Amira Valliani, Glow CEO and co-founder. (Glow Photo) Podcast monetization startup Glow, a spinout of Seattle’s Pioneer Square Labs, has been acquired by Libsyn, a podcast hosting network. Glow launched in June 2019 with a way to help podcasters make money through membership programs. Publicly traded Libsyn will utilize Glow’s technology, including private feed distribution and … Read more
Ad Lightning CEO Scott Moore on the third floor balcony outside his former office in Seattle, after a downtown Seattle shooting in January 2020. (Mekhato File Photo / Kurt Schlosser) “Until there’s a credible, durable solution to crime and homelessness in the downtown core, I think Seattle will have a hard time luring tech companies … Read more
Impel CEO Adrian Adams. (Impel Photo) Seattle-based biotech company Impel NeuroPharma is set to go public. The company, which develops drugs for central nervous system disorders such as migraines and Parkinson’s, submitted paperwork on Friday for a $75 million IPO. Founded in 2008, Impel is a late-stage pre-revenue pharma company known for its Precision Olfactory … Read more
A drone outfitted with WiBotic’s OC-251 onboard charger sits on top of a WiBotic PowerPad with a TR-301 transmitter housed inside an enclosure. (WiBotic Photo) Two of the wireless charging systems made by Seattle-based WiBotic have won safety approvals in Europe, marking what the startup’s CEO calls a major milestone. The chargers and transmitters now … Read more
A reusable Starbucks cup is scanned and then dropped into a contactless kiosk at a participating Starbucks store drive-thru. (Starbucks Photo) Starbucks is launching a new effort to cut down on waste from its ubiquitous beverage cups with a limited trial in Seattle of a “Borrow a Cup” program. The program will offer customers the … Read more
(Prefunq Image) As COVID-19 sent everyone retreating to social isolation and virtual gatherings, it proved particularly difficult for the performers and musicians who rely on live events to make a living. The pandemic has also made us all really tired of virtual gatherings. Prefunq is a new service designed to combat so-called “Zoom fatigue” and … Read more
Dendron founders Kevin Lin, left, and Kiran Pathakota. (Dendron Photos) New funding: Seattle-based startup Dendron has raised $2 million in seed funding for its open source note-taking tool that helps users manage any amount of information. The founders: Kevin Lin is a former software engineer at Amazon Web Services who left after five years to … Read more
ReadySub, a Seattle-based maker of a cloud-based scheduling platform for school districts, has been acquired by Tyler Technologies, a company that provides software and technology services to the public sector. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. ReadySub works with approximately 1,000 school districts across the U.S. while Tyler Technologies has 2,000 school districts as … Read more
An example of a virtual Mekhato office built with Spot. (Spot Photos) New funding: Spot, a year-old company led by the founders of billion-dollar startup Outreach, has raised $1.7 million. Company background: Mekhato initially spotted Spot back in June when it was in stealth mode. The 7-person startup is building software that creates a virtual representation … Read more
Icosavax creates virus-like particles with technology licensed from the University of Washington’s Institute for Protein Design. (Icosavax Photo) New funding: At a moment when vaccines are on everyone’s mind, a Seattle-based biotech company that has an unusual approach to vaccine production has raised $100 million in a Series B round. The startup creates computer-designed, virus-like … Read more