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.
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.
Olive raises $1M seed from Active Capital to accelerate IT procurement platform, aims to cut buying to under eight weeks
Vancouver startup Olive raised a $1 million seed round led by Active Capital to expand its IT procurement platform that shortens enterprise software buying from months or years to under eight weeks. The Techstars Seattle graduate, founded by CEO Chris Heard and CTO Dan Harrison, has five employees and saw accelerated demand as companies seek cost-effective procurement solutions amid the pandemic.
Silverback Therapeutics raises $85M Series C — six months after $78.5M — to fund SBT6050 Phase 1 work; total VC $210M
Seattle biotech Silverback Therapeutics raised an $85 million Series C just six months after a $78.5 million round to advance its ImmunoTAC platform and lead candidate SBT6050 in a Phase 1 study; total VC funding is $210 million. The company named Valerie Odegard president and chief scientific officer, Naomi Hunder chief medical officer, and appointed Laura Shawver as CEO in April.
Outreach co-founders Wes Hather and Gordon Hempton launch Seattle stealth startup Spot to recreate office culture digitally
Outreach co-founders Wes Hather and Gordon Hempton have launched Spot, a stealthy Seattle startup building a remote-work “home base” UI to complement tools like Teams, Zoom, and Slack and recreate office culture digitally.
Porch names five new board directors ahead of $523M SPAC merger, will trade as PRCH with Ehrlichman as CEO
Seattle-based Porch named five new directors who will join its board when the company goes public later this year via a SPAC merger valuing Porch at $523 million; the combined company will trade as PRCH with Matt Ehrlichman remaining CEO and chairman.
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.
Resonance AI raises $2.28M to expand AI platform analyzing dialogue, music, mood and pacing in video
Seattle startup Resonance AI raised $2.28 million as part of a larger round to grow its AI-driven video analysis platform that measures dialogue, music, mood, lighting, pacing and more to help broadcasters and studios optimize content. Founded six years ago by CEO Tom Chiarella and president Randa Minkarah, the 15-person company has about $5 million raised to date and counts The Weather Channel and News-Press & Gazette among customers.
IAC-owned Dotdash buys Serious Eats and Simply Recipes from Seattle startup Fexy Media in all-cash deal
Seattle-area startup Fexy Media sold food sites Serious Eats and Simply Recipes to IAC-owned Dotdash in an all-cash deal; the sites reach a combined 16 million monthly users. The transaction moves 27 Fexy employees to Dotdash, lets Fexy focus on its Relish product, and pairs the companies to grow Relish while Dotdash expands its food publishing reach.
Sam’s Club partners with Seattle startup 98point6 to offer members discounted telehealth — $20 for first three months, $33.50/month after
Sam’s Club is partnering with Seattle telehealth startup 98point6 to offer virtual primary care to members, with a $20 introductory fee for the first three months (normally $30) and $33.50/month thereafter, plus quarterly and annual plans. 98point6 serves about 3 million patients across all 50 states, diagnoses 400+ common conditions via an AI-powered chatbot and raised $43 million in April.
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.
Athira Pharma raises $204M in IPO at $17/share, values company at ~$670M to advance Alzheimer’s drug NDX-1017
Seattle biotech Athira Pharma raised $204 million by selling 12 million shares in a Nasdaq IPO at $17 per share, valuing the company at about $670 million as it advances its lead Alzheimer’s therapeutic NDX-1017 into late-stage development.
Athira Pharma prices IPO at $17, sells 12M shares to raise $204M; will trade as ATHA on Nasdaq
Seattle biotech Athira Pharma priced its IPO at $17 per share, selling 12 million shares to raise at least $204 million and will begin trading on Nasdaq under ticker ATHA; the company is developing NDX-1017 for neurodegenerative diseases and has no commercial products yet. Founded in 2011 and led by CEO Dr. Leen Kawas, Athira reported net losses in 2019 and H1 2020 and has raised over $100 million privately, including an $85 million Series B.
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.
5G Open Innovation Lab, backed by T-Mobile, Intel and NASA, unveils 16 startups in second cohort
The 5G Open Innovation Lab, funded by T-Mobile, Intel, and NASA, announced its second cohort of 16 startups after completing its inaugural 12-week program, aiming to help entrepreneurs exploit 5G technology without taking equity. The Bellevue-based lab connects startups with corporate and public partners and participates in Washington states 5G Open Innovation Zone alongside institutions like WSU and the University of Washington.
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.
Walk Score Cofounders Matt Lerner and Mike Mathieu Launch Two Screens for Teachers to Deliver 250,000 Monitors to K-12 Educators
Seattle startup veterans Matt Lerner and Mike Mathieu launched Two Screens for Teachers to provide K-12 public school instructors with secondary monitors to ease remote teaching strain. The volunteer team built an automated donor-teacher matching site, addresses cable compatibility, and seeks donors to reach a goal of delivering 250,000 monitors.
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.
Optimize.health raises $15.6M to scale remote patient monitoring platform amid telehealth surge
Seattle health-tech startup Optimize.health raised $15.6 million to expand its remote patient monitoring platform, which integrates with EHRs, supports communication and billing, and has seen revenue grow over 800% year-over-year.
Flexe sees surge in demand as pandemic-driven e-commerce growth pushes retailers to buy on-demand warehouse space
E-commerce share of U.S. retail surged during the pandemic, accelerating years of digital adoption in months and boosting demand for Flexe’s on-demand warehousing marketplace. Flexe matches retailers with excess warehouse capacity so companies can scale fulfillment regionally without owning fixed real estate, serving clients like Ralph Lauren, Staples, Ace Hardware and Walmart.
Cloudentity raises $13M Series A led by ForgePoint to expand identity and authorization security
Seattle startup Cloudentity raised $13 million in a Series A round led by ForgePoint Capital to expand its identity and authorization security software used by Fortune 500 companies. Total funding to date is $15 million; ForgePoint’s Sean Cunningham will join the board.
ThruWave raises $6.4M to deploy millimeter-wave scanners that image contents of packages for Fortune 100 warehouses
Seattle startup ThruWave raised $6.4 million to commercialize millimeter-wave sensors and computer-vision software that image contents inside packages for retail and e-commerce warehouses, analyzing up to 20,000 boxes per hour to improve cube utilization and detect missing or damaged items. Fortune 100 customers and partners (including In-Q-Tel) are using the University of Washington–developed system to cut shipping waste, costs, and for national security screening applications.
Boundless raises $7.5M to acquire RapidVisa, adds 45 employees and expands online immigration services
Seattle-based Boundless raised $7.5 million to fund the acquisition of rival RapidVisa and expand its online immigration tools, nearly doubling its team by adding 45 RapidVisa employees. CEO Xiao Wang says the funding and deal will strengthen the company’s infrastructure and market position ahead of an economic recovery.
Organizations
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AI House Director of Community and Programming 2026–present · current
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University of Washington, Board of Student Publications Board Member 2016–present · current
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AI House Director of Community and Programming · current
Education
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University of Washington Executive Development Program, Business Administration and Management, General · 2021–2022
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University of Washington Bachelor, Business, Journalism · 2008–2012
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Foster School of Business B.A., Business Administration · 2008–2012
