June 29, 2024
Proposed law to rein in Uber and Lyft surge pricing stalls in Washington state
March 19, 2025
(GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Washington state lawmakers have abandoned an attempt to limit the cost of ride-hailing fares during large public events. Senate Bill 5600 would have restricted fares to 120% of what a driver is earning for a ride during times of high demand, such as...
Wizards of the Coast reportedly lays off staff working on virtual tabletop Sigil
March 19, 2025
Baldur’s Gate III characters Astarion and Karlach confront a ghost in Wizards of the Coast’s virtual tabletop program Sigil. (Wizards of the Coast image) Reports spread on Tuesday via social media that Wizards of the Coast, the Renton, Wash.-based company that publishes Dungeons & Dragons, has...
Seattle startup Workflow Labs raises $1M to help automate tasks for Amazon sellers
March 19, 2025
Workflow Labs CEO Justin Leigh. (Workflow Labs Photo) Seattle startup Workflow Labs raised $1 million in new investment to grow its platform that helps Amazon sellers reach customers and manage operations. Founded in 2022, the company has raised $3.2 million to date. The latest funding round...
Longtime Microsoft HR chief Kathleen Hogan shifts to corporate strategy role for CEO Satya Nadella
March 19, 2025
Kathleen Hogan. (Microsoft Photo) Microsoft named Kathleen Hogan, its longtime chief people officer, to the new role of executive vice president of strategy and transformation, reporting to CEO Satya Nadella. Hogan will focus on “defining our overarching corporate strategy and structure and...
Contract management software company Icertis lands $50M
March 19, 2025
Samir Bodas, CEO of Icertis. (GeekWire File Photo / Kevin Lisota) Bellevue, Wash.-based contract management software company Icertis raised $50 million in a new investment from existing backer B Capital, the company confirmed Wednesday. The fresh cash will be used to pay down outstanding...
As Madrona turns 30, longtime Seattle firm keeps investing in its backyard — and beyond
March 19, 2025
Madrona Managing Director Matt McIlwain speaks on stage at the venture capital firm’s 30th anniversary event celebration in Seattle on Tuesday. Jerry Grinstein (right, standing), the former Delta CEO who helped launch Madrona in 1995, looks on alongside his wife Lyn. (GeekWire...
Tech Moves: Logixboard names new CEO; consulting vets launch Built for Leaders; and more
March 19, 2025
Logixboard CEO Agasthya Upadhya. (LinkedIn Photo) Agasthya Upadhya is the new CEO of Logixboard, a Seattle startup that sells software to freight forwarding companies. Upadhya was previously chief product officer for the company, where he started in 2019. Logixboard co-founder Julian Alvarez...
‘Game changer’ partnership with Seattle Center could help struggling Pacific Science Center thrive
March 19, 2025
A new partnership with the city will help remove gates that create a barrier between the Pacific Science Center and the Seattle Center and restore the facility’s iconic arches. (GeekWire Photo / Taylor Soper) The city-owned Seattle Center and the Pacific Science Center have formed a...
Blue Origin rocket engine gives a boost to Museum of Flight’s Simonyi Space Gallery
March 18, 2025
Timothy Hinerman, a program manager at Blue Origin, polishes up the nozzle of a BE-3U rocket engine during installation at Seattle’s Museum of Flight. (Museum of Flight Photo / Ted Huetter) Seattle’s Museum of Flight has brought its collection of space artifacts up to the present day, thanks to...
How Google’s $32B deal to buy Wiz redefines the cloud security industry
March 18, 2025
(GeekWire Photo / Holly Grambihler) Editor’s note: A version of this post originally appeared on LinkedIn. Sunil Gottumukkala is co-founder and CEO at Averlon, a Seattle-area cybersecurity startup founded in 2022. Here’s my take on Google’s $32 billion bet on cloud security with their offer...
Madrona backs Spangle, a new e-commerce company led by former Bolt CEO Maju Kuruvilla
March 18, 2025
Spangle CEO Maju Kuruvilla. (Spangle Photo) Spangle wants to shake up digital shopping. The new startup, founded by former Bolt CEO Maju Kuruvilla, came out of stealth mode Tuesday and announced a seed investment from Seattle VC firm Madrona along with Silicon Valley firm Streamlined...
