Amazon
Facts
- HQ
- SEATTLE
- Sectors
- E-commerce, Cloud computing, Aerospace/Satellites, Media/Streaming, Advertising, Consumer devices
- Founded
- 1994
- Type
- Corporation Seattle business license
- Employees
- 1600000
- Registered name
- Amazon.Com Inc Seattle business license
- Stage
- Public
GeekWire Awards 2020 Goes Virtual; Ally Wins Startup of the Year as Bill Gates and Celebrities Celebrate
GeekWire held a virtual GeekWire Awards livestream honoring top Pacific Northwest tech companies and leaders across 12 categories, with winners accepting via Zoom and special video messages from figures like Bill Gates. Seattle startup Ally won Startup of the Year, and the event included entertainment such as The Drunken Tenorperforming an "Opera di Zoom."
iObeya announces Seattle-area dual headquarters in Kirkland/Bellevue after $17M round led by Red River West
French visual collaboration startup iObeya announced a Seattle-area office in Kirkland/Bellevue that will be a dual headquarters with Massy, France, after a $17 million funding round led by Red River West; the company plans to hire about 20 people this year and serve as a North America sales and marketing hub.
Convoy VP Kristen Forecki — former Amazon and Rover executive — helped scale Convoy from employee No. 11 to a company valued at $2.7 billion
Kristen Forecki, vice president of supply at Convoy, attributes her career success to a mix of preparation, networking and passion, moving from Amazon to early roles at Rover and joining Convoy as employee No. 11; Convoy has grown to about 1,000 employees and was valued at $2.7 billion in November.
Amazon launches Dash Cart, putting it in direct competition with Veeve co-founded by ex-Amazon engineers Shariq Siddiqui and Umer Sadiq
Amazon announced a Dash Cart that directly competes with Veeve, the Seattle-area smart shopping cart startup founded by former Amazon employees Shariq Siddiqui and Umer Sadiq, but the announcement has also driven increased interest in Veeve from regional and national retailers. Veeve’s cart uses QR logins, sensors and cameras to identify items and enable checkout-free shopping, a market validated further by pandemic-driven demand for contactless experiences.
Scener—RealNetworks spinoff—grows 70x since March and will be Comic-Con@Home's exclusive watch party affiliate
Scener, a RealNetworks spinoff, has grown rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic—over 70x since March—and will be the exclusive watch party affiliate for Comic-Con@Home, hosting virtual film, show and anime screenings. Its free Chrome-based Watch Party Platform supports multiple streaming services with up to 10 co-hosts and up to 1 million viewers, and Scener signed a deal with Funimation to power Comic-Con@Home's anime track.
Seattle tech CFO survey: 37 respondents say three-quarters expect full COVID-19 recovery; nearly half raise 2020 spending forecasts
A survey of 37 Seattle-based tech CFOs finds the local tech industry remains resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic, with three-quarters expecting full recovery and nearly half raising 2020 spending forecasts versus early March. Many CFOs report higher Q2 bookings expectations and over 40% say their companies are increasing headcount despite widespread industry layoffs elsewhere.
Tagboard CEO Josh Decker ends Redmond office lease and shifts 29-person startup to fully remote amid COVID-19
Seattle-area startup Tagboard decided to end its office lease and go fully remote amid the COVID-19 pandemic, citing economic uncertainty and effective work-from-home operations. The 29-person company gave employees office furniture, cut overhead to fund tech/internet stipends and future in-person activities, and relies on tools like Slack and Zoom.
Pioneer Square Labs and Fortive launch TeamSense, a COVID-19 symptom‑tracking SaaS that reached paying customers in six weeks
Pioneer Square Labs and Fortive launched their first spinout, TeamSense, a SaaS platform that lets employers screen and communicate with hourly workers about COVID-19 symptoms via quick daily texts or emails. TeamSense moved from initial funding to paying customers in six weeks and provides dashboards, rosters, and 1-on-1 chat to support workplace health, planning and compliance.
Nori CEO Paul Gambill Raises $1.3M Pre-Seed, Poised to Scale Carbon-Removal Marketplace
Nori, a Seattle carbon-removal marketplace founded by Paul Gambill, raised $1.3 million in a pre-seed round and is nearing its next funding target as it prepares to scale and hire. Gambill, a former engineer and entrepreneur, aims to grow the team after years of early-stage bootstrapping and Techstars Sustainability Accelerator support.
Madeline Haydon
Nutpods Founder and CEO and Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Madeline Haydon, shares her story from humble beginnings and lessons she learned from her refugee parents immigrating to the US. On this episode, you’ll learn how her Kickstarter campaign provided the assurance that she had a good idea, how the odds were stacked against her when it came to fundraising and what the moment was when she felt like she made it. In five short years, Nutpods has grown to the #3 brand in the plant-based creamer category, the #1 selling brand on Amazon, Amazon 2019 Small Business…
Ambika Singh (Armoire CEO) on pitching friends, building a dream closet, and learning from others
Amoire is 3.5 year into building the "dream closet" for woman, $5M in funding, 50 employees, 1000s of customers, and moving 10s of thousands of garments. Ambika Singh, the founder and Chief Bosslady, goes inside her process, how she learns, and the obstacles and upsides she's found as a woman founder in Seattle.
Madrona leads $27M round in Fauna; Bob Muglia named executive chairman, Eric Berg becomes CEO
Madrona Venture Group led a $27 million investment in Fauna, the San Francisco-based database startup founded by two former Twitter engineers, bringing total funding to $57 million and appointing Bob Muglia as executive chairman and Eric Berg as CEO. Fauna focuses on cloud-native, serverless-accessible databases (FaunaDB) and will add Madrona’s S. Somasegar to its board.
