Facts
- HQ
- Seattle
- Sectors
- Software Development
- Founded
- 2015
- Employees
- 33
Seahawks Linebacker Bobby Wagner Joins Fuse Venture Partners as Venture Partner, Investing in Early-Stage Seattle Startups
Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner is a venture partner at Fuse Venture Partners, investing in early-stage Seattle startups while applying negotiation and leadership lessons from his NFL career; he discussed these topics and his angel investments on GeekWire Studios' podcast 2025: Tomorrow, Today.
Startup Haven launches Startup Haven Ventures, adds Westerdal, Yu and Mbemba; PSL promotes three; Adam Selipsky named AWS CEO
Startup Haven, founded by Bob Crimmins, launched Startup Haven Ventures and expanded its team to include Jay Westerdal, Arry Yu and Claudius Mbemba; the fund targets pre-seed, capital-efficient companies with a Pacific Northwest focus and made its first investment in Verdi. Seattle’s Pioneer Square Labs promoted Palvi Mehta, David Zager and Ben Gilbert; separately, Tableau CEO Adam Selipsky will become AWS CEO, replacing Andy Jassy.
Seattle VCs Report 28% Women in Senior Roles, Nearly Double U.S. Average of 14.2%
Seattle-area venture capital firms have nearly double the national share of women in senior roles (28% vs. 14.2%), with 25 women among 88 partners across 21 Washington firms, though overall parity remains distant and 61% of U.S. VC firms still have no women in key decision-making roles.
The Future of Femtech
This week we're presenting a new episode of the GeekWire podcast 2025: Tomorrow, Today featuring a discussion with Julie Sandler of Pioneer Square Labs. It's one in a series of conversations with technology investors on the 2025 podcast. Find more episodes at geekwire.com/2025podcast. We'll be back next week with our regular weekly show. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
JetClosing raises $11M Series B, names former Amazon and Bulletproof exec Anna Collins as CEO
Seattle digital home-closing startup JetClosing raised an $11 million Series B led by funds advised by T. Rowe Price, Pioneer Square Labs and Trilogy Equity, bringing total funding to $44 million. The company also named former Amazon and Bulletproof executive Anna Collins as its new CEO, replacing founder Daniel Greenshields.
GeekWire at 10 years: Reflections on an extraordinary decade in Seattle tech
This Sunday, March 7, will mark 10 years since GeekWire’s launch. Looking back, we couldn’t have picked a better decade as GeekWire’s first, given our focus on Seattle and Pacific Northwest innovation. This was the moment that Seattle tech came into its own. We’ve covered the rise of the cloud, Amazon’s boom, Microsoft’s rebirth, the arrival of Silicon Valley engineering centers, disputes, mergers, IPOs, and the emergence of thousands of startups. And in the past year, we’ve covered Seattle as a center of the scientific and philanthropic response to a world-changing pandemic. What happens here matters everywhere. This has become…
Pioneer Square Labs raises $100M Fund II to back 30+ Pacific Northwest startups with $1–3M initial checks
Seattle-based Pioneer Square Labs raised $100 million for its second venture fund, exceeding its $80 million target due to strong institutional demand, and will invest across more than 30 early-stage Pacific Northwest companies with initial checks of $1–3 million. The firm operates a startup studio (raised $29 million) and a venture fund model that splits capital roughly half to studio spinouts and half to external startups.
Madrona’s Dan Li: Niche, Creator-Driven Communities Like Roblox ($30B) and Clubhouse (~$1B) Are Rising
Madrona partner Dan Li says niche, user-populated online communities — exemplified by Roblox (valued at $30B) and Clubhouse (about $1B) — are growing more important as creators produce sticky, original content, a trend accelerated by the pandemic. He discussed these themes on GeekWire Studios’ podcast 2025: Tomorrow, Today, hosted by John Cook and Jordon Voss.
SPACs Let Founders Reach Public Markets Faster and Keep Larger Equity Stakes, Say Startup Observers
The article explains how SPACs (special purpose acquisition companies) let founders and early employees reach liquidity faster and often retain larger ownership stakes than through later-stage VC or private equity rounds. Using examples like Sana Biotechnology and Seattle entrepreneur Sujal Patel, it argues SPACs can preserve founders' equity by bypassing dilutive funding rounds.
Seattle Fintech Startup Secure Names Suze Orman as Co-Founder After $3.5 Million Funding Round
Seattle-area fintech startup Secure revealed that TV personality and author Suze Orman is a co-founder. The company, which offers emergency savings accounts as a financial wellness benefit, raised $3.5 million in funding in January.
Founders’ Co-op raises $50M fifth fund to back 20–25 Pacific Northwest early-stage startups
Seattle venture firm Founders’ Co-op raised a $50 million fifth fund, its largest to date, to invest in 20–25 early-stage startups across the Pacific Northwest. The larger fund reflects growing deal sizes and outside LP interest as the region sees record startup funding and more unicorns.
TiE Seattle VC Panel: 2020 Ended with Record Startup Funding and SPAC Surge, Investors Expect Strong 2021
A TiE Seattle panel of four Seattle-area VCs said despite early pandemic layoffs and valuation fears, 2020 ended with record startup funding, VC capital raises, and strong exits, and they expect continued momentum in 2021 driven by SPAC activity and pandemic-driven innovation. Panelists highlighted increased founding activity, higher valuations, and pandemic-forced business improvements creating investor opportunities.
