June 05, 2015
Tech leaders invest in new startup building billing software for data centers
December 08, 2025
Internet Backyard founders Gabriel Ravacci (left) and Mai Trinh. (Internet Backyard Photo) Internet Backyard, a new startup building billing software for data centers and GPU providers, announced a $4.5 million pre-seed round led by Basis Set Ventures. The two-month-old company describes...
Founder Institute getting fresh start in Seattle with return to in-person accelerator, events and more
December 08, 2025
The Seattle skyline. (GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Founder Institute, the global business incubator and pre-seed startup accelerator, is getting up and running again in Seattle. Tech veteran Aniket Naravanekar, co-founder and CEO of Skillsheet, is one of the program directors working...
Longtime legal leader Pallavi Wahi on leading Arnold & Porter’s new office and navigating the AI moment
December 08, 2025
Pallavi Mehta Wahi. (Arnold & Porter Photo) Pallavi Wahi‘s latest career move is both a professional leap and a personal bookend. Wahi, a veteran lawyer and business community leader, came to Seattle 25 years ago as an immigrant with no local network. She built a career and civic presence,...
Seattle startup Scowtt raises $12M to turn CRM data into better ad campaigns
December 08, 2025
Scowtt CEO Eduardo Indacochea. (Scowtt Photo) Scowtt, a Seattle-based startup that wants to reshape how advertisers optimize paid campaigns, raised $12 million in Series A funding round led by New York venture firm Inspired Capital. Founded in 2024, Scowtt helps companies analyze their...
30 years after Microsoft went ‘all-in’ on the internet, the tech giant’s AI strategy echoes the past
December 07, 2025
On a cold winter’s day in December 1995, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates shook the tech world with plans to embed internet connectivity into all of Microsoft’s major products, making headlines across the country. Click to enlarge. (GeekWire Graphic / Geof Wheelwright) December 7...
Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Nov. 30, 2025
December 07, 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 Nov. 30, 2025. Sign up to receive these updates every Sunday in your inbox by subscribing to our GeekWire Weekly email newsletter. Most popular stories on...
The buzz over an ‘alien’ interstellar comet shows how way-out speculation goes viral
December 06, 2025
An astrophotograph of the interstellar comet known as 3I/ATLAS highlights its green coma and a wandering blue-tinted ion tail. (Copyright Victor Sabet and Julien De Winter, republished with permssion) Is an interstellar spacecraft zooming through our solar system? That’s the big question for...
AI goes from tool to teammate: Amazon Web Services SVP Colleen Aubrey on the dawn of agentic work
December 06, 2025
Colleen Aubrey, AWS senior vice president of Applied AI Solutions, speaks during the AWS re:Invent keynote about the company’s push toward AI “teammates” and agentic development. (Amazon Photo) LAS VEGAS — Speaking this week on the Amazon Web Services re:Invent stage, AWS executive Colleen...
Amazon’s new frontiers: Robotaxis, ultrafast deliveries, AI teammates
December 06, 2025
Amazon is experimenting again. This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we dig into our scoop on Amazon Now, the company’s new ultrafast delivery service. Plus, we recap the GeekWire team’s ride in a Zoox robotaxi on the Las Vegas Strip during Amazon Web Services re:Invent. In our featured...
This swanky former tech HQ now houses an elfin pop-up bar for the holidays
December 05, 2025
The former headquarters of PayScale — which has relocated to Boston — now houses interactive experiences, including a winter wonderland-themed Elf Bar pop-up this month. (GeekWire Photos / John Cook) Looking for a dose of festive cheer this holiday season? You might just find it in an...
Microsoft shareholders invoke Orwell and Copilot as Nadella cites ‘generational moment’
December 05, 2025
From left: Microsoft CFO Amy Hood, CEO Satya Nadella, Vice Chair Brad Smith, and Investor Relations head Jonathan Nielsen at Friday’s virtual shareholder meeting. (Screenshot via webcast) Microsoft’s annual shareholder meeting Friday played out as if on a split screen: executives describing a...
Stars on the ceiling, Cher on the speakers: Notes from our first ride in Amazon’s Zoox robotaxi
December 05, 2025
Members of GeekWire’s team in Las Vegas posing for a selfie after taking Amazon’s Zoox robotaxis for a spin in Las Vegas, L-R: Brian Westbrook, Todd Bishop, Steph Stricklen, Holly Grambihler (front), and Jessica Reeves (right). LAS VEGAS — Our toaster has arrived. Amazon’s Zoox robotaxi...