Seattle rises three spots to crack Startup Genome’s global top 10, backed by $3.59B in 2019 VC funding
Seattle climbed three places into Startup Genome’s global top 10 startup ecosystems, driven by strengths in AI, big data, analytics, life sciences and a strong startup genealogy from Microsoft, Amazon and the University of Washington. Venture funding reached a Seattle-area record of $3.59 billion in 2019, and the city ranks highly on performance, funding, market reach, talent, connectedness, knowledge and infrastructure.
Humanly raises $800,000 from TMD Ventures, Gusto and Kinetica CFOs to expand AI hiring tools
Seattle startup Humanly raised $800,000 from investors including TMD Ventures, Gusto CFO Mike Dinsdale and Kinetica CFO Dean Neese to expand its AI recruiting tools that screen candidates, schedule interviews and run reference checks amid COVID-19–driven hiring changes. The company says automation and bias-reducing features help employers manage larger applicant pools while improving inclusion.
Sana Biotechnology raises over $700M (SEC filings suggest $866.8M total) to advance gene and cell therapies
Sana Biotechnology announced it has raised more than $700 million in venture funding to develop gene- and cell-therapy approaches, marking one of the largest life-sciences venture rounds and among Seattles biggest. SEC filings indicate total capital and non-cash assets may total about $866.8 million, though the company declined to disclose valuation.
Wyze launches $49.99 wire-free outdoor 1080p camera, undercutting competitors
Wyze Labs is launching its first outdoor, wire-free, weather-resistant 1080p camera priced at $49.99 with a base station ($39.99 for individual cameras), targeting demand for its most-requested product and undercutting competitors' higher prices.
Amazon launches $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund to invest in sustainable-tech startups, aims for net-zero by 2040
Amazon launched The Climate Pledge Fund, a $2 billion corporate venture program to invest in startups developing sustainable technologies across industries to accelerate reaching net-zero carbon. The move aligns with Amazon’s Climate Pledge to be net carbon neutral by 2040 and follows other commitments like running on 100% renewable energy by 2025.
Scout9 founder Patrick Opie builds ML-powered “Personal Pocket Scout” to guide new dog owners on feeding, training and product choices
Patrick Opie founded Seattle startup Scout9 after struggling to know what his new dog needed; the company offers a machine-learning driven "Personal Pocket Scout" that creates dynamic timelines and product guidance to help new dog owners navigate feeding, training and other milestones. Scout9 targets growing pet-industry demand following pandemic adoption surges and aims to provide an economical, intuitive alternative to time-consuming research and irrelevant purchases.
Madrona hires ex-AWS product manager Anu Sharma as principal; Saykara and DomainTools add senior marketing and leadership hires
Madrona Venture Group hired Anu Sharma as a principal from AWS; Seattle startups and tech companies also announced hires and promotions, including Saykara naming Joy Efron VP of marketing and DomainTools adding four executives (CTO James Reynolds, CCO Jeff Day, VP of product Jackie Abrams, and VP of people Jill Boon).
Amazon and Techstars Relaunch Alexa Accelerator as Alexa Next Stage, Selecting Seven Startups for Remote Eight-Week Program
Amazon and Techstars announced seven startups selected for Alexa Next Stage, the revamped Alexa Accelerator focusing on later-stage and more geographically diverse voice-tech companies, running remotely with a virtual Demo Night on August 11. Each startup can receive up to $150,000 from Amazon's $200 million Alexa Fund and grants participation rights for future financing to Alexa Fund and Techstars.
Panda AI launches inside AI2 in Seattle, led by CEO Aaron Goldfeder and CTO Yue Ning in stealth mode
Panda AI is a stealth B2B startup launched inside the Allen Institute for AI (AI2) in Seattle, led by CEO Aaron Goldfeder and CTO Yue Ning, both former AI2 entrepreneurs-in-residence. The company — currently two employees with early access interest and Smartsheet co-founder Eric Browne as product advisor — aims to build next-generation tools for knowledge workers using recent AI breakthroughs.
WiBotic raises $5.7M Series A to scale wireless charging and fleet power software for robots and drones
Seattle-based WiBotic raised $5.7 million in Series A funding to accelerate development of its near-field wireless charging stations and fleet power-management software for robots and drones, bringing total funding to nearly $9 million. The company, spun out of the University of Washington five years ago, says its technology enables scalable, contactless charging useful for automated deployments and COVID-19–era social distancing.
KeeperHR — Dean Graziano and Vishal Ahluwalia launch imagery-based hiring tool, raises $750,000 with Vodafone and Ogilvy as early clients
KeeperHR, a Seattle startup founded by Dean Graziano and co-led by CEO Vishal Ahluwalia, uses GIFs and short clips to help job candidates and employees express soft skills and personality; the company has raised about $750,000, has six employees, and counts Vodafone and Ogilvy as early clients.
Nomad Go launches HealthySpaces to monitor occupancy, mask use and distancing; raised $2.7M
Seattle startup Nomad Go launched HealthySpaces, a computer-vision product that provides real-time occupancy, density counts, and mask and social-distancing compliance for retailers, running models locally to preserve privacy. The four-year-old company has deployments in over 100 locations and raised $2.7 million in September from Flying Fish Partners, Fitz Gate Ventures and Vulcan Capital.
Seattle Startup CEOs Condemn Racism, Urge Action and Investment in Black Founders After George Floyds Death
Seattle startup leaders publicly condemned racism after George Floyd’s death and pledged concrete actions — including learning, speaking up, and pushing for investments in entrepreneurs of color — while noting tech’s role in inequality and recent moves like SoftBank’s $100 million fund.
People
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Jamie Siminoff Executive, Vice President
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Steve Rabuchin Executive, Vice President of Project Kuiper (Amazon Leo)
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Ben Wild Co-founder of Hubble Network, Former Amazon Product Lead
