GeekWire

IRS audit finds Microsoft owes nearly $29 billion in taxes, company plans to appeal

This startup turns discarded crab shells into useful industrial chemicals

by Lisa Stiffler on September 26, 2023September 26, 2023 at 8:19 am

Green chemistry startup Tidal Vision has raised more than $20 million and last month announced the acquisition of one of its customers for an undisclosed sum. The Bellingham, Wash.-based business… Read More

Zulily vendors say they’re not getting paid following company’s acquisition by private equity firm

by Taylor Soper on September 26, 2023September 26, 2023 at 1:02 pm

Vendors working with Seattle e-commerce company Zulily say they are owed thousands of dollars in unpaid invoices. Megan Neugebauer, owner of Shop Resin Molds in Paragould, Ark., told GeekWire she… Read More

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Former Tableau execs launch new Seattle startup that helps companies manage cloud costs

by Nate Bek on September 26, 2023September 27, 2023 at 8:28 am

Former Tableau CFO Damon Fletcher is coming out of retirement to launch a startup that helps tech companies get a hold of their cloud costs amid a surge in spending… Read More

News Brief

Uber inks first-in-the-nation deal with Washington state for driver appeal process

by Taylor Soper on September 25, 2023September 25, 2023 at 2:52 pm

A new agreement between Uber and the state of Washington creates a formal appeals process for drivers who were suspended or removed from the ride-hailing platform.

Fun & Geeky

Life goals: Megan Rapinoe says goodbye to soccer, and Seattle tech leaders share how she inspired

Get an AI reality check on ‘The Creator’ — Hollywood’s latest robo-doomsday movie

On the record: New vinyl Hi-Fi lounge in Seattle skips the algorithm and gets back to music basics

Army vet and extreme marathon man Gavin Woody brings grit and grind back to role as a startup CEO

For more fun & geeky stuff, check out Geek Life.

Departing Amazon exec Dave Limp will become CEO at Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture

by Alan Boyle on September 25, 2023September 25, 2023 at 3:32 pm

Blue Origin has confirmed that Dave Limp, who is leaving his post as Amazon’s senior vice president of devices and services, will take over as the CEO of Jeff Bezos’… Read More

Fire resistant, quake safe, climate friendly: Mass timber is on the rise as a construction alternative

by Lisa Stiffler on September 25, 2023September 25, 2023 at 2:04 pm

When Seattle’s eight-story Heartwood Apartments opens to residents this fall, it will be Washington’s tallest timber building and the first in the U.S. permitted under a set of new construction… Read More

Health Tech/Life Sciences

Washington startups receive $25K grants aimed at boosting state’s life sciences sector

Genomics pioneer Lee Hood joins forces with the Buck Institute to study aging and disease

First Lady Jill Biden visits Seattle, stops at Fred Hutch to boost Cancer Moonshot program

Interview: Seattle Children’s new research leader Vittorio Gallo on AI, neuroscience, art and more

Read more health technology and life sciences articles on Health Tech/Life Sciences.

Costco to offer healthcare services through partnership with New York startup

by Nate Bek on September 25, 2023September 25, 2023 at 11:12 am

Costco is broadening its reach into healthcare through a partnership with Sesame, a New York-based medical care marketplace startup that connects consumers directly with primary care and mental health clinicians… Read More

Hydrogen startup spins out of Bill Gates-backed R&D effort, lands $7.8M

by Lisa Stiffler on September 25, 2023September 25, 2023 at 3:49 pm

Peregrine Hydrogen, a Santa Cruz, Calif., startup developing technology for producing clean hydrogen, raised $7.8 million in seed financing. The company is aiming to manufacture climate friendly hydrogen that is… Read More

GeekWire Podcasts

What Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in court about Google, Apple, search, and the future of AI

Unpacking the FTC’s case vs. Amazon: What the landmark suit means for the e-commerce empire

Lumen CEO Kate Johnson on Seattle tech, AI, lessons from Microsoft, and ‘cloudifying’ telecom

Longtime Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley is our Copilot on this week’s GeekWire Podcast

Listen to more GeekWire Podcasts.

Fuse raises $250M for its second fund to supercharge more Pacific Northwest startups

by Taylor Soper on September 25, 2023September 25, 2023 at 11:12 am

Fuse is pouring more fuel on its fire. The Seattle-area venture capital firm raised $250 million for its second fund, a major swath of cash that will support early stage… Read More

Meet the Seattle-area startups that just graduated from Y Combinator

by Nate Bek on September 25, 2023September 25, 2023 at 1:31 pm

Seattle-area startups that just graduated from Y Combinator’s summer 2023 batch are tackling a wide range of problems — with plenty of help from artificial intelligence. The companies include: Founded in… Read More

Amazon pours up to $4B into AI startup Anthropic, escalating rivalry with Microsoft and Google

by Todd Bishop on September 25, 2023September 25, 2023 at 7:36 am

Amazon will invest up to $4 billion and take a minority stake in Anthropic, the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence company founded two years ago by former OpenAI executives and considered… Read More

Engineer inspects OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule after touchdown in Utah

Video

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx probe delivers sample of asteroid — and moves on to next target

by Alan Boyle on September 24, 2023September 24, 2023 at 4:03 pm

Seven years and 4 billion miles after its launch, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has successfully dropped off a capsule containing a precious sample of one near-Earth asteroid — and is now… Read More

Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Sept. 17, 2023

by GeekWire on September 24, 2023September 24, 2023 at 8:00 am

See the technology stories that people were reading on GeekWire for the week of Sept. 17, 2023.… Read More

