June 05, 2015
AI voice company WellSaid retools for agents while keeping its commitment to human actors
November 11, 2026
WellSaid CEO Benjamin Dorr says the AI voice company is now profitable. (WellSaid Photo) WellSaid, the AI voice company that spun out of Seattle’s Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence in 2019, is reinventing itself for the era of AI agents. The company this week launched WellSaid...
Lila Bio lands $3.65M grant to fight pulmonary hypertension with AI-designed proteins
November 11, 2026
Lila Biologics co-founders CEO Jake Kraft, left, and Chief Scientist Anindya Roy. (Lila Photo) Lila Bio, a startup spun out of Nobel laureate David Baker’s lab at the University of Washington, has received a $3.65 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a treatment for...
Rand Fishkin’s Seattle game studio serves up first trailer for ‘The Snackbar at the End of the World’
November 11, 2026
The chef in “The Snackbar at the End of the World.” (Snackbar Studio Image) If the eventual release of “The Snackbar at the End of the World” is a full-on meal for video game fans, news this week of the game’s first trailer should at least suffice as an appetizer. Seattle-based Snackbar...
AWS gives developers a free local stand-in for its cloud, built from scratch by AI agents
November 11, 2026
AWS Emulator began as a weekend experiment, when an engineer prompted the Kiro coding agent to build a passable version of Amazon SQS in 15 minutes. (GeekWire File Photo / Todd Bishop) AWS says its engineers didn’t write or review a single line of code in its newest developer tool, and the...
Tech Moves: Wizards of the Coasts names president; new execs at Skydance, Pulumi, Marchex and Syndio
November 11, 2026
Dan Ayoub. (LinkedIn Photo) — Dan Ayoub, the past head of Dungeons & Dragons, has been named president of Wizards of the Coast & Hasbro Digital Games. Ayoub joined the Renton, Wash.-based Wizards of the Coast in 2022 and counts himself among the longtime players of D&D and Magic: The...
Seattle VC firm Ascend closes $17M fund to back ‘Third Act’ startups in physical AI and hardware
November 11, 2026
From left: Ascend partner and chief of staff Jen Haller, founding general partner Kirby Winfield, and principal Nate Bek. (Ascend Photo) Venture firm Ascend has closed a $17 million third fund and landed its first institutional investor, in what founder Kirby Winfield calls the toughest...
Seattle mayor lifts pause and will expand police surveillance cameras with new safeguards
November 10, 2026
A view toward Pioneer Square and downtown Seattle from Lumen Field. (GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Seattle will expand its police surveillance camera network to three more neighborhoods, Mayor Katie Wilson said Tuesday, ending a pause she put in place in March over privacy and civil...
Microsoft awards $20K grants to 25 Seattle-area nonprofits amid state budget crunch and tax debate
November 10, 2026
Representatives of the 25 nonprofits receiving Microsoft’s first Community-First Grants pose for a photo Monday with company leaders in Redmond with Seattle Mariners star Cal Raleigh and the team’s mascots. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) The Lighthouse for the Blind is adding braille displays to...
Fintech giant Plaid opening Seattle engineering office, with plans to double local headcount
November 10, 2026
A South Lake Union view from Plaid’s Seattle office at 1000 Dexter Ave. N. (Plaid Photo) Plaid is opening an engineering office in Seattle’s Westlake neighborhood in January and plans to double its local workforce to about 80 people by next summer. The San Francisco-based fintech company says...
Data center developers brace for new reality as election backlash sinks in
November 10, 2026
A Sabey Data Center facility in Quincy, Wash. (GeekWire Photo / Lisa Stiffler) Data center developers already knew they had a public relations problem. This month’s midterm elections showed how much of a political problem it has become. Voters approved data center restrictions in 44 of 45...
Allen Family Philanthropies gives $10M to hundreds of small arts groups across Washington state
November 10, 2026
“Lives Carried Forward,” a show by artist Yidan Guo, at Gallery at the Park in Richland, Wash. (Allied Arts Association Photo) Allen Family Philanthropies and Seattle nonprofit ArtsFund awarded $10 million to 745 small arts and culture organizations across Washington state, and renewed the grant...
PitchBook to give early-stage startups free access, using their data to feed a new tool for VCs
November 10, 2026
PitchBook is giving early-stage startups free access to its data, in exchange for some of their own. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) PitchBook announced a new program to give early-stage startups free use of its private-market data, if they share their financials and other company details. The...
