GEEK News
June 05, 2015 - 02:04 PM
SeekOut’s Anoop Gupta steps down as CEO, hands reins of AI recruiting company to tech vet Sean Thompson
SeekOut co-founders Aravind Bala (left) and Anoop Gupta, who is stepping down as CEO to become executive chairman. Bala will continue as CTO, working with new CEO Sean Thompson. (SeekOut Photo) Anoop Gupta is stepping down as CEO of SeekOut, the Bellevue-based recruiting startup he co-founded in 2017, handing the reins to enterprise software veteran Sean Thompson and turning his attention to...
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GeekWire Awards voting is now closed: Thanks for casting ballots to pick the best in Pacific NW tech
Who will take home the coveted robot trophies at the 2026 GeekWire Awards? (GeekWire Photo) Voting closed April 16 at 1 p.m. for the 2026 GeekWire Awards, so we want to thank everyone who cast a ballot to help select the top innovators and entrepreneurs in Pacific Northwest tech. Now in its 18th year, the GeekWire Awards is the premier event recognizing the top leaders, companies and...
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GeekWire Awards: From AI safety to robotic ultrasounds, meet the Startup of the Year finalists
The key players leading 2026 GeekWire Awards Startup of the Year finalists, clockwise from top left: Grin Lord, CEO of mpathic; Edward Wu, Dropzone AI CEO; Loopr CEO Priyansha Bagari; Dopl Technologies co-founders Wayne Monsky, Ryan James and Steve Seslar; and ElastixAI co-founders Saman Naderiparizi, Mohammad Rastegari, and Mahyar Najibi. From making AI safer for kids in crisis to guiding...
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Microsoft’s NFL tech goes beyond the tablet: What AI is doing for coaches, players, and scouts
A Microsoft Surface tablet at Lumen Field in Seattle on Wednesday running Copilot as it’s seen by Seahawks and other NFL personnel who use the devices and technology during games. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) When Bill Belichick famously spiked a Microsoft Surface tablet as the New England Patriots head coach in 2016, the moment was a symbol of frustration with technology on the...
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Snap cuts 95 jobs in Washington state as part of broader layoffs, pushing for AI efficiencies
A slide from Snap’s investor update on highlights AI-driven efficiency gains, saying more than 65% of new code is generated by AI. Snap is cutting 95 jobs in Washington state as part of a broader restructuring that will eliminate about 1,000 positions, or 16% of the company’s full-time workforce. The Snapchat parent company filed a WARN Act notice with Washington’s...
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Bigger checks, fewer bets: Seattle startup deal count drops to lowest level since 2020
Seattle-area quarterly VC deal activity from 2016 through Q1 2026, showing capital invested and deal count. Deal count dropped to 69 in Q1 2026, the lowest level since mid-2020, with total capital raised of $1.5 billion. (GeekWire Graphic / Data: PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor) Seattle-area startups attracted about $1.5 billion in venture funding across 69 deals in the first...
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One year after its rocky launch, Microsoft’s Windows Recall still raises security red flags
Windows Recall, originally available to all users of Copilot+ PCs in April 2025, stores screen caps of user activity. (Microsoft Photo) Microsoft says its Recall app — which captures and stores screen shots every few seconds — is safe. Security researchers keep saying otherwise. Recall was originally billed as a “photographic memory” to store everything Windows users do on their...
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GeekWire Awards: Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalists tackling AI, robotics, and more
The 2026 GeekWire Awards finalists for Young Entrepreneur of the Year, clockwise from top left: Kavian Mojabe (MediScan AI); Zheqing (Bill) Zhu (Pokee AI); Caleb John (Pioneer Square Labs); Charles Wu (Orchard Robotics); and Emily Choi-Greene (Clearly AI). From farm robots to cybersecurity to AI-powered medical records, the 2026 GeekWire Awards Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalists...
