Facts
- HQ
- Madrona
- Sectors
- Financial Services
- Founded
- 1995
- Employees
- 135
- Stage
- Seed
- Last fund
- MADRONA VENTURE FUND X, L.P. · $489.6M · 2025 SEC Form D
- Funds raised
- 10 funds SEC Form D filings
- Total capital
- $1.7B SEC Form D filings
Madrona and Goldman Sachs Publish Inaugural IA40 of Top 40 Private AI Business-App Startups; Four Seattle Firms Included
Madrona Venture Group and Goldman Sachs released the inaugural Intelligent Applications Top 40 (IA40) list of private companies building business AI applications, based on votes from 40 venture firms plus Amazon and Microsoft and narrowed by 50 judges from over 220 nominees. Four Seattle-area companies — Amperity, OctoML, SeekOut, and one unnamed here — made the list; Amperity recently raised $100 million to reach unicorn status and OctoML raised $85 million.
WhyLabs, an AI2 spinout led by CEO Alessya Visnjic, raises $10M and launches AI Observatory to monitor live ML models
WhyLabs, a Seattle startup spun out of AI2 and led by CEO Alessya Visnjic, raised $10 million and launched AI Observatory, a tool to monitor and diagnose live machine-learning models for anomalies and "model meltdowns." The platform offers an open-source library and real-time alerts, positioning WhyLabs as a Datadog-like monitoring service focused on backend ML/AI, and saw adoption by over a dozen organizations in its first week.
Echodyne wins $20M, five-year DHS CBP contract to expand EchoGuard radar deployment at U.S. borders
Echodyne won a $20 million, five-year contract from DHS Customs and Border Protection to expand deployment and explore new uses of its compact EchoGuard radars at U.S. borders and ports, after already delivering 30 systems under the IDIQ agreement.
OctoML Raises $85M Series C Led by Tiger Global to Expand ML Partnerships and Engineering Team
OctoML, a University of Washington spinout specializing in machine learning optimization, raised $85 million in a Series C funding round, bringing its total to $132 million. The company plans to expand its partnerships with hardware and cloud vendors while nearly tripling its engineering team.
GeekWire Podcast: Qumulo CEO Bill Richter on Remote Work, Seattle Tech Pay Rise to $158K, and Qumulo’s $1.2B Valuation
GeekWire’s podcast interviews Qumulo CEO Bill Richter about post-pandemic remote work, trends in tech salaries (Seattle up 4.6% to $158,000; U.S. average down 1.1% to $152,000), and implications for hiring, cloud storage, and self-driving cars. Richter discusses Qumulo’s remote-work approach, decentralized decision-making by functional leaders, and the company’s $1.2 billion valuation from its latest funding round.
Kirby Winfield, ex-founder and exec, raises $15M for Ascend.vc to back Pacific Northwest early-stage startups
Kirby Winfield, a longtime Seattle startup leader who experienced burnout after multiple exits, founded Ascend.vc to invest in early-stage Pacific Northwest tech companies and raised a $15 million first fund after recovering his health and shifting from founder roles to venture investing.
Convoy appoints John Morrow as general counsel effective Nov. 1; ex-AWS VP Steven Shure joins Neeva as chief business officer
Convoy named John Morrow as general counsel effective Nov. 1, following multiple legal leadership departures in 2021; Morrow previously served at Apptio and Paymentus. Separately, former AWS VP Steven Shure joined ad-free search startup Neeva as chief business officer and will remain based in Seattle.
Spice AI raises $1M pre-seed led by Madrona; Nat Friedman and Mark Russinovich invest
Spice AI, a Seattle startup founded by former Microsoft Azure engineers Luke Kim and Phillip LeBlanc, launched an open-source project to help developers build real-time learning AI apps and raised a $1 million pre-seed led by Madrona with investments from GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and Microsoft Azure CTO Mark Russinovich. The company has no paying customers yet but is backed by several VCs and positions itself to simplify creating intelligent applications.
Game Jolt co-founders Yaprak and David DeCarmine raise $2.6M seed round led by Acequia Capital
Seattle-based Game Jolt, founded by husband-and-wife Yaprak and David DeCarmine, raised a $2.6 million seed round led by Acequia Capital to grow its social platform for Gen Z and Gen Alpha gamers. The platform hosts over 40,000 communities—some with more than 500,000 active members—where users share fan art, gameplay recordings, guides, and reviews.
Microsoft acquires Seattle OKR startup Ally to integrate into Microsoft Viva; terms undisclosed
Microsoft has acquired Seattle-based OKR startup Ally, founded three years ago, to integrate its goal-tracking capabilities into Microsoft Viva and other products; financial terms were not disclosed.
Yoodli unveils AI speech-coaching platform, opens beta waitlist and raises $1M pre-seed from AI2 and Madrona
Seattle startup Yoodli launched an AI-enabled platform that analyzes users' speech delivery and offers improvement tips, and is opening a beta waitlist while announcing a $1 million pre-seed round. The spinout from AI2 is founded by Ehsan Hoque, Esha Joshi and Varun Puri, who aim to help people communicate more effectively and access opportunities.
Esper raises $60M Series C from Insight Partners to scale DevOps platform for company-owned Android device fleets
Seattle-area DevOps startup Esper raised a $60 million Series C led by Insight Partners to grow its platform for managing fleets of company-owned Android devices across retail, healthcare, education and other industries; the company has 200+ customers, raised $30M in May, expects 2021 revenue to quadruple and is not yet profitable.
