Fred Hutch Cancer Center
Facts
- HQ
- Puget Sound
- Sectors
- Medical research, Cancer research, Healthcare
Marc Whitten, ex-Microsoft Xbox exec, named president and CEO of Dolby Laboratories as Kevin Yeaman retires
Marc Whitten, a veteran of Microsoft, Sonos, Amazon, Unity, Cruise and Meta, was named president and CEO of Dolby Laboratories, succeeding longtime leader Kevin Yeaman. Fred Hutch announced leadership changes naming Dr. Lawrence Fong as senior VP and director of Translational Science and Dr. Andrew Hsieh as the inaugural endowed chair, and Microsoft AI saw executive departures including CMO Andréa Mallard.
Adaptive Biotechnologies’ Spinout Digital Biotechnologies Raises $15M Series A to Develop Clinical DNA Sequencing Instrument
Digital Biotechnologies, a Seattle-based subsidiary of Adaptive Biotechnologies, has raised up to $15 million in a Series A round to develop a novel clinical DNA sequencing technology. Adaptive will retain nearly half ownership as Digital Biotechnologies aims to create a high-accuracy, rapid, low-cost sequencing instrument for clinical use.
The Future of Biology Is Generative: Inside Synthesize Bio's RNA AI Model
In this episode of Founded & Funded, Madrona Investor Joe Horsman sits down with Jeff Leek and Rob Bradley, co-founders of Synthesize Bio, a foundation model company for biology that's unlocking experiments researchers could never run in the lab. Jeff, chief data officer at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center, and Rob, the McIlwain Family endowed chair in data science, share: •Why a startup the right fit for generative genomics •How generative genomics could reshape research, drug trials, and more •Why RNA is the right starting point for a generative AI model in biology •What this breakthrough means for the future…
Building Biotech in Seattle: Madrona Investor Spotlight with Joe Horsman
What happens when a scientist becomes a VC? We sat down with Madrona's Joe Horsman to find out. In this episode, Joe shares his journey from late nights in the lab to helping biotech founders bring life-changing science to market. You'll hear: Why Seattle's biotech + AI ecosystem is heating up What founders need beyond funding to commercialize world-changing science. Why weekend adventures fuel Monday creativity
Seattle Startup Summit Highlights City's AI Strengths and Need for More Entrepreneurial Energy
At the inaugural Seattle Startup Summit, leaders like Statsig CEO Vijaye Raji and Acquired podcast co-host Ben Gilbert highlighted Seattle's strong AI ecosystem, anchored by tech giants Amazon and Microsoft, and specialization in biotech and disease research. Despite this, they noted the city could benefit from cultivating a more vibrant entrepreneurial culture to maximize its potential in AI innovation.
Expedia Appoints Scott Schenkel as CFO Amid C-Suite Changes; Ex-Microsoft AI VP Luis Vargas Launches AI Startup
Expedia Group appointed Scott Schenkel as its new CFO, succeeding Julie Whalen, amid broader executive changes including CEO Ariane Gorin's leadership. Meanwhile, former Microsoft AI VP Luis Vargas left to start a new AI startup as chief technologist.
Amazon Grocery SVP Tony Hoggett to Leave November 2024 for COO Role at Marc Lore’s Wonder Chain
Tony Hoggett, Amazon's SVP of worldwide grocery stores since January 2022, will leave on November 1, 2024, to become COO of Marc Lore's restaurant chain Wonder. Wonder operates 27 outlets in the Northeast and plans to pilot locations inside Walmart stores.