GeekWire Awards: Health Innovation of the Year field is dominated by finalists battling cancer
March 18, 2025
The 2025 GeekWire Award finalists for Health Innovation of the Year are dominated by ventures that aim to outwit cancer with groundbreaking new technologies. The contenders range from a newly formed startup to a leading U.S. cancer institute and companies in between. Joining the cohort is a...
UW’s CoMotion relaunches Seattle fintech incubator with new partner Curinos
March 18, 2025
A wall in the new University of Washington CoMotion offices includes logos for some of the 285 companies that have spun out of the program. (GeekWire Photo / Lisa Stiffler) The fintech incubator at the University of Washington is back. The UW’s CoMotion innovation arm announced Tuesday that...
Pacific Science Center tries to survive as it plans makerspace expansion, eyes real estate deal
March 18, 2025
Leaders of the 63-year-old Pacific Science Center, or PacSci, have creative plans for saving the Seattle institution, which faces budget challenges and deferred upkeep. (GeekWire Photo / Lisa Stiffler) Seattle is a world-class tech hub. But the city’s Pacific Science Center, a nonprofit...
Ask the Expert: Comfortable but bored at a tech giant? Consider key risks before the startup leap
March 18, 2025
Rebekah Bastian. (Photo courtesy of Rebekah Bastian) It’s not easy making the leap into the world of tech startups, especially when it comes to leaving a comfortable job at a big, established company. As with any major change in life, it’s important to understand and evaluate the risks before...
Portal Space Systems opens its doors for a sneak preview of solar propulsion system
March 17, 2025
VIPs cut the ribbon at Portal Space Systems’ HQ in Bothell, Wash. From left: U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene; Portal co-founders Prashaanth Ravindran, Jeff Thornburg and Ian Vorbach; and Bothell Mayor Mason Thompson. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) BOTHELL, Wash. — From the outside, Portal Space Systems’...
Flexport sues Freightmate, alleges that founders stole trade secrets to launch Seattle-area startup
March 17, 2025
From left: Freightmate co-founders Jason Zhao, Bryan Lacaillade, and Rishab Gadroo. (Freightmate Photo) A new lawsuit filed by logistics giant Flexport alleges that two of its former employees stole thousands of confidential files before leaving and launching their own Seattle-area startup....
Sen. Cantwell pushes for ‘technology NATO’ as one way to counter China rather than tariffs
March 17, 2025
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) speaks alongside National Foreign Trade Council President Demetrios Marantis at a Washington Council of International Trade Q&A session in Seattle on Monday. (Cantwell Office Photo) Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) said the Trump administration’s tariff policies will...
The surprising way Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella uses AI to consume podcasts on his commute
March 17, 2025
Satya Nadella is a fan of multimodal AI interfaces — the ability to interact with a chatbot not just through text but through voice, for example — so much so that it has completely changed the way he “listens” to podcasts. Speaking recently on the Minus One podcast from South Park Commons,...
Shingles vaccine maker Curevo lands $110M, adds biotech vets to board
March 17, 2025
Curevo CEO George Simeon. (Curevo Photo) Curevo, a Seattle-based biotech startup developing a vaccine against shingles, raised $110 million in a Series B round. The fresh cash will help Curevo advance Phase 2 trials of amezosvatein, its shingles vaccine built from a non-living component of the...
Trump praises Bezos for changes at Washington Post: ‘He’s trying to do a real job’
March 17, 2025
The recent changes Jeff Bezos has instituted at The Washington Post have captured the attention of President Donald Trump, who praised the newspaper owner’s efforts. In a new interview on the Sunday news program “Full Measure,” Trump evoked Bezos’ name while discussing how he views the...
GeekWire Awards: Workplace of the Year finalists buck trends and create their own positive cultures
March 17, 2025
Workplace of the Year finalists, clockwise from top left: Acumatica, Armoire, Humanly, Foundations and Overland AI. (Photos provided by respective companies) In the current zeitgeist, remote and flexible work are out. Corporate diversity and inclusion are taboo. And if your boss is the federal...
Seattle startup Gradial raises $13M for AI marketing tech that automates content operations
March 17, 2025
Gradial co-founders from left: CEO Doug Tallmadge, chief growth officer Anish Chadalavada, CTO Deip Kumar, and COO Anup Chamrajnagar. (Gradial Photo) Gradial, a Seattle startup that uses AI agents to help marketing operations teams increase productivity, raised $13 million in new funding, the...
