Taylor Soper
Taylor Soper is Director of Community and Programming at AI House and serves as a board member at the University of Washington, Board of Student Publications. He previously held editorial and reporting roles at GeekWire and Major League Baseball, with expertise in technology startups, programming, and community building.
DreamBox Learning sells majority stake to Evergreen Coast Capital as annual revenue tops $100M
Seattle-area K–12 edtech company DreamBox Learning sold a majority stake to Evergreen Coast Capital (an Elliott affiliate) as its annual revenue surpasses $100 million; terms were not disclosed. The 400-person company supports 6 million students and 400,000 educators, retains TPG’s The Rise Fund as a significant minority investor, and recently acquired Reading Plus and Squiggle Park.
Allbirds IPO Raises $300M, Valuing Shoe Brand Near $3B as Shares Surge 60% on Nasdaq Debut
Allbirds, backed early by Maveron, debuted on the Nasdaq after raising $300 million in an IPO that valued the company at about $3 billion; shares jumped 60% on the first trading day. Maveron led a $7.25 million Series A in 2016 and its stake was worth roughly $400 million at the opening price, with the company reporting $219.3 million in 2020 revenue and over eight million pairs sold since launch.
Rad Power Bikes raises $154M after $150M earlier in 2021 to expand retail, service network and operations
Rad Power Bikes raised $154 million in a new financing round after a $150 million infusion in February to expand its e-bike business, grow retail/service locations, and scale operations amid rising demand. The Seattle-based company, with more than 350,000 riders and 625 employees, plans to triple physical locations and speed deliveries to one-week fulfillment in North America.
Assembly acquires bootstrapped Seattle ad-tech startup Pacvue in reported nine-figure deal
Pacvue, a four-year-old Seattle e-commerce software startup that was bootstrapped without VC funding, was acquired by Los Angeles-based Assembly in a deal reported at nine figures; Pacvue provided advertising and sales tools for marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart and had tripled revenue yearly with about 150 employees.
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.
Seattle Average Tech Salary Rises 4.6% to $158,000, Second-Highest U.S. Behind Bay Area
Hired data shows average Seattle tech salaries rose 4.6% year-over-year to $158,000, the second-highest U.S. average behind the Bay Area. The report notes continued strong hiring from Amazon, Microsoft and other firms, high open roles at startups, remote-work-driven shifts in pay, and broad worker interest in new opportunities.
Graham & Walker (formerly Female Founders Alliance) raises $10M fund to back female-led startups
Seattle-based Female Founders Alliance rebranded as Graham & Walker and launched a $10 million venture fund to invest in female-led early-stage tech startups, led by founder and managing director Leslie Feinzaig. The fund raised capital from 105 backers (two-thirds women, 40% first-time fund investors) and has already made 11 investments with average checks of $25,000–$400,000.
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.
Karat raises $110M Series C at $1.1B valuation to scale remote technical interviewing
Karat, a Seattle startup that runs technical interviews through a vetted network of interviewers, raised $110 million in a Series C at a $1.1 billion valuation while more than doubling revenue and customers year-over-year.
Outreach acquires Indianapolis revenue-intelligence startup Canopy to launch Outreach Commit; Canopy’s nine employees join
Seattle sales automation company Outreach acquired Indianapolis revenue-intelligence startup Canopy and will use the team and technology to launch a new forecasting product called Outreach Commit; terms were not disclosed and Canopy’s nine employees will join Outreach.
Chronosphere raises $200M Series C led by General Atlantic, valuation tops $1B
Chronosphere, founded in 2019 by former Microsoft and Uber engineers Martin Mao and Rob Skillington, raised $200 million in a Series C led by General Atlantic, valuing the company above $1 billion. The cloud-native data observability startup has grown ARR 9x in 2021, has 80 employees (plans to add 35), and has raised $255 million total.
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.
Relevvo raises $1.5M seed to power personalized B2B sales messaging from Microsoft and LinkedIn veterans
Seattle startup Relevvo, founded by veterans from Microsoft, LinkedIn and other firms, raised a $1.5 million seed round to sell a B2B ‘relevance engine’ that delivers personalized sales messaging at scale to replace ‘spray and pray’ outreach. The seven-person company counts customers like iSpot, Esper, Hiya and CourseKey and was founded by Aashish Dhamdhere and Tushar Shanbhag.
