June 28, 2024
Amazon teams up with Uber on restaurant delivery, years after shutting down its own service
November 05, 2026
(Amazon Image) Amazon is bringing Uber Eats inside its own app, letting U.S. Prime members order restaurant delivery without a separate Uber account and skip the delivery fee on orders of $25 or more. The deal replaces a Prime perk with Grubhub, which Amazon made an ongoing benefit in 2024...
Zillow CEO’s reality check on AI agents: ‘Finding a home isn’t a chore to hand off to a robot’
November 04, 2026
Zillow Group CEO Jeremy Wacksman says home shoppers want to do the searching themselves, even as AI agents take on more everyday tasks. (Zillow Photo) People will let AI agents cancel subscriptions and book appointments, but most won’t want one to do their house hunting, predicts Zillow Group...
A year in, Smartsheet CEO Raj Singh bets on a new vision beyond the company’s flagship product
November 04, 2026
Smartsheet CEO Raj Singh unveils vsActual, an AI product that customers can use without Smartsheet, during his keynote at the company’s Engage conference in Seattle on Wednesday. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) Smartsheet’s biggest new product in years doesn’t require Smartsheet. The Bellevue,...
A rare second exit: AI startup Suplari acquired by Docusign nearly 3 years after Microsoft spinout
November 04, 2026
Members of the Suplari team, as pictured on the company website. (Suplari Photo) Some startups dream of getting acquired by a big tech company. Suplari has now done it twice. Docusign on Tuesday announced its acquisition of the AI-powered spending analysis company, five years after Microsoft...
Washington voters keep millionaires tax, splitting tech leaders over the state’s competitive edge
November 04, 2026
The Washington State Capitol Building in Olympia. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Washington voters appear to have upheld the state’s new tax on high earners, putting the state on track to lose its place among the nine states without an income tax — a status that tech leaders have long touted...
First X-BAT fighter jet prototype unveiled as Shield AI preps Seattle area factory for 2027 launch
November 04, 2026
A prototype of Shield AI’s X-Bat AI fighter jet, which will be built in the Seattle area. (Photo via Shield AI) Defense technology startup Shield AI has completed its first full-scale prototype of the X-BAT autonomous fighter jet as the company prepares its manufacturing and engineering hub...
Ai2 gets $5M from Google to turn AI weather model into a tool for projecting climate change
November 04, 2026
Ai2 plans to use funding from Google to build an open-source AI model for projecting climate change decades into the future. (Ai2 Image) Google is giving Seattle’s Allen Institute for AI about $5 million in funding, plus another $1.8 million in cloud credits, to turn an AI weather model...
Amazon plans its first data centers in Washington state as residents raise concerns
November 04, 2026
Racks of servers inside an AWS data center in 2023. (AWS Photo / Noah Berger) Amazon is moving toward building its first data centers in Washington state, with a proposed campus in Walla Walla County and a second in the Tri-Cities that the company confirmed this week. The expansion into...
Finpilot raises $10M for AI agents that handle the grunt work for institutional investors
November 04, 2026
Finpilot co-founder and CEO Lakshay Chauhan. (Finpilot Photo) Seattle startup Finpilot, which uses AI agents to take the paperwork off the plates of people who invest money for hospitals, pension funds and foundations, has raised $10 million in a Series A round. The round was led by Bay Area...
Rover hires Textio co-founder Jensen Harris and former Amazon exec Vik Rajagopal
November 04, 2026
Rover CFO Vik Rajagopal, left, and Jensen Harris, the company’s new president of marketplace, product and technology. (Photos via Rover) Seattle-based pet care marketplace Rover is adding two executives to its leadership team: former Motus CFO Vik Rajagopal as chief financial officer and Textio...
Starfish Space loses contact with its Otter spacecraft, ending satellite inspection mission
November 04, 2026
An artist’s conception shows Starfish Space’s Otter spacecraft in orbit. (Starfish Space Illustration) Starfish Space says it can no longer receive data from its first full-scale Otter space vehicle, bringing a $15 million NASA mission to inspect inoperable satellites to a premature end. In a...
Filing: Amazon’s previously announced layoffs include 95 jobs in Washington state
November 03, 2026
Most of the employees in the latest Washington notice are based in Amazon’s Seattle offices. (GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser) A notice made public Tuesday evening, disclosing about 95 Amazon job cuts in Washington state, is part of the company’s previously reported layoffs in its retail...
Amazon rewrites its software engineering playbook for an era when AI writes the code
November 03, 2026
Marc Brooker, an AWS VP and distinguished engineer, leads Velocity Labs, a small team inside Amazon’s cloud unit. (Amazon Photo) Last month, a small team inside Amazon Web Services called Velocity Labs went from concept to the public release of a new open-source AI model in less than a...
