Microsoft
Facts
- HQ
- NASDAQ:MSFT
- Sectors
- Technology, Workplace tools, Cloud
- Founded
- 1975
- Employees
- 221000
- Stage
- Public
RealSelf promotes James Coyle to CEO as platform rebounds, adds execs and board member Lizette Williams
Seattle-based cosmetic review marketplace RealSelf promoted COO James Coyle to CEO as the company rebounds from pandemic layoffs, adds executives and a new board member, and launches new virtual services and products to capture rising demand.
Nori raises $4M seed from Placeholder-led round to scale crypto carbon-offset marketplace
Seattle startup Nori raised $4 million in a seed round led by Placeholder to expand its crypto-based carbon-offset marketplace that pays farmers for regenerative practices; the platform has sold nearly 13,000 metric tons of CO2 offsets and aims to sell 20,000 more by year-end.
WhyLabs, AI2 Spinout Led by Ex-Amazon Engineers, Raises $4M from Madrona, Bezos Expeditions and Others
WhyLabs, an AI monitoring startup spun out of the Allen Institute for AI, emerged from stealth after raising $4 million from investors including Madrona, Defy Partners, Bezos Expeditions and Ascend VC to commercialize a platform for monitoring ML data and models. The company is led by CEO Alessya Visnjic, joined by former Amazon ML engineers Andy Dang and Sam Gracie plus ex-Madrona principal Maria Karaivanova.
Lighter Capital appoints Melissa Widner as CEO after layoffs; firm has invested $200M+ using revenue-based financing
Seattle alternative VC firm Lighter Capital named Melissa Widner as CEO; she succeeds Thor Culverhouse and joins a company that has deployed $200M+ via revenue-based financing and recently cut staff from ~80 to 23 before rising to 25 employees. Widner, a Sydney-based board member and former NAB venture managing partner, plans remote hiring as the firm seeks global growth.
Illumina to Acquire Bill Gates- and Jeff Bezos-Backed Grail for $8 Billion in Cash and Stock
Illumina will acquire cancer-detection startup Grail for $8 billion in cash and stock; Grail, backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos and planning a 2021 multi-cancer test rollout, had filed to go public earlier this month.
Seattle VC Flying Fish files to raise $75M 'Flying Fish Fund II' after $80M debut fund
Seattle venture capital firm Flying Fish, founded in 2018, is raising a second fund called Flying Fish Fund II with an SEC filing showing a $75 million offering; the firm previously raised an $80 million first fund and focuses on AI/ML startups in the Pacific Northwest.
Zuper raises $1.1M seed, names ex-Microsoft product head Anand Subbaraj as CEO to scale field workforce software
Seattle-based workforce collaboration startup Zuper raised a $1.1 million seed round and appointed former Microsoft manager Anand Subbaraj as CEO; the 4-year-old company serves 100+ clients including IKEA India with field workforce management software. Zuper’s platform offers scheduling, routing, identity management, video conferencing, chatbots and integrations with supply chain and POS systems, and the company has 30 employees across Seattle and Chennai.
Snowflake raises $3.4B in largest software IPO, opens at $245 and closes at $253.93 valuing company over $60B; Madrona an early investor
Snowflake raised $3.4 billion in the largest-ever software IPO, pricing at $120 and opening at $245 before closing at $253.93 to value the company above $60 billion; early investor Madrona Venture Group, which invested in 2017, benefited though it holds under 5% and did not disclose stake value.
Polyverse raises $16M to expand sales of Polymorphing for Linux; total funding $21M
Bellevue cybersecurity startup Polyverse raised $16 million, bringing total funding to $21 million, to expand sales of its Polymorphing for Linux and other security software used by government, defense and enterprise customers.
Unikrn to pay $6.1M and disable UnikoinGold after SEC says its $31M ICO was unregistered
Seattle eSports betting startup Unikrn agreed to a $6.1 million SEC settlement and will disable its UnikoinGold (UKG) cryptocurrency after the agency charged the company with conducting an unregistered initial coin offering that raised $31 million; the company neither admitted nor denied the charges and said it will discontinue UKG to focus on its platform.
Qumulo Adds Ex-Tableau CMO Elissa Fink to Board After $125M Raise; Maven COO Co-founder Bill Sornsin Steps Down
Seattle data-storage startup Qumulo added former Tableau CMO Elissa Fink to its board after raising $125 million and reaching a $1.2B+ valuation; separately, Maven COO and co-founder Bill Sornsin stepped down as part of a company realignment.
Sensoria Health launches $69 Smart Band tracking SpO2, temperature and heart rate to spot COVID-19 warning signs
Sensoria Health launched a $69 Smart Band that measures body temperature, heart rate, blood oxygenation (SpO2), sleep quality and steps, aiming to help detect potential COVID-19 symptoms. The device will be available later this month in the U.S. and Europe, and CEO Davide Vigano highlighted monitoring SpO2 trends as important for early detection of COVID-19 pneumonia.
Former AWS, Dropbox, Facebook, Convoy Leaders — Linda Lian, Tom Kleinpeter, Francis Luu, Viraj Mody — Launch Stealth Seattle Startup to Build Digital Community Tools
Four former Seattle tech leaders — Linda Lian, Tom Kleinpeter, Francis Luu, and Viraj Mody — have quietly formed a new startup building tools to help users create digital communities, according to a recent tweet by Lian. The team brings experience from Amazon Web Services, Dropbox, Facebook, Convoy and Madrona Venture Group; Lian declined to provide further details.