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Latest AI (coffee) buzz: Starbucks launches ChatGPT app to help customers discover their next drink
Prompting the Starbucks app inside ChatGPT returns suggestions related to various coffee drinks. (Starbucks Images) Starbucks is getting in on the agentic buzz. The Seattle-based coffee giant launched a beta app inside ChatGPT on Wednesday, leveraging OpenAI’s chatbot to help customers discover drinks and capture their “vibe.” Customers can access the app by enabling it inside ChatGPT’s...
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Tech Moves: Hootsuite founder returns as interim CEO; Scowtt adds CFO; new role for former Edifecs CEO
Ryan Holmes and Irina Novoselsky. (LinkedIn Photos) — Ryan Holmes is again leading Hootsuite, a Vancouver, B.C.-based social media management platform. Hootsuite’s focus will be “going even deeper with the businesses we serve, expanding what we can do with data and insights, and investing in AI to help both our customers and ourselves move faster and work smarter,” Holmes said on...
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Former NSA director Keith Alexander stepping down from Amazon’s board
Retired Gen. Keith Alexander. (Amazon Photo) Keith Alexander, a retired four-star Army general and former director of the National Security Agency, is leaving Amazon’s board of directors after more than five years. Alexander, 74, informed the company April 7 that he wouldn’t stand for re-election at its annual meeting next month, according to the company’s proxy statement. “We’re...
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World Quantum Day serves as a cause for computer celebration
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson is directing $500,000 from a state economic development fund to support the expansion of IonQ’s manufacturing facility for quantum computing hardware in Bothell, Wash. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) Leaders of the Pacific Northwest’s computing community gathered in downtown Seattle today to mark World Quantum Day — and Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson gave them one more...
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GeekWire Awards: The machines of the future, from self-driving earthmovers to space robots
The finalists for Hardware/Robotics/Physical AI of the Year at the 2026 GeekWire Awards. Clockwise from top left: AIM Intelligent Machines; Brinc’s Guardian drone; Starfish Space’s Otter spacecraft; Orbital Robotics; and Augmodo’s Smartbadge. (Company Photos) An emerging class of startups is pushing the boundaries of what machines can do in the physical world — retrofitting bulldozers to dig...
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AI-powered hiring startup Humanly acquires Anthill to boost employee engagement
(Image via Humanly) Bellevue, Wash.-based Humanly, a startup that makes AI-powered interviewing tools for employers, announced it has acquired Anthill, a platform that uses AI to help companies connect with and support frontline employees. It’s the latest acquisition for Humanly, which scooped up three recruiting technology companies last year — Sprockets, Qualifi, and HourWork. Humanly...
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Seattle startup Ambassador acquires ad platform Humming, eyes more deals amid AI shakeout
Ambassador leaders, from left: COO Mark Steffler, CEO Geoff McDonald, and Chief Strategy Officer John Larson. (Ambassador Photos) Seattle customer engagement startup Ambassador has acquired the operating assets of Tacoma-based programmatic ad platform Humming, part of a roll-up strategy that anticipates a larger shakeout among startups as major AI platforms expand their capabilities. The...
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These fifth graders vibe coded a real-world Braille tool — and wowed their Microsoft teacher
Fifth graders who worked on the Braille 3D Generator at Global Idea School in Redmond, Wash., from left: Valentin, Grayson, Ella, Hunter and Julian. (Photo courtesy of Juan Lavista Ferres) As the head of Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab, Juan Lavista Ferres and his researchers can spend months building real-world AI solutions. Fifth graders that he teaches built an accessibility tool in their...
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Opinion: Make Democracy capitalist again
Washington state’s Legislative Building, which houses the Legislature. (GeekWire Photo / Brent Roraback) Longtime Seattle investor and entrepreneur Chris DeVore is managing partner of Founders’ Co-op. I have a confession to make. I’m a Democrat. And a capitalist. Both, at the same time. This didn’t used to be a position that needed defending. But over the course of my adult life these...