Amazon’s Ring tries again with a $250 flying home security drone and a $1,000 patrol robot
November 10, 2026
Ring Drone Cam, left, and Ring Rover Cam. (Ring Images) Amazon’s Ring unveiled a $249.99 flying indoor security drone and a $999.99 mobile patrol robot for businesses, bringing back two ideas that stalled in earlier incarnations. The Ring Drone Cam and Ring Rover Cam,...
New tax incentives give Washington’s sustainable aviation fuel industry a boost
November 09, 2026
Twelve’s AirPlant One is turning captured carbon dioxide into a low-carbon aviation fuel. (Twelve Photo) Washington has cleared a milestone in its effort to become a hub for lower-carbon jet fuel, unlocking tax incentives aimed at attracting production to the state. Gov. Bob Ferguson...
From paper routes to fighter jets: Shield AI’s bet on Seattle is a homecoming for its co-founders
November 09, 2026
Shield AI co-founders Brandon Tseng, left, and Ryan Tseng. (Shield AI Photo) As a kid on Mercer Island, Brandon Tseng delivered The Seattle Times and the Mercer Island Reporter for extra cash. Now he and his older brother, Ryan Tseng, are making news of their own in the Seattle region. Shield...
Trevor Noah on AI
November 08, 2026
Trevor Noah, Rana el Kaliouby and Oren Etzioni discuss AI onstage at Boston’s Museum of Science on Oct. 19. (Nicolaus Czarnecki Photography for the Museum of Science, Boston) On Oct. 19, Trevor Noah launched Luminaries, a science conversation series at Boston’s Museum of Science. I joined him...
Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Nov. 1, 2026
November 08, 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 Nov. 1, 2026. Sign up to receive these updates every Sunday in your inbox by subscribing to our GeekWire Weekly email newsletter. Most popular stories on...
JPMorgan and Mastercard back Seattle startup Firmly’s bet on AI shopping agents
November 07, 2026
Firmly CEO Kumar Senthil says merchants shouldn’t have to build a new integration for every AI shopping channel. (Firmly Photo) Firmly, a Seattle-area startup that helps online retailers sell through AI shopping assistants, raised a $15 million Series A round led by Squarepoint Capital, with...
Voters reject AI data centers, Shield AI’s $5.3B Echodyne deal, and a Seattle startup’s rare double exit
November 07, 2026
This week: Shield AI, the defense tech company building its X-BAT autonomous fighter jet south of Seattle, agrees to acquire Kirkland-based radar maker Echodyne in a deal valued at up to $5.3 billion. We discuss what it means for the Seattle region’s rise as a defense tech hub, how the...
How to be unemployed: Glenn Kelman on life after Redfin
November 06, 2026
At a conference, a fashion entrepreneur gave Glenn Kelman a bracelet that said “we are enough.” (Image via Glenn Kelman) After 20 years at Redfin, and 10 months of unemployment, I’ve co-founded a new company. My business partner and I will announce our plans after we’ve built our product, but in...
Tech Moves: Fred Hutch leader goes to AWS; Temporal, Augmodo and Neuralwatt name execs
November 06, 2026
Amitabha “Guppy” Gupta. (LinkedIn Photo) — Amitabha “Guppy” Gupta, a Fred Hutch Cancer Center associate director who helps researchers translate their work to broader audiences, is leaving after 14 years to join Amazon. Starting Nov. 16, he will be a strategic advisor for nonprofit research and...
Amazon’s AI shopping agent moves into text messages, taking orders and tracking prices
November 06, 2026
Amazon’s Alexa for Shopping agent fills a cart from a text request in this example from the company. (Amazon Image) Amazon is rolling out a new feature to let customers shop by text message — sending requests to its Alexa for Shopping AI agent, which will search for products, compare options and...
Let there be LEDs: Tech upgrade helps James Turrell’s Skyspace shine again at UW art museum
November 06, 2026
James Turrell’s “Light Reign,” a permanent skyspace installed at the University of Washington’s Henry Art Gallery in Seattle in 2003. Exterior lighting glows in different colors at sunrise and sunset. (Photo courtesy of the Henry Art Gallery) For most of the past dozen years, a James Turrell...
Agility Robotics co-founder on its Nasdaq debut, lessons from Amazon, and the future of work
November 05, 2026
Agility Robotics co-founder and Chief Robot Officer Jonathan Hurst and the company’s Digit 5 humanoid robot, which was designed to work alongside people without a safety barrier. Agility began trading on the Nasdaq on Thursday. (Agility Robotics Photos) Agility Robotics of Salem, Ore., made its...