Washington state lawmaker says proposed payroll tax could benefit large tech companies
December 05, 2025
Rep. Shaun Scott, D-43. A newly proposed payroll tax would add new costs for large businesses in Washington state. But Rep. Shaun Scott, a Seattle Democrat sponsoring the bill, argues it would protect the basic services that help companies recruit and retain talent. “People are looking to...
Viral rant on why ‘everyone in Seattle hates AI’ strikes a nerve, sparks debate over city’s tech vibe
December 04, 2025
(Photo by Patty Zavala on Unsplash) Does everyone in Seattle hate AI? That’s one of the surprising questions to arise this week in response to a viral blog post penned by Jonathon Ready, a former Microsoft engineer who recently left the tech giant to pursue his own startup. In the post,...
AWS CEO Matt Garman thought Amazon needed a million developers — until AI changed his mind
December 04, 2025
AWS CEO Matt Garman, left, with Acquired hosts Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) LAS VEGAS — Matt Garman remembers sitting in an Amazon leadership meeting six or seven years ago, thinking about the future, when he identified what he considered a looming...
HSA Bank acquires fintech startup SecureSave, providers of employee savings solutions
December 04, 2025
Devin Miller, co-founder and CEO of SecureSave, during the “Elevator Pitch” finale at the 2022 GeekWire Summit. (GeekWire File Photo / Dan DeLong) Fintech startup SecureSave, a 2020 spinout of Seattle’s Pioneer Square Labs, has been acquired by Wisconsin-based HSA Bank. SecureSave helps...
OpenAI CEO reportedly turned to a Seattle startup in quest to challenge SpaceX on the space data frontier
December 04, 2025
Stoke Space’s Zenith booster engine blazes during a hot-fire test in 2024. (Stoke Space Photo) OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is thinking about expanding into the final frontier for data centers, and his efforts to follow through on that thought reportedly turned into talks with Stoke Space, a rocket...
Tech Moves: Washington names broadband leader; Greater Seattle Partners gets interim president/CEO; Microsoft legal exec departs
December 04, 2025
Jordan Arnold. (LinkedIn Photo) — Jordan Arnold is the new director of the Washington State Broadband Office within the Department of Commerce, effective Jan. 2. Under the Biden administration, Arnold served as a senior policy advisor on the Infrastructure Implementation Team within the...
Otto, led by former Expedia exec, rolls out AI agent for business travelers that mimics an executive assistant
December 04, 2025
Examples of interactions with Otto the Agent, an AI-powered business travel assistant. (Otto Images) Seattle-based startup Otto announced the wide release Thursday of its AI-powered travel assistant — Otto the Agent — in a bid to bring a concierge-level experience and...
Crypto ATM startup Coinme hit with cease-and-desist order in Washington state
December 04, 2025
(Coinme Image) Washington state regulators ordered Seattle-based cryptocurrency company Coinme to stop transmitting money for customers in the state, alleging the startup improperly claimed more than $8 million in customer funds as its own income. The Washington State Department of Financial...
Seattle-area startup Govstream.ai raises $3.6M to improve city permitting processes using AI
December 04, 2025
Govstream.ai aims to drastically improve cities’ permitting processes and reduce costs and timelines associated with housing development. (Govstream.ai Illustration) Govstream.ai, a Seattle-area startup building AI-native permitting tools for local governments, raised $3.6 million in funding,...
Global health backslide: Gates Foundation report links funding cuts to rising child deaths
December 04, 2025
From left: Bill Gates, Dr. Bosede Afolabi and Dr. Opeyemi Akinajo at Lagos University Teaching Hospital in Lagos, Nigeria in June 2025. (Photo via Gates Foundation / Light Oriye, Nigeria) Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation are raising the alarm over the deadly impacts of international funding...
Groceries in a flash: We tested ‘Amazon Now’ in Seattle — and got our delivery in 23 minutes
December 03, 2025
A bag of Amazon Now groceries, delivered in Seattle on Tuesday. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Amazon’s new “Amazon Now” ultra-fast delivery for household essentials and fresh groceries passed the speed test on Tuesday. During a trial of the newly launched service, it took 23 minutes from...
