June 05, 2015
Why the prime minister of this European nation sees Amazon as a partner, not a problem
November 11, 2025
Luxembourg Prime Minister Luc Frieden in Redmond, Wash., during his visit to the Seattle region this week. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) What can Seattle learn about Amazon from Luxembourg? At first glance, there aren’t many similarities between the Pacific Northwest tech hub and the small...
Helion’s next big bet is fusion power manufacturing at scale – but tech uncertainty remains
November 11, 2025
Inside Helion’s Omega, the company’s new manufacturing facility that could fit three football fields. (GeekWire Photo / Lisa Stiffler) EVERETT, Wash. — It’s a bold ambition to try and replicate on earth the physics that power the sun and the stars. But clean power innovator Helion Energy is...
Bezos-backed real estate startup Arrived raises $27M to help fuel new ‘stock market’ for rental properties
November 11, 2025
Arrived co-founders, from left: COO Alejandro Chouza, CEO Ryan Frazier, and CTO Kenny Cason. (Arrived Photo) Arrived, a Seattle-based tech startup that turns rental homes into a mainstream asset class for everyday investors, raised $27 million in new funding to support its new “stock market for...
Rad Power Bikes faces possible shutdown as it tries to survive ‘significant financial challenges’
November 10, 2025
Seattle-based Rad Power Bikes makes a variety of electric bicycle styles. (Rad Power Bikes Photo) Seattle-based electric-bike maker Rad Power Bikes, which grew into the leading e-bike seller in North America during the pandemic, is fighting for survival as it faces “significant financial...
Cadence to acquire Seattle startup ChipStack to boost chip design automation
November 10, 2025
Members of the ChipStack team. (ChipStack Photo) Semiconductor software giant Cadence Design Systems agreed to acquire ChipStack, a Seattle-based startup developing AI tools to speed up chip verification and design. ChipStack emerged from Seattle’s AI2 Incubator in 2023 and raised more than...
Satellite communication company Kymeta names new CEO as it ramps up defense operations
November 10, 2025
Manny Mora, CEO and president of Kymeta. (Kymeta Photo) Redmond, Wash.-based Kymeta, a mobile satellite communications company, announced Manny Mora as its new president and CEO, effective immediately. The company, founded in 2012 with backing from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, is ramping...
Vancouver, B.C.-based legal tech company Clio hits $5B valuation after acquiring vLex
November 10, 2025
(Clio Image) Vancouver, B.C.-based legal tech company Clio completed its $1 billion acquisition of vLex, the company announced Monday. The completion of the deal, first announced in June, coincides with the closing of a $500 million Series G funding round for Clio, valuing the company at $5...
Amazon Music adds ‘Fan Groups’ to allow listeners to discover, share and chat in dedicated communities
November 10, 2025
(Amazon Image) Amazon Music is bringing fans together in a new app feature called “Fan Groups” that helps listeners discover, share and chat about music recommended by like-minded fans. A beta version of the feature is rolling out in Canada on iOS and Android, Amazon said Monday. With the...
Amazon expands low-cost ‘Haul’ service and launches shopping event as tariffs squeeze Chinese rivals
November 10, 2025
The expansion of Amazon Haul comes at a pivotal moment in U.S. trade policy. (GeekWire File Photo / Todd Bishop) A year after launching Amazon Haul, the company is expanding the low-cost shopping service globally — escalating its challenge to Temu and Shein just as U.S. trade policies disrupt...
Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Nov. 2, 2025
November 09, 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. 2, 2025. Sign up to receive these updates every Sunday in your inbox by subscribing to our GeekWire Weekly email newsletter. Most popular stories on...
Ring founder Jamie Siminoff on failure, reinvention, and his second act at Amazon
November 08, 2025
What’s it like to pitch your dream on Shark Tank, get rejected on national TV in front of 8 million people — and then turn that failure into a company Amazon later buys for more than $1 billion? Ring founder Jamie Siminoff did just that. A serial inventor and entrepreneur, Siminoff joins...
Seattle entrepreneur shares startup lessons from her experience making an indie film
November 08, 2025
Anne Weiler. At first glance one might think a tech startup and a feature film are worlds apart. Yet, as it happens, bootstrapping and building a tech company and producing an independent feature film are surprisingly similar. This was something that surprised me as I pivoted from startup CEO to...
Expedia watching government shutdown ‘very closely’ as shares surge after Q3 earnings top estimates
November 07, 2025
(GeekWire File Photo) Expedia is monitoring potential disruptions from the ongoing U.S. government shutdown and related FAA-ordered flight cancellations. The Seattle-based company is “watching the government shutdown very closely,” said ScottSchenkel, chief financial officer, speaking on...
Seattle startup insiders lead new Service Provider Capital fund investing in PNW tech startups
November 07, 2025
From left: David Wickwire, Minh Le, and Craig Sherman are the managing directors for Service Provider Capital’s new PNW fund. (Wilson Sonsini; Stifel Bank Photos) Seattle’s startup lawyers and bankers have long helped founders raise capital. Now they’re pooling some of their own money to invest...
A familiar dance: Ex-Microsoft product manager opens ballet school, and leans into her tech skills
November 07, 2025
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...
Seattle security startup Oleria lands $19M in latest funding round
November 07, 2025
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...
Upward, a Seattle fintech startup led by former Remitly execs, raises $8M and partners with Mastercard
November 07, 2025
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,...
Tech Moves: Smartsheet names SVP; AWS exec departs for startup; WatchGuard’s new CEO
November 07, 2025
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...
Uncommon Thinkers: A scientist’s journey from rural India to turning ‘science fiction’ into drug candidates
November 06, 2025
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,...
File sharing? Nope, Seattle Torrent women’s pro hockey team named for violent stream of water
November 06, 2025
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...
Seattle’s Parse Biosciences to be acquired by Qiagen for $225M
November 06, 2025
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....
Microsoft forms Superintelligence team to pursue ‘humanist’ AI under Mustafa Suleyman
November 06, 2025
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...
Real estate startup Digs raises $5M to boost software platform for residential builders
November 06, 2025
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...
Glowforge hits restart: After restructuring, co-founders acquire key assets of laser engraver startup
November 06, 2025
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...
Seattle startup Accipiter Bio emerges with $12.7M and big pharma deals for AI-designed proteins
November 06, 2025
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...
Raj Singh sets his vision for Smartsheet in the AI era: ‘Time to step out of the shadows’
November 05, 2025
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...
Internal memo: Microsoft creates new way for workers to flag issues after Gaza surveillance probe
November 05, 2025
(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...
Seattle startup Hearvana raises $6M for AI-powered sound enhancement
November 05, 2025
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...
Washington energy startup lands DOE funding for researching liquid metal walls in fusion generators
November 05, 2025
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...
How Amazon is bringing name brands to Whole Foods, without putting them on the shelves
November 05, 2025
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...
Nobel winner’s lab notches another breakthrough: AI-designed antibodies that hit their targets
November 05, 2025
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 —...
Layoffs at Microsoft and Amazon spark ethical questions about their impact on Seattle amid AI frenzy
November 05, 2025
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...
Portal Space Systems introduces Starburst, a new breed of maneuverable spacecraft
November 05, 2025
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...
Seattle startup unveils AI-powered enterprise smart glasses for roofers and electricians
November 05, 2025
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...
Seattle tax hike on big businesses set to pass after early voting returns
November 05, 2025
(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...
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