Cloudshim, founded by ex-Microsoft and Amazon engineers Lokesh and Vishal Taneja, raises $120,000 from Black Lion Ventures
Seattle startup Cloudshim, founded by former Microsoft and Amazon engineers Lokesh and Vishal Taneja, raised $120,000 from Black Lion Ventures to grow its self‑serve cloud management platform that currently supports AWS and will add GCP and Azure.
Former Expedia CEO Mark Okerstrom named president and COO of Convoy as startup tops 1,000 employees
Former Expedia CEO Mark Okerstrom joins Seattle digital freight startup Convoy as president and COO to oversee finance, operations, marketing and marketplace growth as the company surpasses 1,000 employees and a $2.7B valuation.
Prescryptive Health, founded by ex-Microsoft cloud vets Blackley and Young, raises $26M led by Morningside
Seattle startup Prescryptive Health, founded in 2017 by former Microsoft commercial cloud leaders Chris Blackley and Kevin Young, raised $26 million to expand its prescription data platform that connects to over 50,000 pharmacies and integrates with benefit plans in real time. The round was led by Morningside Ventures (whose co-founder Dr. Gerald Chan joined the board) and brings the company's total funding to $35 million.
Panda AI, spun out of AI2, raises $3.3M with AI2 as first investor from its new pre-seed fund
Panda AI, a stealth startup spun out of the Allen Institute for AI (AI2), raised $3.3 million in a round led by PSL Ventures with participation from AI2 and others; it is the first company to receive funding from AI2’s new pre-seed fund.
GeekWire: Pacific NW startups raise big rounds — Vacasa $108M, Remitly $85M, Auth0 $120M, OfferUp $120M, Outreach $50M; Qumulo hits $1B
Pacific Northwest privately-held tech startups raised large funding rounds and increased valuations during the 2020 economic crisis, with several firms hitting or exceeding $1 billion valuations and total H1 2020 investment of $2.3 billion across 135 deals.
Kymeta acquires Lepton Global Solutions to add 17-satellite service network, targets U.S. government and military contracts
Kymeta Corp., the Redmond-based satellite antenna company backed by Bill Gates, acquired Lepton Global Solutions to add satellite service capabilities and strengthen its position for U.S. government and military contracts. Lepton will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary in Tysons Corner with fewer than 15 employees, expanding Kymeta’s workforce to nearly 200; financial terms were not disclosed.
Seattle startup Nexme raises $500,000 seed round after toll-free call leads to angel investment
Seattle startup Nexme raised a $500,000 seed round after an unexpected toll-free call from real estate investor Mark Montgomery led to meetings and him becoming their first angel backer. Nexme, founded by Arian Abdulkader and Vanessa Alvarez, offers a lower-cost real estate marketplace charging sellers a 1.5% commission and connecting users with experienced licensed agents.
Former Intellectual Ventures EVP Maurizio Vecchione named CEO of Washington Global Health Alliance; Shujinko hires three executives after $7.5M raise
Maurizio Vecchione, former Intellectual Ventures EVP, was named president and CEO of Seattle-based Washington Global Health Alliance and K.R. Prabha named board chair; Seattle startup Shujinko added three senior hires after a $7.5M raise; Oracle appointed Clay Magouyrk EVP for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and UW named Dr. Ekin Yasin director of its Communication Leadership graduate program.
Coda raises $80M Series C led by Kleiner Perkins; Madrona and others join to scale document-as-app platform
Coda, a Bay Area startup led by ex-Microsoft and Google director Shishir Mehrotra, raised an $80 million Series C led by Kleiner Perkins with participation from Madrona Venture Group and others to expand its document-as-app collaboration platform used by companies like Spotify and Uber. Madrona said the investment aligns with its focus on Future of Work and low-code/no-code tools as remote work increases demand for collaboration software.
The Closing Docs offers instant bank-linked income verification to 700,000+ rental units amid pandemic-driven demand
Seattle startup The Closing Docs provides automated income verification by connecting to applicants' bank accounts to generate deposit-history income reports for property managers and lenders, helping assess tenants' ability to pay. Founded in 2017, the company serves over 700,000 managed units and has seen increased demand during the pandemic-driven economic crisis.
Xealth partners with Cerner as Cerner invests $6 million to scale digital health prescriptions amid COVID-19
Seattle startup Xealth announced a partnership with EHR vendor Cerner and received a $6 million investment from Cerner (with participation from LRVHealth) to help hospitals rapidly adopt digital health tools accelerated by COVID-19.
Adam Schoenfeld’s Seattle Startup Hiring Tracker: 67% of 348 Seattle tech firms have openings, 2,620 roles; 42% grew headcount
A new Seattle Startup Hiring Tracker from entrepreneur Adam Schoenfeld shows 67% of 348 tracked Seattle tech companies have open roles (2,620 total), with 42% growing headcount month-over-month, 35% stable and 23% shrinking despite the pandemic.
People
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Ali Farhadi Executive, Former Allen Institute for AI CEO
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Bill Gates Executive, Former CEO, Co-founder
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Gaurav Sareen Executive, Chief Technology Officer - CAP