Seattle startup Gradial raises $35M to boost agentic tools that automate enterprise marketing
December 03, 2025
The Gradial team. (Gradial Photos) Seattle startup Gradial raised a $35 million Series B round to expand its AI platform that automates the behind-the-scenes work of enterprise marketing. VMG Partners led the round, with participation from existing backers Madrona and Pruven Capital. It’s the...
UW Nobel winner’s lab releases most powerful protein design tool yet
December 03, 2025
A protein created by RFdiffusion3, a newly released protein design tool from Nobel laureate David Baker’s lab, interacting with DNA. (UW Institute for Protein Design / Ian C. Haydon Image) David Baker’s lab at the University of Washington is announcing two major leaps in the field of AI-powered...
Amazon will pay $3.7M to settle labor claims in Seattle for alleged gig worker ordinance violations
December 03, 2025
Amazon Flex drivers deliver packages, food and grocery items for Amazon. (Amazon Photo) Amazon has agreed to pay more than $3.7 million to settle claims with the City of Seattle’s Office of Labor Standards (OLS) over allegations that it violated ordinances protecting gig and app-based workers...
The hot new thing at AWS re:Invent has nothing to do with AI
December 02, 2025
AWS CEO Matt Garman unveils the crowd-pleasing Database Savings Plans with just two seconds remaining on the “lightning round” shot clock at the end of his re:Invent keynote Tuesday morning. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) LAS VEGAS — After spending nearly two hours trying to impress the crowd...
Bill Gates-backed Modern Hydrogen lays off most of its employees after decade-long pursuit of clean energy
December 02, 2025
Installation of a Modern Hydrogen methane pyrolysis device at NW Natural, a natural gas public utility in Portland, Ore. (Modern Hydrogen Photo) Modern Hydrogen — a clean energy startup with technology that at one time seemed to delight Bill Gates and attracted his investment — has now laid off...
Seattle biotech startup Curi Bio lands $10M to expand its R&D support for drug discovery
December 02, 2025
Curi Bio’s ribbon cutting in April 2025 for its new headquarters on Seattle’s waterfront. Elliot Fisher, co-founder and chief business officer, cuts the ribbon with a sword while CEO Nicholas Geisse holds a pair of scissors. (Curi Bio Photo) Seattle biotech startup Curi Bio, which enables the...
AI roleplay startup Yoodli raises $40M, reports 900% revenue growth
December 02, 2025
The Yoodli team in Seattle. (Yoodli Photo) Yoodli is on a roll. The Seattle startup, which sells AI-powered software to help people practice real-world conversations such as sales calls and feedback sessions, announced a $40 million Series B round on Tuesday to fuel growth. WestBridge...
Amazon unveils ‘frontier agents,’ new chips and private ‘AI factories’ in AWS re:Invent rollout
December 02, 2025
Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman opens the 2025 AWS re:Invent conference Tuesday in Las Vegas. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) LAS VEGAS — Amazon is pitching a future where AI works while humans sleep, announcing a collection of what it calls “frontier agents” capable of handling complex,...
Uncommon Thinkers: Kiana Ehsani thrives on scrappy persistence at AI startup and in the outdoors
December 02, 2025
Kiana Ehsani skiing near Camp Muir on Mount Rainier in April. (Photo courtesy of Kiana Ehsani) 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 the...
Bill Gates’ TerraPower gets NRC green light for safety in construction of its first nuclear plant
December 01, 2025
A mockup of a fuel bundle for TerraPower’s Natrium reactor. (TerraPower Photo) Nuclear power company TerraPower has passed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff’s final safety evaluation for a permit to build a reactor in Wyoming. The Washington-based company backed by Bill Gates and NVIDIA...
Tech Moves: Ex-Payscale CEO Scott Torrey joins Smartsheet; Apple taps Microsoft VP to lead AI efforts
December 01, 2025
Scott Torrey. (Smartsheet Photo) — Smartsheet’s C-suite shuffle continues with the hiring of Scott Torrey as chief revenue officer. Torrey previously led salary data company Payscale as CEO from 2019 to 2021. He spent the past three years as executive chairman at finance software startup...
Amazon tests new ‘Amazon Now’ 30-minute delivery service in Seattle and Philadelphia
December 01, 2025
Amazon’s former Fresh Pickup site in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood, which closed since early 2023, is slated to become a new rapid-dispatch delivery hub for Amazon Flex drivers, according to permit filings. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) Amazon on Monday officially launched Amazon Now, a new...
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