Seattle startup OneCourt brings tactile tablets for blind and low-vision fans to NHL games
November 05, 2026
A hockey fan uses OneCourt’s tactile device during the NHL Heritage Classic, an outdoor game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Winnipeg Jets at Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Oct. 25. (Ticketmaster Photo) Seattle startup OneCourt is bringing its haptic devices for blind and...
Shield AI to buy Bill Gates-backed radar maker Echodyne in $5.3B deal, doubling down on Seattle area
November 05, 2026
Echodyne CEO Eben Frankenberg, right, leads Sen. Maria Cantwell, left, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, behind her, and others on a tour of the company’s new radar factory in Woodinville, Wash., in July. Shield AI agreed to acquire Echodyne in a deal valued at up to $5.3 billion. (Echodyne Photo) Shield...
No sweat: High-tech T-shirt brand Neat survives ‘Shark Tank’ and lands $400K deal with Lori Greiner
November 05, 2026
CEO Jim Huffman, left, and COO Tyler Stelter of Seattle-based apparel maker Neat make their pitch in front of the sharks on ABC’s “Shark Tank” during an episode that aired Wednesday night. (Disney Photo / Daniel Delgado Jr.) If Jim Huffman and Tyler Stelter were sweating during their pitch on...
Uncommon Thinkers: Curiosity led Mary Brunkow to an immune breakthrough — and a Nobel Prize
November 05, 2026
Mary Brunkow receives her Nobel Prize from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden in Stockholm on Dec. 10, 2025. (Nanaka Adachi Photo) Editor’s note: This series profiles five Seattle-area “Uncommon Thinkers,” who will be recognized Dec. 10 at the GeekWire Gala in partnership with Greater Seattle...
Longtime investor Martin Tobias says no to 99% of startups — his new AI tool helps them find a yes
November 05, 2026
Martin Tobias. (Incisive Ventures Photo) Martin Tobias was pitched by about 4,500 startups last year. He wrote 10 checks. Now the pre-seed investor is offering the rest of them a consolation prize: an AI tool that tells founders which investors are most likely to say yes. Tobias, a...
Amazon teams up with Uber on restaurant delivery, years after shutting down its own service
November 05, 2026
(Amazon Image) Amazon is bringing Uber Eats inside its own app, letting U.S. Prime members order restaurant delivery without a separate Uber account and skip the delivery fee on orders of $25 or more. The deal replaces a Prime perk with Grubhub, which Amazon made an ongoing benefit in 2024...
Zillow CEO’s reality check on AI agents: ‘Finding a home isn’t a chore to hand off to a robot’
November 04, 2026
Zillow Group CEO Jeremy Wacksman says home shoppers want to do the searching themselves, even as AI agents take on more everyday tasks. (Zillow Photo) People will let AI agents cancel subscriptions and book appointments, but most won’t want one to do their house hunting, predicts Zillow Group...
A year in, Smartsheet CEO Raj Singh bets on a new vision beyond the company’s flagship product
November 04, 2026
Smartsheet CEO Raj Singh unveils vsActual, an AI product that customers can use without Smartsheet, during his keynote at the company’s Engage conference in Seattle on Wednesday. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) Smartsheet’s biggest new product in years doesn’t require Smartsheet. The Bellevue,...
A rare second exit: AI startup Suplari acquired by Docusign nearly 3 years after Microsoft spinout
November 04, 2026
Members of the Suplari team, as pictured on the company website. (Suplari Photo) Some startups dream of getting acquired by a big tech company. Suplari has now done it twice. Docusign on Tuesday announced its acquisition of the AI-powered spending analysis company, five years after Microsoft...
Washington voters keep millionaires tax, splitting tech leaders over the state’s competitive edge
November 04, 2026
The Washington State Capitol Building in Olympia. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Washington voters appear to have upheld the state’s new tax on high earners, putting the state on track to lose its place among the nine states without an income tax — a status that tech leaders have long touted...
First X-BAT fighter jet prototype unveiled as Shield AI preps Seattle area factory for 2027 launch
November 04, 2026
A prototype of Shield AI’s X-Bat AI fighter jet, which will be built in the Seattle area. (Photo via Shield AI) Defense technology startup Shield AI has completed its first full-scale prototype of the X-BAT autonomous fighter jet as the company prepares its manufacturing and engineering hub...
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