Amazon puts AI in delivery vans; Ex-AMZN exec Dave Clark's new startup; AI vs. cancer
Artificial intelligence and automation are transforming the way companies get stuff to stores and doorsteps, changing the world of logistics, transportation and the supply chain, as demonstrated by a few Amazon-related stories we covered this week: Amazon's unveiling of a new "Vision-Assisted Package Retrieval (VAPR) system for the cargo hold of its electric Rivian vans; The announcement of Amazon’s next-generation fulfillment center, with updated and expanded versions of its robotics systems in Shreveport, La. Former Amazon executive Dave Clark's launch of a new supply chain technology startup, based in the Seattle area, with $100 million in funding out of the…
Madrona Hires Anna Chen to Boost Bay Area Operations; Alexandra Tibbets Returns to Microsoft; Niraj Tolia Named Veeam CTO
Madrona expands its Bay Area team by hiring investor Anna Chen to focus on enterprise software, AI, and consumer subscriptions, while Alexandra Tibbets returns to Microsoft as chief of staff and Niraj Tolia becomes CTO of Veeam Software following their acquisition of an AI startup.
F5's Kara Sprague Named CEO of HackerOne, Replacing Marten Mickos on November 4
Kara Sprague, formerly chief product officer at F5, was named CEO of cybersecurity company HackerOne, replacing Marten Mickos on November 4. F5 announced new C-suite appointments and is conducting an external search to replace Sprague.
Seattle’s Deverra Therapeutics Raises $2.4M to Develop Cellular Immunotherapies with Fred Hutch License
Seattle biotech startup Deverra Therapeutics, founded by oncologist Colleen Delaney, is raising $2.4 million through debt and warrants to advance its cellular immunotherapy platform licensed from Fred Hutch. The company recently secured $3.5 million from the Andy Hill CARE Fund and licensed an immuno-oncology platform from Coeptis Therapeutics for $570,000 plus shares.
Shift AI Podcast: Seattle's place at the center of the AI universe, with Madrona's Matt McIlwain
On this week’s GeekWire Podcast, we're featuring an episode of Shift AI, a podcast hosted by Boaz Ashkenazy, CEO of AI solutions provider Simply Augmented, with guest Matt McIlwain of Seattle-based venture capital firm Madrona Venture Group. A thriving tech hub requires access to ideas, people, and experiments that produce collective lessons sooner and with greater fidelity than anywhere else. This is what made the Seattle area the cloud capital of the world. It also positions the region as one of the world’s top centers of excellence for artificial intelligence. That’s one of the insights from Matt McIlwain, managing director…
David Aronchick Named CEO of Expanso; Highspot Appoints Graham Younger President; Brad Booth and Pete Shimer Join Boards
David Aronchick was named CEO of Expanso to advance its Bacalhau distributed computing platform, while Highspot appointed Graham Younger as president of field operations. Additionally, Brad Booth joined NLM Photonics' board and Pete Shimer was added to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center's board.
Investor Spotlight with Matt McIlwain
Get to know Madrona Managing Partner Matt McIlwain. Learn where he gets his spark to work with entrepreneurs, what he looks for in founders, where the opportunities lay for founders when it comes to generative AI, and what he enjoys doing outside the office.
SEngine Precision Medicine Raises $10M to Advance Paris Test for Personalized Cancer Drug Treatment
Seattle startup SEngine Precision Medicine raised $10 million to advance its Paris Test, which tailors cancer drug treatments by culturing patient tumor cells and testing drug responses. The test aims to provide personalized treatment options beyond traditional genomic tests and has been used by about 800 patients so far.
Five Finalists for 2022 GeekWire Health Innovation of the Year Include A-Alpha Bio and UW Institute for Protein Design
The 2022 GeekWire Health Innovation of the Year finalists include A-Alpha Bio, Parse Biosciences, Tasso, Truveta, and the University of Washington’s Institute for Protein Design, highlighting advances in computational health approaches. Winners will be announced on May 12 at the GeekWire Awards, with community voting open until April 22.
Andreessen Horowitz, Madrona and other tech VCs ramp up bets on AI-driven biotech startups as founders from software enter life sciences
Tech venture capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz and Seattle’s Madrona Venture Group are increasingly investing in life-science startups that use AI, machine learning and data science to speed drug discovery and development. Investors are following founders who transitioned from software to biotech—such as Sujal Patel of Nautilus and Terry Myerson of Truveta—seeing reduced perceived risk and new opportunity at this intersection.
