Todd Bishop
Todd Bishop is Editor and Co-Founder at GeekWire, a media company he co-founded in 2009 and where he remains active. He is a business and technology journalist with expertise in in-depth reporting, podcast hosting, and live event moderation.
HitchPiggy launches regional rideshare marketplace June 1, 100+ users but no rides yet as it targets Pacific Northwest college trips
Portland startup HitchPiggy launched June 1 to connect drivers making regional trips with passengers headed the same way, using AI-powered development; it has about 100 registered users in the Pacific Northwest but no completed rides yet and plans to grow college ridership via a Portland State Business Accelerator partnership.
Wild Zebra raises $6M seed led by Trilogy to scale Socratic AI tutor for grades 2–9, total funding $8M
Seattle edtech startup Wild Zebra raised $6 million in an oversubscribed seed round to expand its AI math and reading tutor that uses a Socratic, interest-grounded approach for students in grades 2–9 and now reaches tens of thousands of users. The company will hire engineers and expand sales and marketing, and the round was led by Trilogy Equity Partners, bringing total funding to $8 million.
Amazon's next big business, Satya Nadella's DIY app, and a VC's rallying cry for Seattle tech
This week: Microsoft and Amazon both reported quarterly numbers, and both stocks rose on cloud results that beat expectations. Is AI spending is paying off in real business? And in related news, Microsoft sees a rare annual headcount decline, hitting product R&D hardest. Plus: Satya Nadella builds a Power BI dashboard out of an analyst's research report, and touts it on the earnings call to make a bigger point. Jeff Bezos names Amazon's chips business as the long-awaited fourth pillar. And AI House managing director Jacob Colker delivers a much-needed pep talk for Seattle tech, calling on the region to…
GeekWire reports: Seattle Tech Week 2026 — AI dominates 250+ events as investors and job-seekers flock to Seattle
GeekWire's Todd Bishop reports from Seattle Tech Week 2026, where AI dominated conversations across more than 250 events and drew significant Bay Area investor interest and job-seeking attendees. Panels and speakers from OpenAI, Mistral AI, Ascend, Oumi and others highlighted debates about foundation models, enterprise data access, and the rush to build on third-party AI.
Plumber and Navy veteran Jeremy Bernier launches MODRA, an AI-powered same-day retail delivery startup, to debut in Seattle in September
Jeremy Bernier, a Seattle-area plumber and U.S. Navy veteran, founded MODRA, an AI-powered retail delivery startup whose assistant 'Savvy' learns customer preferences to enable same-day delivery from local stores, with a planned Seattle launch in September.
AI House Co-founder Jacob Colker Delivers Rallying Cry for Seattle’s Tech Community at Showbox Market
AI House co-founder and managing director Jacob Colker delivered a passionate rallying speech at a Seattle Tech Week event, urging Seattle to reconnect around community and recognize its outsized impact on technology. He praised local institutions and companies like Boeing, Amazon, Microsoft and the University of Washington while warning that residents have grown numb to the city’s achievements.
Nominal opens permanent Seattle office, led by Stephen Slattery, after $80M raise at $1B valuation
Los Angeles-based industrial-software startup Nominal is opening a permanent Seattle office, led by Stephen Slattery, and plans to more than double its local team after raising $80 million at a $1 billion valuation. The company, which serves defense, energy, robotics and automotive customers, cited Seattle's engineering and aerospace talent as key reasons for the expansion.
Seattle Tech Week Kickoff Spotlights Founders Building an AI WhatsApp Agent for Seattle Orcas Logistics and Other Startup Tools
At the Seattle Tech Week kickoff, founders and leaders described diverse projects including an AI agent that manages a professional cricket team's logistics via WhatsApp, and other startups building B2B tools and voice AI for bar inventory. The event drew over 29,000 registrations and included panels showcasing regional entrepreneurs and investors.
