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.
Elon takes the stand, Big Tech drops big numbers, and a small VC gets in on a billion-dollar deal
This week on the show: Todd reports from inside the Oakland federal courthouse where Elon Musk is suing OpenAI, Sam Altman, and Microsoft, with jury selection revealing just how hard it is to find anyone neutral about Musk these days. Meanwhile, Microsoft and OpenAI restructured their partnership the same morning the trial began — and less than 24 hours later, OpenAI's models landed on Amazon's cloud. Then, Microsoft and Amazon both dropped blockbuster earnings, with Azure up 40%, AWS posting its fastest growth in 15 quarters, and the two companies combining for nearly $400 billion in capital spending this year…
Seattle VC Flying Fish Partners Joins $1.1B Seed Round for DeepMind’s David Silver’s Startup Ineffable Intelligence
Seattle-based VC firm Flying Fish Partners secured a spot in the $1.1 billion seed round for DeepMind legend David Silver's startup Ineffable Intelligence through years of relationship-building and strategic early investments. Despite managing less than $250 million, their networking and persistence led to participation alongside major investors like Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Seattle Startup Tin Can's Screenless Kids Phone Cited by Jimmy Kimmel After NYT Wirecutter Praise
Seattle startup Tin Can's screenless phone for kids gained mainstream recognition after Jimmy Kimmel mentioned it during his show, following a positive New York Times Wirecutter review. The company has grown to 30 employees and sold hundreds of thousands of units.
Mikaela Kiner's "The Reverb Way" Offers Honest Leadership Lessons from Her HR Career and Seattle Firm
Mikaela Kiner's book "The Reverb Way" shares candid insights from her 15 years in HR leadership and her decade running the Seattle-based firm Reverb, highlighting practical advice and personal struggles like stress and insomnia. The book balances the challenges of entrepreneurship with the rewards of autonomy, based on her experiences at Microsoft, Amazon, Starbucks, and her own business.
Iridius Raises $8.6M Seed Round to Embed Regulatory Compliance in AI, Backed by Accenture and Led by Microsoft, AWS Veterans
Seattle startup Iridius, founded by former Microsoft and AWS veterans, raised $8.6 million in seed funding to develop software that embeds regulatory compliance into AI systems during operation. Accenture is both an investor and strategic partner, with initial focus on life sciences and pharmaceutical industries.
Seattle Startups Navigate AI-Driven Shift with Fewer Venture Deals, Amazon Bets, and Allbirds’ AI Infrastructure Pivot
Seattle-area startups face new challenges as the AI era drives fewer but larger venture investments, with regional tech hub definitions blurring and workforce reductions occurring among leading companies. Amazon is making strategic bets, and Allbirds is shifting focus toward AI infrastructure amid these changes.
Anoop Gupta Steps Down as SeekOut CEO, Sean Thompson Named Successor to Drive AI Recruiting Growth
Anoop Gupta is stepping down as CEO of SeekOut on May 4 to become executive chairman, passing leadership to Sean Thompson, who will focus on scaling SeekOut's AI recruiting service and pursuing acquisitions for growth. Thompson, an enterprise tech veteran, previously led NAVEX and has experience with SAP, Microsoft, and AI startups.
Seattle Startups Raised $1.5B in Q1 2026 with Lowest Deal Count Since 2020, Ranking 7th in VC Capital Invested
Seattle-area startups raised $1.5 billion across 69 deals in Q1 2026, marking the lowest deal count since mid-2020 amid a trend of larger funding rounds concentrated in fewer companies, particularly in AI. The Seattle region ranked seventh nationally by capital invested but tenth by deal count, reflecting a national pattern of venture capital focusing on a small number of high-profile startups.
2026 GeekWire Awards Finalists Include AIM Intelligent Machines with $50M Funding and $4.9M Air Force Contracts for Autonomous Earthmovers
The 2026 GeekWire Awards announced finalists for Hardware/Robotics/Physical AI of the Year, highlighting startups innovating with autonomous heavy machinery, drones, spatial computing, and space robotics. Notable finalist AIM Intelligent Machines secured $50 million funding in 2025 and $4.9 million in U.S. Air Force contracts for autonomous earthmoving equipment.
Seattle Startup Ambassador Acquires Tacoma-based Ad Platform Humming to Enhance AI Customer Engagement
Seattle startup Ambassador acquired Tacoma-based ad platform Humming to integrate its digital ad technology and enhance its AI-driven customer engagement services. Ambassador anticipates more acquisitions amid an AI startup shakeout, leveraging its longstanding proprietary customer data to stay competitive.
Inflection.io Acquires Keyplay, Reuniting Seattle Entrepreneurs Aaron Bird and Adam Schoenfeld
Inflection.io, led by CEO Aaron Bird, acquired Keyplay, reuniting longtime Seattle entrepreneurs with 15 years of collaboration history. Keyplay CEO Adam Schoenfeld joins Inflection as CMO, while the combined company now operates with 47 employees and an expanded global presence.
Bryson DeChambeau Leads Eight-Figure Acquisition of Seattle’s Sportsbox AI and Launches Google Cloud-Powered Swing Coach
Golf star Bryson DeChambeau is leading a group of investors to acquire Bellevue-based Sportsbox AI, a startup using AI and 3D motion capture to analyze golf swings from smartphone video. The acquisition, reportedly worth eight figures, also includes launching a new AI coaching assistant powered by Google Cloud, with DeChambeau featuring the Google Cloud logo at upcoming major tournaments.
Former Tableau Chief Product Officer Francois Ajenstat Launches Golden Analytics with $7M Seed to Create AI-Native BI Platform
Francois Ajenstat, former Tableau chief product officer, has launched Golden Analytics with $7 million in seed funding to build an AI-native business intelligence platform that emphasizes automated insights and user control. The Seattle-based startup aims to advance BI by integrating AI at its core rather than as an add-on.