Boundless lays off 4, asks 27 employees to relocate to Las Vegas after $7.5M raise and RapidVisa acquisition
Seattle-based immigration startup Boundless cut four jobs and asked 27 customer-support employees to relocate to Las Vegas after raising $7.5 million and acquiring RapidVisa, consolidating support to the acquired companys Las Vegas center as part of a restructuring.
Gradient Ventures leads $5.4M investment in Seattle analytics startup Iteratively to standardize customer data
Seattle analytics startup Iteratively raised $5.4 million in a round led by Gradient Ventures, Google’s AI-focused fund, to help companies standardize and improve customer analytics tracking. The 10-person company, founded in 2019 by Patrick Thompson and Ondrej Hrebicek, integrates with tools like Amplitude and Mixpanel and counts Box and thredUP among clients.
Lockstep raises $10M Series A to expand cloud-based 'connected accounting' tools for cash-flow management
Seattle startup Lockstep raised $10 million in a Series A to expand its cloud-based "connected accounting" tools that automate receivables/payables communications and provide shared accounting inboxes to improve cash flow and remote collaboration.
Kevala raises $4M led by Vulcan Capital to help long-term care facilities fill nursing shifts with staffing and compliance software
Seattle startup Kevala raised $4 million led by Vulcan Capital to provide staffing, compliance and workforce-management software for long-term care facilities, helping them fill nursing shifts via a curated on-call pool and earning revenue from software sales and a cut of supplemental staff wages.
Gemma Labs raises $2.75M from PSL Ventures to expand Gemmist personalized shampoo service
Seattle-based Gemma Labs raised $2.75 million from PSL Ventures and other investors to expand its Gemmist custom shampoo service and roll out new products after reaching $1.5M in annualized sales. The company creates personalized shampoos using customer surveys and in-house scientists, with bottles starting at $18 and a $25 scalp balancing bar.
Seattle fintech Secure raises $3.5M seed round to power employer-offered emergency savings accounts
Seattle fintech startup Secure raised a $3.5 million seed round to help employers offer emergency savings accounts (ESAs) to workers and is launching with its first customers this month.
Pioneer Square Labs spins out 25 startups in five years; six launched during pandemic surge
Seattle startup studio Pioneer Square Labs (PSL) spun out 25 startups in five years — six during a six-month pandemic stretch — by rapidly testing ideas, though it has yet to produce a breakout unicorn and faces criticism over founder dilution.
NextStep raises $2.5M to expand CNA training platform from Colorado to other states
Seattle startup NextStep, which retrains displaced workers as certified nursing assistants using an app-plus in-person platform, raised $2.5 million to expand beyond Colorado, improve its technology and learning content, and scale employer placements.
Yesler raises $3.3M to scale Seattle B2B lumber marketplace, led by Tech Square Ventures
Seattle-based B2B lumber and building materials marketplace Yesler raised $3.3 million in a funding round led by Tech Square Ventures to scale marketing and engineering after spinning out of Pioneer Square Labs in 2019. The company, founded by CEO Matt Meyers, aims to digitize lumber purchasing and optimize end-to-end supply chains, and currently has 10 employees while competing with MaterialsXChange.
Madrona Venture Group Raises $345M for 8th Fund and $161M for 2nd Later-Stage Fund in Largest Ever $500M Capital Raise
Madrona Venture Group raised over $500 million for its largest fundraise ever, including $345 million for an eighth early-stage fund targeting 35-40 Pacific Northwest startups and $161 million for a second later-stage Acceleration Fund. The firm continues to focus on supporting the Pacific Northwest tech ecosystem while also backing later-stage companies across North America.
Think Tank Ep. 4 - Building Centers for Digital Innovation w/ Julie Sandler of Pioneer Square Labs
What happens when you bring together two bright minds to tackle health care’s biggest challenges? This isn’t your typical brainstorm among healthcare experts. This is a supercharged session between two minds that work in similar, but very disparate industries. Our guests talk about a broad challenge they face and discuss how they’ve approached the problem in their respective fields. The magic? To see how their approaches to a challenge can be applied to another industry to spark new avenues of innovation. This series is all about creating synergy between two different, but very like-minded healthcare and tech experts. In our…
Bizible founder Aaron Bird raises $5.1M to launch Seattle B2B startup studio Pienza
Aaron Bird, founder of Bizible, launched Seattle startup studio Pienza and raised $5.1 million from MHS Capital, Version One Ventures, Vulcan Capital and angels to build a small portfolio of B2B software companies. Pienza will focus on fewer, highly concentrated bets, put most of the funding into portfolio companies, keep a lean internal team, and Bird will forgo a salary.
Recurrent raises $3.5M seed round led by Wireframe Ventures to scale battery data science for used EV reports
Recurrent, a Seattle startup that issues independent battery-condition reports for used electric vehicles, raised $3.5 million in a seed round led by Wireframe Ventures to expand the data science behind its reports. The company launched in September, has over 2,500 EV owners providing data and 10 dealer partners, and has collected more than 1 million data points to train its machine-learning models.
People
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Geoff Entress Founder, Co-founder and Venture Partner
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Greg Gottesman Founder, Managing Director, Co-Founder
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Julie Sandler Founder, Co-founder & General Partner, PSL Ventures, Former Managing Director , Venture Partner (upcoming), Venture Partner, Managing Director, PSL