This Seattle-area startup just raised $600K to capture carbon and turn it into graphite
March 17, 2025
Homeostasis co-founders Julien Lombardi, left, and Makoto Eyre. (Homeostasis Photo) Sustainable tech startup Homeostasis is capturing carbon in a form that the world has too much of — atmospheric CO₂ gas — and transforming it into a highly desired crystalline carbon called graphite. The...
Fireballs, foxholes, and cryogenic suspension: Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman’s greatest quips
March 16, 2025
Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman when the company went public in 2017. (Nasdaq Photo) We’re going to miss Glenn Kelman’s earnings calls. Redfin’s CEO, who last week announced a $1.75 billion deal to sell the tech-driven real estate company to Rocket Companies, has a rare knack for delivering colorful...
Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of March 9, 2025
March 16, 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 March 9, 2025. Sign up to receive these updates every Sunday in your inbox by subscribing to our GeekWire Weekly email newsletter. Most popular stories on...
Amazon design vet can’t shake desire to create art and music, so he left to build a new VR experience
March 15, 2025
Virtual reality game developer Grant Hinkson in a Meta Quest headset, right, and inside his experience “Connectome.” (Parietal Lab Image) Grant Hinkson spent almost nine years at Amazon, leading design engineering within the company’s Devices and Services Design Group. He left a little over a...
Podcast: The meaning of Rocket’s Redfin deal, and how Microsoft is bringing AI to Xbox gamers
March 15, 2025
Rocket Companies is buying Redfin in a deal valued at $1.75 billion. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we discuss the big real estate technology news of the week: Rocket Companies, the mortgage, real estate and personal finance platform, is buying Redfin, the...
GeekWire Awards: Key acquisitions and big funding rounds lead Deal of the Year category
March 14, 2025
The finalists for Deal of the Year at the 2025 GeekWire Awards. Three major acquisitions and two significant funding rounds make up the transactions featured in the Deal of the Year category at the 2025 GeekWire Awards. The award, presented by Wilson Sonsini, is aimed at recognizing deals...
Tech Moves: Rad Power Bikes names former Bartell Drugs leader Kathi Lentzsch as its new CEO
March 13, 2025
Kathi Lentzsch. (Rad Photo) Seattle-based e-bike maker Rad Power Bikes named Kathi Lentzsch as its new CEO. Lentzsch previously ran Bartell Drugs as CEO before the company sold to Rite-Aid in 2020. She also led companies including Gump’s and Elephant Pharmacy, and held exec roles at Enesco,...
College students get a taste of startup life inside dynamic UW entrepreneurship class
March 13, 2025
Team “Stimma” pitches at Pioneer Square Labs on Wednesday in front of Seattle venture capitalists. (GeekWire Photo / Taylor Soper) Best class ever? That was my thought after watching eight teams pitch their startup ideas on Wednesday in Seattle, the culmination of an entrepreneurship class at...
Steve Ballmer on Microsoft’s first 50 years, its OpenAI deal, and why he’s still its biggest investor
March 13, 2025
Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at the 2021 groundbreaking for the Intuit Dome, the new home of the L.A. Clippers, the NBA franchise he acquired in 2014. (L.A. Clippers / Intuit Dome Photo) [Editor’s Note: Microsoft@50 is a year-long GeekWire project exploring the tech giant’s past, present,...
Microsoft debuts new Copilot assistant for Xbox built as an AI gaming sidekick
March 13, 2025
This official Microsoft mock-up demonstrates how Copilot can be used for processes like picking up an old run through a game. (Microsoft Image) In advance of this year’s Game Developers Conference, Microsoft revealed a new version of its AI-powered personal assistant Copilot...
Founders: Forget about AGI and focus on building AI that works
March 13, 2025
From left: Reza Khaj, director at Plug and Play Ventures; Tim Porter, managing director at Madrona; James Newell, managing director at Voyager; and Shohei Yamada, partner at SBI Holdings. (GeekWire Photo / Taylor Soper) Tech startup founders should ignore the noise on AGI and...
Social media companies required to better protect teen users under bill passed by Washington Senate
March 12, 2025
Social media apps and others. (GeekWire Photo / Lisa Stiffler) The Washington state Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that aims to protect kids from the potentially harmful impacts of social media apps such as Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube. Senate Bill 5708 prevents social media...
