Microsoft
Facts
- Sectors
- Technology, Workplace tools, Cloud
- Founded
- 1975
- Employees
- 221000
- Stage
- Public
MDMetrix and TransformativeMed Offer Free COVID-19 Tracking Tools to Hospitals; Deployed at UW Medicine
Two Seattle startups, MDMetrix and TransformativeMed, are offering their combined COVID-19 patient-tracking and analysis tools free to hospitals so clinicians can spot treatment and spread trends across patient groups. Their systems are already in use at University of Washington Medicine to screen patients, track symptoms and labs, and report data to state health departments.
Textio raises new capital — SEC filing shows $7M infusion as company closes $12M round to expand writing platform
Seattle startup Textio closed a $12 million funding round and an SEC filing shows a $7 million cash infusion as it aims to expand its augmented-writing platform beyond enterprise hiring use cases.
Stefan Weitz
On this episode of What Fuels You, Stefan Weitz discusses gut health, his diagnosis with Multiple Sclerosis and his probiotic subscription company, Jetson, that he founded as a better way to manage his chronic disease and also help “make 50 million Americans healthier.” In addition to Jetson, Stefan has an incubator called 87 that heavily invests in exciting direct to consumer companies – many of which he shares details about. Stefan also reflects on the impactful advice his first boss at Microsoft gave him, the three ways he believes you can view success and how he would rate himself on…
Seattle confronts the coronavirus
Here’s what we’re talking about this week on the GeekWire Podcast. Seattle became ground zero in the U.S. coronavirus outbreak this week and tech firms were trying to adjust. Meetings and conferences were cancelled or moved online and many firms told employees to work from home for the rest of the month. GeekWire was no exception: Our annual awards event has been postponed. How will the virus impact Seattle’s tech scene in the short term and in the long run? Will it change the way many of us work? We discuss … Coronavirus Live Updates: The latest COVID-19 developments in…
Lighter Capital names Patricia Elliott CSO and Kevin Fink CTO after $100M deal; Gaby Adam launches OurPlanet365; Accolade adds Pat Wadors to board
Seattle-based Lighter Capital hired Patricia Elliott as chief sales officer and Kevin Fink as chief technology officer after securing a $100 million deal; PR veteran Gaby Adam launched sustainability consultancy OurPlanet365; Accolade added Pat Wadors to its board as talent leader.
Daniela Luzi Tudor on solving the $440B substance abuse problem that she experienced first-hand
Substance abuse is a $440B problem. For Daniela Luzi Tudor, it's not just a big market, it's part of her personal story. Listen to her amazing founding story and how she's building WEconnect in Seattle.
Jill Angelo
CEO of Gennev, Jill Angelo, is changing the stigma associated with women’s health in the second half of their life with the first-ever online clinic for women in menopause. Prior to starting Gennev, Jill had a 20-year career in tech, with 15 of those years at Microsoft in executive roles. During this episode, Jill shares details of her life growing up on a farm, her background in speech communication, how the idea for Gennev came to be during her sabbatical and the impact being on The NBC Today Show had on the business. We also have an open conversation with…
Apple acquires Xnor.ai; Microsoft's bold climate plan; Seattle startup trivia
Apple doubled down on artificial intelligence and boosted its presence in Seattle with the acquisition of Xnor.ai, an Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence spinout with roots at the University of Washington, as first reported by GeekWire this week. It was a win for those institutions, and investors including Seattle's Madrona Venture Group, but it's also an example of an ambitious startup selling to a tech giant before it has the chance to become one itself. So how should we look at deals like this? Plus, Microsoft's ambitious plan to go "carbon negative" puts the tech company at the forefront of…
An extraordinary year in Seattle tech
From Amazon to Zillow, big successes to surprising failures, it was an extraordinary year for technology and innovation emerging from and impacting Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. That's the consensus from GeekWire co-founders John Cook and Todd Bishop, who independently compiled their own lists of the biggest stories of the year, then compared notes in this year-end GeekWire Podcast discussion. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Seattle Startup Flyhomes Expands to Boston, Portland, and L.A., Raises $141M to Aid Homebuyers in Competitive Markets
Seattle-based Flyhomes is expanding its real estate home-buying services to Portland, Boston, and Los Angeles/Orange County, focusing on competitive, high-priced markets by purchasing homes with cash for clients. The startup recently raised $141 million to support growth and has helped over 1,000 clients close on more than $1 billion in homes since 2015.
Seattle Startup Picnic Raises $5M Seed Funding for Pizza-Making Robot Assembling 300 Pizzas Per Hour
Seattle startup Picnic raised $5 million in a seed round to advance their pizza-making robot, which can assemble 300 pizzas per hour and has attracted global interest. The funding will help develop the next version and expand pilot programs, addressing labor shortages in the food industry.
Bill Shihara
After a decade in security engineering, Bill Shihara co-founded the premier U.S.-based blockchain platform, Bittrex, in 2014. In this episode, Bill reflects on his time at Microsoft and Blackberry and the impact each of those companies have had on his career. He discusses the importance of recognizing when you’re no longer growing at a company, making security a priority from the start of building anything, and how thinking about culture shifts as you grow internally. You’ll also learn how Bittrex has evolved in the last five years, how innovation is at the core of its business foundation, and how they’re…
Tim Porter
Tim Porter, Managing Director at Madrona Venture Group, discusses how the venture capital firm operates, what a day in the life of a VC looks like, what he looks for in a founder, and funding female founders. Prior to joining Madrona in 2006, Tim attended MIT and Stanford Business School and worked at Teledesic and Microsoft. His passion about very early stage companies makes him a perfect fit for his current role, where he focuses on investing in B2B software companies in the Pacific Northwest. Some of Tim’s companies include Heptio, Highspot, Algorithmia and Lattice Data. Beyond talking about his…
Groota Startup Launches Tool to Filter Promotional Emails and Protect User Privacy
Groota, founded by Rushin Liu and Cho-Min Chou, is a startup providing a tool to help users filter promotional emails by keeping desired ones and removing unwanted junk while prioritizing user privacy. The company is also developing technology to remove email tracking, addressing privacy concerns users may not be aware of.