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.
Data Skrive raises $7M from Bettor Capital to expand sports content automation for AP, ESPN and sportsbooks
Seattle startup Data Skrive, which automates sports-related content for clients like the Associated Press and ESPN and sells to sportsbooks and leagues, raised $7 million in a round led by Bettor Capital.
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.
Archera raises $7M Series A to automate AWS and Azure cost optimization, bringing total funding to $10.3M
Seattle startup Archera (formerly Reserved.ai) raised $7 million in a Series A to help AWS, Azure and other cloud customers automate resource management and purchasing; the company reports 150% revenue growth this year and counts customers like Fortive and Guardant Health.
iUNU acquires Artemis, adds 22 staff and names founder Allison Kopf CMO and head of data products
Seattle agtech company iUNU acquired Artemis, a Lake Ariel, Pa. indoor farming software startup, integrating Artemis’s 22 employees and founder Allison Kopf into iUNU leadership; deal terms were not disclosed. The acquisition expands iUNU’s cultivation analytics platform, which uses rail-mounted cameras and canopy sensors, following iUNU’s December $7M raise and a prior purchase of CropWalk.
Remitly prices IPO at $43, values company near $7B and raises $300M+ as shares debut on NASDAQ
Remitly, a 10-year-old mobile remittance company, priced its IPO at $43 per share valuing the firm near $7 billion and raised over $300 million in net proceeds as it began trading on NASDAQ; shares opened at $53 and closed at $48.45 on debut. CEO Matt Oppenheimer framed the IPO as a step in the company’s mission to simplify cross-border money transfers for immigrants and their families.
98point6 board ousts co-founder Robbie Cape to seek CEO who can scale growth; Jeff Greenstein named interim leader
98point6's board removed co-founder and CEO Robbie Cape last month to install a leader better suited to scale the telehealth startup, according to board member Lisa Brummel, who said the decision was routine and not due to impropriety; interim CEO Jeff Greenstein is now leading the company after Cape left the board. The Seattle company has raised $247 million and saw large customer demand during the pandemic.
Humanly raises $4.3M led by Zeal Capital Partners to scale automated hiring tools; total funding $5.3M
Seattle HR startup Humanly raised $4.3 million led by Zeal Capital Partners (bringing total funding to $5.3 million) to expand its recruiting software that automates candidate screening, scheduling, initial communications and reference checks, and claims sixfold revenue growth over the past year.
Zenoti acquires SuperSalon; CEO Raj Mahajan to become SVP, 30 employees added to 800-person team
Seattle-area startup Zenoti has acquired salon and spa software maker SuperSalon; terms were not disclosed, SuperSalon CEO Raj Mahajan will join Zenoti as SVP of corporate development and 30 employees will be added to Zenoti’s ~800-person headcount.
Remitly files to raise up to $332.6M in IPO at roughly $6.5B valuation with $38–$42 price range
Remitly set IPO terms expecting to raise $284.6 million (up to $332.6 million with overallotment) at $38–$42 a share, valuing the Seattle fintech about $6.5 billion. The company reported $202M revenue and a $9.2M net loss in the first half of the year and competes with firms like Wise and Zepz.
Shutterstock buys PicMonkey for $110M, adds 200,000 subscribers and ~3% of annual revenue
Shutterstock acquired Seattle-based PicMonkey for $110 million in cash, adding about 200,000 subscribers and an estimated 3% boost to annual revenue. PicMonkey, founded in 2012 with roughly 50 employees and $41 million raised previously, will continue its product while integrating Shutterstock stock photography.
Former Microsoft VP and ex-RingCentral CRO Phil Sorgen joins Tola Capital as venture partner
Phil Sorgen, a former Microsoft corporate vice president and most recently RingCentral chief revenue officer, has joined Seattle-area investment firm Tola Capital as a venture partner; Tola manages $440 million and focuses on enterprise software.
Organizations
See all 15-
AI House Director of Community and Programming 2026–present · current
-
University of Washington, Board of Student Publications Board Member 2016–present · current
-
AI House Director of Community and Programming · current
Education
-
University of Washington Executive Development Program, Business Administration and Management, General · 2021–2022
-
University of Washington Bachelor, Business, Journalism · 2008–2012
-
Foster School of Business B.A., Business Administration · 2008–2012