Diplo invests in Seattle rewards startup Copper as company grows to 4+ million members and $42M raised
Grammy-winning artist and entrepreneur Diplo has invested in Seattle-based consumer rewards startup Copper as it expands its platform, which now serves more than 4 million members. Copper, founded in 2019 and having raised $42 million to date, says it helps users earn money via mobile games, cash-back offers and purchases while positioning itself as an alternative to attention-extracting apps.
Impinj CEO Chris Diorio rings Nasdaq bell as RFID chipmaker marks 10th IPO anniversary after growing to $4.2B market cap
Impinj, maker of tiny battery-free RFID chips embedded in over 160 billion items, celebrated the 10th anniversary of its IPO as CEO Chris Diorio rang the Nasdaq bell; the Seattle company commands about two-thirds of its market, grew from a $250 million IPO valuation to a $4.2 billion market cap, but has reported only one profitable year and carries a $400 million accumulated deficit.
Clarify Acquires Seam AI to Build 'Clarify Signals' Integrating Proprietary Buying Signals; Five Seam Employees Join
Seattle AI startup Clarify has acquired San Francisco-based Seam AI to integrate Seam’s web-based buying-signal monitoring into a new product, Clarify Signals, later this year; financial terms were not disclosed and five Seam employees will join Clarify.
Nscale opens 24,000-ft² Bellevue U.S. engineering HQ, backing expansion after $2B raise and $900M credit line
London-based data center startup Nscale, fresh off a $2 billion fundraising and a $900 million credit line, is opening a 24,000-square-foot U.S. engineering headquarters in Bellevue, Washington, slated for January 2027 and able to house up to 250 employees. The company hired former Microsoft VP Nidhi Chappell as president of AI infrastructure to lead global engineering and data center operations as it expands amid demand for AI computing infrastructure.
Seattle Sounders honor S. ‘Soma’ Somasegar, Madrona VC and former Microsoft exec, with pregame tribute after his May death at 59
The Seattle Sounders honored late Microsoft executive and Madrona venture capitalist S. “Soma” Somasegar, a minority owner who died in May at 59, with a pregame tribute and moment of silence recognizing his impact on Seattle’s tech and sports communities. Somasegar, who joined the Sounders ownership group in 2019, was remembered for his leadership at Microsoft, mentorship of startups, and efforts to bring people together through sports.
logcat.ai raises $2.55M pre-seed to build AI agents that debug Android and Linux device OSes
Seattle startup logcat.ai raised $2.55 million in pre-seed funding to build AI agents that debug and develop low-level Android and Linux operating-system software for devices. Founded by former Esper engineers Varun Chitre (CEO) and Tarun Vashisth (CTO), the system analyzes device logs to find root causes and recommend fixes, with a roadmap to autonomously write and test fixes.
Vieu launches Business Graph, an AI-ready map of business relationships after $11M seed; serves 100+ enterprise customers
Seattle startup Vieu launched the Business Graph, a live map of business relationships built from observed signals (shared work history, board affiliations, co-authorships) to help B2B sales, recruiting, marketing and fundraising. The 40-person company raised an $11M seed in October 2024, serves over 100 enterprise customers, integrates with CRMs and AI assistants, and charges a platform fee plus outcome-based pricing.
Apptio Co-founders Sunny Gupta and Kurt Shintaffer Launch Thira, Raise $21M Seed Led by Madrona to Build Autonomous IT Support Agents
Apptio co-founders Sunny Gupta and Kurt Shintaffer launched Bellevue-based enterprise AI startup Thira to build autonomous agents for IT support and back-office work, and raised $21 million in seed funding led by Madrona. Thira will integrate with tools like ServiceNow, Jira Service Management and identity/device-management systems, with plans to expand into finance and HR amid competition from companies such as ServiceNow (Moveworks), Aisera, Rezolve.ai, and Serval.
Motorola Solutions Leads $125M Round for Brinc to Expand 911 Drone Manufacturing and HQ
Seattle-based emergency-response drone maker Brinc raised $125 million in a round led by Motorola Solutions to expand manufacturing, bring new products to market, and move into a larger Seattle headquarters and factory later this year. The funding comes amid U.S. restrictions on Chinese-made drones; Brinc’s valuation has nearly doubled from $480 million a year ago, bringing total funding to over $280 million.
