on export licenses. The Redmond, Wash.-based tech giant has already spent $7.3 billion since 2023, including a $1.5 billion equity stake in Abu Dhabi–based G42, the country’s sovereign...
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Seattle tech vet Nikesh Parekh unveils Provn to disrupt how companies recruit AI talent
The Provn team, from left: Taylor Brazelton, Ravi Mohan, Forrest Corbett, Kate Hill, Nikesh (Niki) Parekh, and David Tarico. (Provn Photo) Job candidates are gaming applicant-tracking systems, and recruiters are struggling to sift through mounds of AI-generated resumes. Meanwhile, large tech companies are cutting jobs — yet still scrambling to hire people with AI skills. Enter Provn. The...
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Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Oct. 26, 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 Oct. 26, 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 The sweeping workforce reduction is intended to reduce expenses and compensate for over-hiring...
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ChatGPT as a soccer advisor: Seattle Reign FC uses AI to develop winning defensive strategy
Seattle Reign FC head coach Laura Harvey. (Reign FC Photo) Generative AI has made its way onto the professional soccer field. Laura Harvey, head coach of Seattle Reign FC, said this week that ChatGPT helped her come up with a new defensive strategy. Speaking on the Soccerish Podcast, Harvey said she was curious if ChatGPT could answer questions about soccer. So she started prompting...
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Seattle’s tech paradox: Amazon’s layoffs collide with the AI boom — or is it a bubble?
Image created by Google Gemini based on the audio of this week’s GeekWire Podcast. This week on the GeekWire Podcast: Why is Amazon laying off 14,000 people in the middle of an AI boom — and is it really a boom at all? We dig into the contradiction at the heart of Seattle’s tech scene, discussing Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s “world’s largest startup” rationale and what it says about the company’s...
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Filing: Seattle-area vaccine company Inventprise laying off 76 employees
(Photo by Mufid Majnun on Unsplash) Inventprise, a Redmond, Wash.–based biotechnology company developing vaccines for infectious diseases, is laying off 76 workers, according to a new filing from the Washington Employment Security Department. GeekWire has reached out to the company for additional details. The layoffs impact employees across the company’s Redmond and Woodinville...
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Teen finds a way to simplify lost and found with an app that uses AI in the search process
Neil Kumar of Bellevue, Wash., one of the winners of the city’s Civic Innovation Challenge. (Photo courtesy of Neil Kumar) Neil Kumar has been known to leave a water bottle or a jacket at school or the gym, marking himself among the millions of Americans whose forgotten belongings end up in a lost-and-found box or a landfill every year. Now Kumar is the founder of FindIt, an app designed to...
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