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Amazon and Apple vs. Starlink: Globalstar satellite acquisition comes with a big iPhone bonus
Amazon announced an agreement Tuesday to acquire Globalstar, adding the satellite operator’s fleet, spectrum, and Apple partnership to its growing Amazon Leo network. (Amazon Image) Amazon isn’t just buying Globalstar — it’s inheriting Apple’s satellite roadmap. The Seattle-based company’s agreement to acquire the satellite operator behind Apple’s iPhone Emergency SOS feature promises to...
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Does AI even know you exist? Seattle startup Parsnipp helps brands find out, and do something about it
Parsnipp co-founders Awad Sayeed, CTO (left) and Andrew Higgins, CEO. (Parsnipp Photo) Seattle startup Parsnipp today launched its platform to help brands ensure that the likes of Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini know them well enough to casually drop their names in conversation. The company, started by two veterans of e-commerce marketing platform Pixlee, is entering the fast-growing field known...
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Can AI revive democracy? Former Amazon product manager builds tool to spark civic engagement
Julien Clayton of Next30Days, with one of the flyers promoting his civic engagement app. (Photo courtesy of Julien Clayton) Julien Clayton spent six years as an engineer working on propulsion systems for submarines. He got an MBA from Harvard. He worked as a product manager at Amazon, building tools to help internal teams make sense of their data, before losing his job as part of the tech...
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There’s a tech week for that: Seattle’s ever-growing calendar of events for AI, space, oceans, energy and more
(Google Gemini Illustration) Keeping track of the days of the week is exhausting enough. Managing a calendar full of various “tech weeks” in Seattle and elsewhere feels like a full-time job. There are now weeks dedicated to AI, energy, deep tech, regular tech, women in tech, tech for the oceans, tech for space and more. Thankfully, Sarah Studer is paying attention to a lot of it. A...
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OpenAI sees ‘staggering’ demand for Amazon offering, says Microsoft partnership held it back
An new OpenAI memo touts the Amazon partnership as a key enterprise growth driver. (GeekWire File Photos) OpenAI’s partnership with Microsoft helped launch the generative AI era. Now Amazon is bringing the ChatGPT maker further into the booming market for enterprise AI. That’s the takeaway from an internal memo distributed over the weekend by Denise Dresser, OpenAI’s chief revenue officer....
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Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of April 5, 2026
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 April 5, 2026. 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 names a corporate VP for Identity & Network Access, while a CVP of product management...
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Riding the rails — over a floating bridge: GeekWire Podcast takes the train across the lake to Microsoft
GeekWire co-founders Todd Bishop, left, and John Cook on Sound Transit’s 2 Line. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) This week on the GeekWire Podcast: we take the show on the road — or rather, on the rails — recording on Sound Transit’s 2 Line as we ride the world’s first light rail on a floating bridge from Seattle’s Northgate neighborhood to Microsoft’s campus in Redmond. It’s an...
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Artemis 2 crew makes triumphant splashdown at the end of humanity’s first trip around the moon since 1972
NASA’s Orion spacecraft splashes into the Pacific Ocean, as seen in an overhead view. (NASA via YouTube) Four astronauts and their Orion space capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean today, bringing the first crewed trip around the moon and back since 1972 to a successful end. “What a journey!” mission commander Reid Wiseman said moments after splashdown. During their 10-day odyssey,...
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Cry til you laugh: Chris Pirillo vibe codes his job-search frustrations into brutally honest apps
Chris Pirillo tears up one of his fake rejection letters. (Photo courtesy of Chris Pirillo) At a time when finding a job in tech has turned into a frustrating cycle of rejections, ghostings or worse, Chris Pirillo‘s work speaks for itself — in that it makes a mockery of the whole process. Pirillo, the longtime tech enthusiast and entrepreneur, has been showing off his skills by illustrating...
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Mary Jo Foley: Microsoft Windows’ new lease on life — why now?