Seattle Startups Raise $2.7B in H1 2026 — Down 40% Year‑Over‑Year While U.S. VC Hits Record $412.7B
Seattle-area startups raised $2.7 billion across 163 deals in H1 2026, a roughly 40% drop from $4.5 billion a year earlier, as national venture funding surged to a record $412.7 billion driven largely by AI mega-rounds that Seattle’s pure-play AI companies did not capture.
Microsoft’s Latest Layoffs Impact Xbox Amid Seattle Startups’ Rise, GeekWire 200 Highlights Hardware Growth
The GeekWire founder open house highlighted Microsoft's recent layoffs, including major changes at Xbox, and noted the surprising growth of hardware companies within the GeekWire 200. The event was supported by Delta Air Lines, Prime Team Partners, WTIA, and ALLtech.
Auger, led by ex‑Amazon operations chief Dave Clark, raises $50M Series B to reach $150M total and expand customers
Auger, a Bellevue supply-chain software startup led by ex‑Amazon operations chief Dave Clark, raised $50 million in a Series B led by Eclipse, bringing total funding to $150 million while growing to ~130 employees and signing customers including Meta, Fanatics, and Kimberly‑Clark. The company integrates existing ERP and logistics systems into a unified operating layer using AI agents and optimization models to make and execute supply‑chain decisions.
Former GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke’s Entire launches distributed Git network preview after $60M seed
Former GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke’s startup Entire launched a preview of a distributed Git network that mirrors repositories across active regions in the U.S., Europe, and Australia to reduce latency, rate limits, and outages from AI coding agents. Entire raised a $60 million seed round in February and lets developers mirror GitHub repos in one step while keeping code on the original platform.
Former Impinj CEO Bill Colleran named CEO of Seattle AI startup Adronite after $5M Series A
Veteran tech executive Bill Colleran has been named CEO of Seattle AI coding startup Adronite, succeeding co-founder Edward Rothschild who becomes CTO; the 15-person company raised a $5 million Series A and builds tools to help developers and AI understand whole codebases. Colleran brings 35+ years of semiconductor and enterprise technology experience, including leading Impinj and selling Innovent Systems to Broadcom for about $500 million.
Overland AI Wins $19.7M Marine Corps Contract to Deliver Autonomous Ground Vehicles by 2027
Seattle-based Overland AI secured a $19.7 million U.S. Marine Corps contract to deliver over a dozen autonomous ground vehicles by early 2027, marking it as the first ground autonomy company to serve as a prime military contractor. The vehicles will support drone defense crews by handling resupply across rough terrain without GPS.
Fusion energy: Wishing upon a star in a jar — Introducing 'Positive Charge' from GeekWire
This week on the show, we're sharing the debut of Positive Charge, a new GeekWire podcast from reporter Lisa Stiffler and producer Laura Scott about the innovations that could help save the planet. In this episode, they dig into the high-stakes race to harness the power of the sun and make fusion energy real, visiting two Seattle-area startups chasing this dream, and asking whether limitless clean power is finally within reach. Also out this week: their debut episode on the "forever chemicals" in our water and the companies figuring out how to destroy them. Follow Positive Charge wherever you get…
KredosAI Raises $7M Led by BMW i Ventures to Use AI for Managing Late Payments and Customer Retention
KredosAI, a startup founded by former T-Mobile executives, raised $7 million led by BMW i Ventures for its AI platform that helps companies collect overdue payments while maintaining customer relationships. The Series A round brings total funding to over $10 million as KredosAI targets sectors including auto lending amid rising subprime delinquencies.
Organizations
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GeekWire Editor and Co-Founder 2011–present · current
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GeekWire Co-Founder · current
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Seattle Children’s Therapeutics current
Education
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California State University, Chico B.A., Business Admin, Journalism · 1991–1996