Read, founded by ex-Placed team members David Shim, Elliott Waldron and Rob Williams, raises $10M seed to analyze faces and voices on video calls
Seattle startup Read — founded by David Shim, Elliott Waldron, and Rob Williams — raised $10 million in seed funding for software that uses AI to analyze participants' facial expressions and voice during video calls to measure engagement and sentiment in real time.
Spotnana raises $34M Series A led by Madrona and ICONIQ to modernize business-travel software
Spotnana, a business-travel software startup founded by Sarosh Waghmar and Shikhar Agarwal, raised $34 million in a Series A led by Madrona Venture Group and ICONIQ to offer an API-friendly, integrated travel platform with consumption-based pricing. The company, chaired by Concur co-founder Steve Singh and with former Expedia CFO Greg Stanger on its board, serves about 50 corporate customers and aims to modernize booking, spending visibility, and integrations with HR and expense systems.
Madrona leads $1.5M round for Battlesnake, the competitive coding game with a 10,000-developer community
Battlesnake, a Victoria, B.C.–based company that runs a competitive coding game used by mid-career programmers to experiment with new technologies, raised $1.5 million led by Seattle’s Madrona Venture Group to expand its reach. The community grew to about 10,000 developers after moving online during the pandemic and has hosted events including an AWS internship tournament.
Bridgestone leads investment in Wrench, to integrate mobile mechanic platform with 2,200+ Bridgestone Americas stores
Bridgestone led a new investment round in Seattle-based mobile car service Wrench and will partner to integrate Wrench’s mobile mechanics platform with Bridgestone Americas’ network of over 2,200 service stores. Wrench, which operates in 40 metro areas with about 285 employees and has grown through acquisitions like Lemon Squad, Fiix and Octobots, declined to disclose the amount raised.
Strike Graph raises $8M Series A to expand AI-driven SOC 2 and privacy compliance services
Seattle startup Strike Graph raised $8 million in a Series A to expand its compliance automation platform that simplifies SOC 2 and other security/privacy certifications using AI; the company says it has 4x customer growth since October 2020 and a 100% clean audit rate among customers.
A-Alpha Bio raises $20M Series A led by Madrona to expand Seattle lab and scale protein-discovery platform
University of Washington spinout A-Alpha Bio raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Madrona Venture Group to expand downtown Seattle lab space and grow its machine-learning team for its protein-discovery platform. The company combines computational tools and yeast-based experiments to generate large protein-interaction datasets used to predict therapeutic protein candidates for diseases including COVID-19.
Opendoor acquires Seattle’s Pro.com and San Francisco’s Skylight, will shut both platforms
Opendoor acquired Seattle-based Pro.com and San Francisco-based Skylight, will discontinue both companies' consumer platforms and integrate their teams and technology into Opendoor’s roadmap; deal terms were not disclosed. The moves give Opendoor a Seattle presence and add home-improvement talent as the iBuyer expands amid increased digital homebuying adoption.
Former Tech Leaders Join Biotech: Isilon Founder Sujal Patel, Ex-Microsoft Terry Myerson and Others Lead AI-Driven Life Sciences Startups
Several former software and tech executives are moving into biotech and life sciences startups, bringing AI, machine learning, and tech-style business models to companies that analyze proteins, microbes, and medical records. Their tech backgrounds are reshaping product development and funding approaches at firms such as Nautilus Biotechnology, Truveta, insitro and Viome.
Aseem Datar leaves Microsoft to join Madrona Venture Group as partner; Madrona promotes Chris Picardo and hires Birkan Uzun; Jaime Teevan promoted to Microsoft CVP
Microsoft Azure GM and COO Aseem Datar is leaving Microsoft to join Madrona Venture Group as a partner later this month, while Madrona also promoted Chris Picardo to partner and hired Birkan Uzun as an investor; separately, Microsoft promoted Chief Scientist Jaime Teevan to corporate vice president. The article notes Datar’s 17+ years at Microsoft and prior roles, Picardo’s and Uzun’s backgrounds, and Teevan’s reaction to her promotion.
Solo, founded by ex-Uber and Convoy vets, raises $5.5M seed to predict and guarantee gig workers' earnings
Seattle startup Solo, founded by ex-Uber and Convoy employees, raised a $5.5 million seed round to provide hour-by-hour earnings predictions and a guarantee to top up gig workers' pay if predictions fall short, with plans to expand into insurance, taxes, and mileage tracking.
Clearbrief raises $3.5M seed to scale AI that flags misrepresentations in litigation briefs
Clearbrief, a Seattle startup, raised a $3.5 million seed round led by Reign Ventures to expand its AI-powered tool that uses NLP to flag unsupported or misrepresented statements in litigation documents and surface underlying evidence. CEO Jacqueline Schafer says the software helps lawyers and judges quickly verify claims, improve strategy, and increase access to legal materials as courts move online and adopt new filing rules.
Zulily co-founders Darrell Cavens and Mark Vadon back Seattle ID-verification startup Vouched with $4.5M investment
Seattle startup Vouched raised $4.5 million in a round led by Zulily co-founder Darrell Cavens and investor Mark Vadon to expand its AI-based identity verification software used by over 150 companies for real-time fraud detection across industries.
Booster Fuels launches public mobile gas service at three Seattle Safeway lots, first in Washington
Booster Fuels has begun offering mobile gasoline service to the general public at three Safeway parking lots in the Seattle area, marking the first consumer-facing deployment of its trucks in Washington state. Customers pay by smartphone while a Booster employee refuels vehicles, with prices tied to nearby station averages and no immediate expansion plans announced.
Fund History
People
See all 15-
Bill Ruckelshaus Founder, Founder and Strategic Director
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Paul Goodrich Founder
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Steve Singh Founder, Co-founder of Concur and Managing Director