A display of Microsoft Surface laptops at the company’s Build 2025 developer conference. (GeekWire File Photo) For the past few years, it felt as if Microsoft’s Windows org was on autopilot. (No, not THAT Autopilot.) Microsoft leadership seemed content to let Windows run its course as long as people and partners continued to pay for it in some way. The result: New features were...
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Tech Moves: Syndio names 7 execs; avante and Tanium add to C-suite; Amazon leaders depart
Syndio’s new leadership, top row from left: Erik Darby, Shonna Waters, Devin Luquist. Bottom row: Erin McClintock, Elizabeth Temples, Manuj Bahl and Meredith Conroy. (LinkedIn Photos) — Syndio, a Seattle startup that helps companies analyze and address pay equity, announced seven new additions to its leadership team. “This next phase of growth requires innovation and velocity,” said Maria...
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Non-compete ban stirs optimism and uncertainty in Washington state — here’s what it means for tech
Gov. Bob Ferguson shakes hands with Rep. Liz Berry (D-Seattle), sponsor of the bill, after signing House Bill 1155, which bans nearly all non-compete agreements in Washington state. (Washington State Photo / Ian Couch) A new Washington law wiping out nearly all non-compete agreements across the state has startup advocates cheering and employers scrambling to figure out what comes next. The...
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Artemis 2’s trip around the moon enters the home stretch — here’s how to watch the splashdown
A view from a camera mounted on one of the Orion spacecraft’s solar array wings shows Orion’s engines and thrusters in the foreground, and Earth in the background. (NASA via YouTube) The crew of NASA’s round-the-moon test mission crossed the halfway point between the moon and Earth today on their homeward journey — and they’re picking up speed as they zero in on a spot off the coast of...
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Flush with cash: Washington startup lands up to $500M to deploy facilities treating sewage, dairy waste
Dairy cows at the Puyallup Fair, now called the Washington State Fair. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Wastewater treatment startup Sedron Technologies — a Washington company that once served Bill Gates a glass of water purified from sewage — announced it’s being acquired by Ara Partners. The global equity firm is investing up to $500 million in Sedron to facilitate the deployment of its...
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GeekWire Awards: AI Innovation of the Year finalists transform HR, retail, biotech and more
The 2026 GeekWire Awards AI Innovation of the Year finalists, clockwise from top left: Avante CEO Rohan D’Souza; ConverzAI CEO Ashwarya Poddar; Envive AI CEO Aniket Deosthali; Synthesize Bio co-founders Jeff Leek (left) and Robert Bradley; and Spangle AI co-founders Maju Kuruvilla (left) and Fei Wang. The finalists for AI Innovation of the Year at the 2026 GeekWire Awards represent the cutting...
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Microsoft 365 Copilot and the end of the single-model era in enterprise AI
Steve Gustavson, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for design and research. (Microsoft Photo) [Editor’s Note: Agents of Transformation is an independent GeekWire series, underwritten by Accenture, exploring the adoption and impact of AI and agents. See coverage of our related event.] Using an AI model still comes with an unspoken asterisk: Verify before you act. Fact-check it. Google it....
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Opinion: How to read with AI
(Licensed via marketoonist.com) This is a follow-up to my recent piece “AI Coach or AI Ghostwriter? The Choice Is Yours,” which argued that AI can either sharpen your thinking or replace it. That piece was about writing. This one is about the other side of the coin: reading. The practical question is: how do you use AI to become a more productive reader rather than a lazier one? Back in...
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Portal Space Systems raises $50M as it gets set to launch its first orbital vehicle made for rapid maneuvers
An artist’s conception shows Portal’s Starburst spacecraft in the foreground with its Supernova space vehicle and three more Starbursts (plus Earth) in the background. (Portal Space Systems Illustration) Bothell, Wash.-based Portal Space Systems has raised $50 million in a funding round aimed at speeding up development of the Seattle-area startup’s highly maneuverable space vehicles. The...
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