Microsoft's new era unfolds
Microsoft is back in the smartphone business with the unveiling of its new Surface Duo dual-screen folding device this week. It's a fascinating story all on its own, as the company finally goes public with a concept it has been experimenting with behind-the-scenes for much of the past decade. Surprise twist: It runs Android. But combined with the larger Surface Neo dual-screen tablet/notebook, the story is much bigger. Microsoft is trying to take the lead in a new category of computing, while expanding its focus beyond Windows to focus on apps and experiences across a range of devices. We share…
Why millennials love Amazon
Amazon ousted Apple this year as the most loved brand among millennials, people age 19 through 39, according to a new study. What does this say about the future of the world? OK, that might be taking it too far, but some of our resident millennials offer their take on this episode of the GeekWire Podcast. And in news for slightly older generations, the startup HopSkipRide made its debut in Seattle this week, promising to safely shuttle your kids around town. We explain how it works and try to decide if we and our kids will use it. Plus, in…
Ian Morris
Ian Morris, the CEO of Likewise, talks about the exciting things that he and his team are building at Likewise to help all of us get better recommendations about what to watch, read, and experience next. Before Likewise, Ian spent 7 years at Microsoft where he helped create and went on to lead Microsoft HomeAdvisor. He then served 10 years as the CEO of Market Leader, the real estate software leader that he took public and later sold to Trulia in 2013. Now, with Likewise, an innovative company which was originally imagined and is funded by Bill Gates’ private office…
Headphones, AI and the future of humanity
New wireless Bluetooth headphones from Seattle startup Human are getting mixed reviews based on their appearance, and their initial starting price of $399 (which the company quickly dropped to a promotional price of $259). But their unique design, which completely envelops both ears, reflects a vision of the future in which technology will be melded to our bodies, and potentially to our minds. Plus: Jeff Bezos' first Amazon job ad, 25 years later; A new Netflix documentary will go inside the mind of Bill Gates, and Alexa makes a "Jeopardy!" cameo. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Satya Nadella and Seattle Tech Leaders Join Sounders FC Ownership; Cray Gets $600M DOE Supercomputer Contract Ahead of $1.3B HPE Acquisition
Seattle tech leaders, including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, have joined a revamped Sounders FC ownership group. Cray is developing a $600 million exascale supercomputer for the U.S. Department of Energy and is being acquired by HPE for $1.3 billion.
Amazon Launches Third Alexa Accelerator Cohort Featuring Nine Startups Innovating Voice Technology Applications
Amazon's Alexa Accelerator has launched its third cohort, featuring nine startups innovating with Alexa's voice technology across diverse applications like cooking and remote healthcare. The Alexa platform has rapidly grown, with over 90,000 skills and 100 million Alexa-enabled devices sold, reflecting the maturing voice tech market.
Secret Startup Ingredient: Microsoft
Would you have guessed that nearly 25 percent of the Seattle region's top tech startups are led by CEOs with backgrounds at Microsoft? That was the surprising result of our analysis of the GeekWire 200, our index of the top privately held tech companies in the Pacific Northwest. And fundings for the region's startups bucked the national trend, as reflected in data from our new startup deal tracker. Nintendo unveiled a new iteration of its Switch game console; former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer pulled off what might be his greatest deal ever; and an Amazon employee showed the potential of…
Slack CTO Cal Henderson
Workplace chat and collaboration technology company Slack is going public on Thursday, with implications for a wide variety of companies in the Seattle region and beyond. Microsoft is Slack’s primary competitor with its Teams service, and Slack is a big Amazon Web Services customer. And many companies that sell technologies to businesses will be watching Slack’s stock market debut closely to assess their own potential in the public markets. So how does Slack work behind the scenes? On this episode of the GeekWire Podcast, we’re featuring a conversation with a co-founder of Slack, Cal Henderson, the company’s chief technology officer…
Inside the IPO: Adaptive Biotech
Chad Robins is a Cornell grad and Wharton School MBA who was working in real estate finance a decade ago when he was approached with a business idea by his brother, Harlan Robins, head of the Computational Biology Program at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. As Chad Robins recalled, "When he called me up in 2009 and said, 'Hey I want to start a business, I've figured out how to sequence T-cells at a high throughput,' I was like, 'Yes, I'm in!' and then I went to Wikipedia and I'm like, 'What the hell is he talking about?' I…
Robbie Cape
If you asked anyone who grew up with Robbie Cape in Montreal, they would all say they knew he was going to run his own business someday. He was constantly learning as a child from the family business and from his parents, who believed he should grow up understanding the value of a single dollar. In 2014, Robbie sold his first company, Cozi, and now is building his second company, 98point6, which is revolutionizing primary care and making healthcare more affordable and accessible to everyone. Robbie shares how he always starts with the ‘who’ before the ‘what’ when building businesses…
IPOs without profits
What do Pinterest, Lyft, Uber and Slack have in common? Yes, they're all newly public or about to make their initial public offerings. But they also share a common characteristic on the bottom line -- proceeding with their IPOs with lots of revenue and growth but, so far at least, without the consistent profits to show for it. And they're part of a trend. Eighty-three percent of IPOs in the first three quarters of 2018 were made by companies that hadn't posted profits in the prior 12 months. So what's the future of these companies? On this episode of the…
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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Dan Lewis Executive, Corporate Vice President