Cloudentity Names Jason Needham as CEO After $13M Series A; Leafly Appoints Suresh Krishnaswamy as CFO; Chris Suh Joins Cardlytics Board; Three Named HHMI Investigators
Seattle startup Cloudentity named Jason Needham, ex-CloudCoreo and VMware multi-cloud security lead, as CEO and board member after a $13M Series A; Leafly hired Suresh Krishnaswamy as CFO as it prepares for a SPAC, and Microsoft CVP Chris Suh joined Cardlytics' board. Trevor Bedford, Frederick Matsen IV and David Veesler were named 2021 HHMI Investigators, each receiving roughly $9M over seven years.
Study Finds Seattle Startup Tasso’s Tasso‑SST Self‑Collection Device Matches Venous COVID‑19 Antibody Results
A study led by Seattle researchers found the Tasso-SST self-administered upper-arm blood collection device produced antibody results nearly identical to venous draws and worked for a high proportion of users, even after simulated 48-hour shipping. The device, made by Seattle startup Tasso, could replace some clinic blood draws for COVID-19 antibody testing.
Ozette, a Fred Hutch spinout incubated at AI2, raises $6M seed to scale AI immune-monitoring platform
Ozette, a Seattle biotech spun out of Fred Hutch and incubated at AI2, raised a $6 million seed round to scale its eight-person team and commercialize an AI-driven Immune Monitoring Platform that analyzes high-dimensional single-cell protein data, initially focused on cancer. The founders say the platform automates analysis of billions-to-trillions of protein-expression combinations and increases usable information from roughly 10% to 100% of study data.
Cascadia leaders push Seattle–Vancouver life-sciences collaboration as B.C. Cancer Agency and Fred Hutch co-develop cancer diagnostics
Leaders from British Columbia and Washington are encouraging deeper collaboration between Seattle and Vancouver life-science organizations, citing examples like B.C. Cancer Agency’s partnership with Fred Hutch and Gates-funded projects with Vancouver’s AbCellera to build a Cascadia life-sciences cluster.
'Slackforce,' AWS re:Invent, and Seattle's new $9B tech company
This week on the GeekWire Podcast: Salesforce strikes a deal to acquire Slack for $27.7 billion; Amazon Web Services makes some surprising news at its annual re:Invent cloud conference; and a new tech giant arrives in our backyard. Joining us on this episode is Matt McIlwain, managing director at Seattle-based venture capital firm Madrona Venture Group, offering his commentary on the implications of these developments in the world of cloud and enterprise technology. Special bonus: Listen to the end of the show for a new installment of our GeekWire Podcast trivia contest, with a chance to win a GeekWire mask…
University of Washington taps Justin Dunnicliff as NSIN university program director; Meredith Han named VP of Product at FlyHomes
The University of Washington partnered with the Department of Defense’s National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) and named UW alumnus Justin Dunnicliff as university program director to run NSIN programs at UW, connecting students to DoD-related research and employment opportunities. The article also notes Meredith Han, an early Amazon employee and angel investor, has become VP of product at FlyHomes.
Lumen Bioscience raises $16M Series B to scale Spirulina platform for orally delivered antibodies; total funding $68M
Lumen Bioscience raised $16 million in a Series B to advance its Spirulina-based platform that produces orally delivered antibodies and biologics for GI diseases, claiming dramatically lower costs and three clinical programs. The Seattle startup, co‑founded in 2017 by CEO Brian Finrow and CSO Jim Roberts, has partnerships with the Gates Foundation, NIH and others and has raised $68 million to date.
Tasso raises $17M to expand Tasso OnDemand at-home blood collection platform; CEO cites pandemic-driven demand
Seattle startup Tasso raised $17 million to expand its Tasso OnDemand at-home blood collection platform, which lets users self-collect and mail samples for lab testing; CEO Ben Casavant says the COVID-19 pandemic has increased demand for patient-friendly, at-home diagnostics.