Seattle Startup Glacis Hires Microsoft Azure Vet Rohit Tatachar as CTO to Launch AI Monitoring Tools
Seattle startup Glacis appointed longtime Microsoft Azure executive Rohit Tatachar as CTO and co-founder to develop tamper-proof AI behavior records. The company launched open-source tools enabling monitoring and control of AI agents to ensure safety and accountability.
Data Visualization Veterans Ellie Fields and Jeffrey Heer Launch Ridge AI with $2.6M Led by Madrona to Enhance SaaS Analytics
Data visualization experts Ellie Fields and Jeffrey Heer launched Ridge AI with $2.6M in pre-seed funding from Madrona and prominent angels to help SaaS companies embed interactive analytics and AI data agents quickly into their products. Ridge AI aims to fix persistent issues in web-based data presentation by enabling rapid creation of interactive dashboards and data agents sharing the same dataset.
Rec Room shutdown, robot umps, FedEx meets Amazon, and OpenAI's odd media buy
This week: Rec Room, the Seattle-based social gaming platform once valued at $3.5 billion, is shutting down — and Snap is picking up some of the pieces. Todd talks about what it was like fielding calls from distraught users on the night of the announcement. John offers his thoughts on what the shutdown says about the VR hype cycle, and whether everyone betting on the AI boom should take notes. Plus: Major League Baseball's new automated ball-strike system is already exposing umpires and creating a whole new kind of showboating — including one player who was so confident the robot…
AI Startup Oumi, Founded by Microsoft and Google Veterans, Launches Platform for Custom AI Models
Seattle-based AI startup Oumi, founded by veterans from Microsoft and Google, launched a commercial platform focused on building custom AI models. The company aims to outperform general-purpose AI from providers like OpenAI and Anthropic by specializing in smaller, tailored models.
Snap Acquires Assets from Rec Room Ahead of June 1 Shutdown; Employees Join Specs Inc. for AR Hardware Work
Snap Inc. has acquired select assets from Rec Room Inc., a social gaming platform shutting down on June 1, with some Rec Room employees joining Snap’s Specs Inc. to support its augmented reality glasses initiatives. Despite Rec Room's 150 million players, it failed to achieve sustainable profitability, leading to its closure.
Rec Room, Seattle Social Gaming Platform Valued at $3.5B, Shuts Down June 1 Amid Profitability Challenges
Seattle-based social gaming platform Rec Room, once valued at $3.5 billion, will shut down on June 1 after a decade in operation due to difficulties in achieving profitability. This ends the run of one of Seattle's most notable startup unicorns.
GeekWire AI summit takeaways: Token budgets, watermelon metrics, and the $5k weekend coder
Fresh off the big GeekWire AI summit this week, Todd and John unpack what they heard from Microsoft EVP Charles Lamanna, OpenAI applications CTO Vijaye Raji, and other speakers at the Agents of Transformation event in Seattle, presented by Accenture. The big thread: the economics of AI, from token budgets becoming a hiring negotiation point to startups running on subsidized credits that may not last. Plus, a startup founder whose engineer burned through $5,000 in AI tokens over a single weekend of vibe coding, OpenAI shutting down Sora amid $15 million-a-day processing costs, and why one panelist says the metrics…
OpenAI's $1.1B Statsig Acquisition and Other Billion-Dollar Deals Finalists for 2026 GeekWire Deal of the Year
The 2026 GeekWire Awards feature finalists including billion-dollar deals by OpenAI and others, a rare Seattle-area IPO, and a $5 billion mega-round, all recognized for their significant impact on Northwest tech. Voting for the Deal of the Year, which highlights key transactions in innovation, runs through April 16.
Seattle Startup Certiv Raises $4.2M to Secure AI Agents on Employee Devices, Led by Jason Needham
Seattle startup Certiv secured $4.2 million in funding to develop security software that monitors and controls AI agents on employee computers, led by CEO Jason Needham. Founded in June 2025, Certiv's technology enforces company policies to prevent unauthorized actions by AI agents and has already begun enterprise pilot deployments.
Taylor Soper Named Director of Seattle’s AI House at AI2 Incubator After 13 Years at GeekWire
Taylor Soper is leaving GeekWire after more than 13 years as a reporter and editor to become director of AI House at AI2 Incubator, a key hub for AI founders and researchers in Seattle. His deep connections in the Seattle tech scene and editorial leadership will support his new role in the AI community.
Anthropic Acquires Seattle AI Startup Vercept Amid Investor Feud as Research Warns of AI Job Crisis by 2028
Anthropic acquired Seattle startup Vercept, raising questions about AI startup competition and ecosystem impact, while a research paper warns of AI-driven white-collar job losses by 2028. Additionally, revelations include Microsoft's past Epstein connections and a retrospective on the original Xbox unveiling.
Anthropic acquires Vercept, the AI job crisis scenario, and Microsoft's past Epstein connections
Anthropic acquired Seattle startup Vercept on Wednesday, raising familiar questions about the impact of early exits on the broader Seattle startup ecosystem, and the question of whether AI startups can compete long-term against the giants of the field. We dig into the deal, the public feud between two of the company's early investors on LinkedIn, and why one co-founder's prior departure to Meta may have been worth more than the entire acquisition. Plus, a new research paper envisions a 2028 "global intelligence crisis" driven by AI-fueled white collar job losses, and we're already seeing early signs in the news. Then…
Organizations
See all 9-
GeekWire Editor and Co-Founder 2011–present · current
-
GeekWire Co-Founder · current
-
Seattle Children’s Therapeutics current
Education
-
California State University, Chico B.A., Business Admin, Journalism · 1991–1996