Video

‘Six Days in Fallujah’ game, developed in Seattle, recreates paranoia of urban conflict zones

by Thomas Wilde on September 24, 2023September 22, 2023 at 4:13 pm

The first couple of times I tried to play Six Days in Fallujah, I wasn’t sure what I was doing wrong. I’d take on a mission, head forth into a… Read More

Podcast

Longtime Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley is our Copilot on this week’s GeekWire Podcast

by Todd Bishop on September 23, 2023September 23, 2023 at 7:46 am

It was a big week for Microsoft, with the unveiling of the company’s latest Windows and AI features and new Surface devices at a special event in New York City.… Read More

First Lady Jill Biden visits Seattle, stops at Fred Hutch to boost Cancer Moonshot program

by Charlotte Schubert on September 22, 2023September 24, 2023 at 3:31 pm

First Lady Jill Biden visited Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center on Friday in Seattle, where she met with researchers and spoke about cancer prevention and the need to mitigate side effects… Read More

Interview: UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt visits Amazon and Microsoft; talks AI, China, economy

by Todd Bishop on September 22, 2023September 22, 2023 at 10:24 pm

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, the United Kingdom’s chief financial minister, visited Seattle on Friday as part of a West Coast tour to promote the expansion of the UK’s tech sector, and… Read More

Video

Construction software company Procore acquires Seattle mapping startup Unearth

by Taylor Soper on September 22, 2023September 25, 2023 at 8:36 am

Unearth Technologies, a Seattle startup that develops mapping software for the construction industry, announced Friday it was acquired by Procore Technologies, a publicly traded company based in Southern California. Terms… Read More

Unity’s Marc Whitten shares apology note following backlash to controversial licensing policies

by Thomas Wilde on September 22, 2023September 22, 2023 at 9:06 pm

After more than a week of controversy, Unity Technologies posted an apology letter to its community and promised to undo or roll back many of the changes it had planned… Read More

Video

Shift AI Podcast: Riding the wave of AI startup innovation with Pioneer Square Labs’ T.A. McCann

by Boaz Ashkenazy on September 22, 2023September 22, 2023 at 11:14 am

“I think any pitch that doesn’t have AI in it is just not going to get a look unless the team is incredible… but it’d be unlikely that an incredible… Read More

Where’s Astro? Amazon addresses home robot’s absence from annual devices event

by Todd Bishop on September 22, 2023September 22, 2023 at 10:16 am

Amazon’s Astro home robot was introduced at the company’s fall Devices & Services event two years ago. Last year, Astro’s name was mentioned no less than 25 times during the… Read More

Amazon to add commercial breaks to Prime Video shows and movies

by Kurt Schlosser on September 22, 2023September 22, 2023 at 8:46 am

Amazon is ready to interrupt Prime Video programming to bring commercial breaks to its streaming shows and movies, the company announced Friday. Amazon joins a growing list of streamers giving… Read More

UK regulator: Microsoft concessions ‘substantially address’ concerns about Activision deal

by Todd Bishop on September 22, 2023September 22, 2023 at 7:30 am

Microsoft’s plan to sell Activision Blizzard’s cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft appears to have appeased UK antitrust regulators who previously sought to block its $68.7 billion acquisition of the Call… Read More

Can AI be holistic in spirit, soul, body, and mind? Insights from the PowerHER conference in Seattle

by Todd Bishop on September 21, 2023September 22, 2023 at 7:19 am

After an afternoon featuring inspiring business leaders, group mindfulness breaks, and activities to help attendees tap into their authentic selves in their work and personal lives, one audience question about… Read More

Voyager Capital targeting $100M for its sixth fund to back more B2B startups in the Pacific Northwest

by Nate Bek on September 21, 2023September 21, 2023 at 6:51 pm

Voyager Capital is raising cash for another fund to invest in more early-stage business-to-business startups based across the Pacific Northwest. A new SEC filing revealed the fund, the firm’s sixth… Read More

Tech Moves: Seattle startup vet Joanna Lord lands new gig; Outreach exec resigns; Maveron hires CFO

by Taylor Soper on September 21, 2023September 21, 2023 at 6:11 pm

— Joanna Lord, a marketing exec who led teams at Seattle companies including Porch Group, Big Door, and Moz, is now chief marketing officer at Spring Health. The New York-based company… Read More

Video

‘It’s kind of like the ’90s are back’: Microsoft previews unified AI ‘Copilot’ initiative

by Todd Bishop on September 21, 2023September 21, 2023 at 10:31 am

Microsoft executives appeared in New York City this morning to unveil a torrent of new AI features for Windows and other products, in addition to new Surface PCs. “It’s kind… Read More

TikTok plans major growth in Seattle area as it looks to take on Amazon with e-commerce feature

by Kurt Schlosser on September 21, 2023September 21, 2023 at 9:18 am

TikTok is looking to aggressively grow its employee footprint in the Seattle area as the social media video app takes on Amazon for e-commerce shoppers, according to a report Thursday… Read More

News Brief

Analyst: Cisco’s $28B deal to buy Splunk a ‘poker move’ to fend off Microsoft, Amazon, other giants

by Taylor Soper on September 21, 2023September 21, 2023 at 3:35 pm

Telecommunications and networking giant Cisco announced its largest acquisition ever on Thursday, a $28 billion cash deal to take over San Francisco-based cybersecurity and observability company Splunk.

More layoffs at Outreach: Seattle sales software startup cuts 12% of staff

by Nate Bek on September 20, 2023September 21, 2023 at 2:40 pm

Outreach laid off 12% of its staff this week, the latest round of layoffs at the Seattle-based startup. A company spokesperson confirmed the headcount reduction in response to a GeekWire inquiry… Read More