Don’t miss Seattle tech’s biggest holiday party: Get early bird tickets for the GeekWire Gala
November 03, 2026
Scenes from a previous GeekWire Gala in Seattle. Tickets are now on sale for the big bash on Dec. 10. (GeekWire File Photo) Early bird tickets for the 2026 GeekWire Gala are on sale now. Join us Dec. 10 for Seattle tech’s biggest holiday celebration, with a new venue, fresh experiences and...
Tech Moves: Microsoft loses a CVP to AWS and gains one from Alteryx; Lila Bio and BECU name execs
November 03, 2026
Mazar Mohammed. (LinkedIn Photo) — After more than 33 years at Microsoft, Mazhar Mohammed has left to become vice president of AWS Streaming and Messaging at Amazon. Mohammed joined Microsoft as a software design engineer on Windows NT straight out of a master’s degree program. Over the...
Opinion: San Francisco is delivering, while Seattle is still deliberating
November 03, 2026
Seattle Metro Chamber CEO Joe Nguyễn found lessons for Seattle in a trip to San Francisco. (GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Editor’s note: GeekWire publishes guest opinions to highlight a range of perspectives on issues shaping the tech and startup community. To submit a guest column,...
Microsoft opens Imagine Cup to startups, and the new rules show how its AI strategy has changed
November 03, 2026
Microsoft’s Dona Sarkar (left) looks on as members of the FROM YOUR EYES team hoist the trophy after winning the 2024 Imagine Cup at Microsoft Build in Seattle. The competition is expanding beyond students for the first time in 2027. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) Microsoft’s Imagine Cup, a...
Accent bias: AI models penalize certain speakers in interviews and tests, UW study finds
November 02, 2026
According to University of Washington research, across job interviews, conference presentations and English proficiency tests, AI models generally ranked American and British speakers highest, Indian speakers in the middle, and Chinese and Nigerian speakers lowest. (BigStock Image) Picture two...
How a Starbucks drive-thru ‘fast pass’ could actually work
November 02, 2026
Starbucks says roughly half of its customers use the drive-thru, where the company is exploring a “fast pass” for people who use its app. (Photo by Hamza Inayat on Unsplash) Starbucks’ idea to use technology to recognize regulars at the drive-thru is getting plenty of attention, but the actual...
Who gets your vote? What rumors should you spot? Election quiz and bingo offer guidance
November 02, 2026
Voters might find some election levity in a quiz for choosing candidates and a bingo game to recognize rumors. (Voter Lifeboat and UW CIP Images) With Election Day tomorrow, a Seattle-area tech entrepreneur has a quiz to help voters sort through candidates and ballot measures, while University...
Startup uses motion sensors and AI to tell families when an aging parent’s routine changes
November 02, 2026
Thessai’s bundle of motion sensors and panic buttons alongside the monitoring app. (Thessai Photo) Thessai, a Bellevue, Wash., startup led by a former Microsoft HoloLens executive, is rolling out a home monitoring system for older adults that flags trouble without cameras, microphones or...
Pope Leo XIV on AI
November 01, 2026
Pope Leo XIV delivers his speech on AI at the Vatican on Oct. 30. (Vatican Media Photo) On Friday, 17 days after his surgery for lung cancer, Pope Leo XIV stood before a room of AI luminaries at the Vatican and delivered a speech on AI. No pope has engaged with AI as seriously, or as deeply, as...
Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Oct. 25, 2026
November 01, 2026
Get caught up on the latest technology and startup news from the past week. Here are the most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Oct. 25, 2026. Sign up to receive these updates every Sunday in your inbox by subscribing to our GeekWire Weekly email newsletter. Most popular stories on...
Microsoft’s big buyout, Amazon’s trillion-dollar future, and an AI wearable reviews our show
October 31, 2026
Microsoft is offering buyouts to about 60,000 employees, about a quarter of its workforce, including some execs. Unlike the retirement program Microsoft offered in the spring, this one has no age or tenure requirement, and business leaders decide whether their groups take part. On this...
Washington governor rips Microsoft over TV ad in leaked audio
October 30, 2026
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson, speaking at an event in Olympia in June, criticized Microsoft last week over a TV ad from a PAC the company has helped fund. (Office of the Governor Photo) Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson called out Microsoft for bankrolling a political action committee responsible for...
Madrona Prize goes to UW research on agents that shrink AI models to run on small chips
October 30, 2026
Madrona Prize honorees with representatives from Madrona at the Allen School Research Showcase. From left: Sethu Raman, Chris Picardo and Joe Horseman of Madrona; Zhihan Zhang, Madrona Prize winner; Tanush Yadav, first runner-up; Jacob Morrison of Madrona and the Allen School; and Phoebe Riser and...
Filing: Chip startup Powerlattice raises $86M to ease AI’s power crunch
October 30, 2026
Powerlattice founders, from left: Gang Ren, Peng Zou, and Sujith Dermal. (Powerlattice / Walden Kirsch Photo) Powerlattice, a Vancouver, Wash.-based startup developing chips that cut the power demands of AI processors, has raised $86 million, according to an SEC filing on Friday. The new...
Metal fabricator NIC Global to cut 103 jobs near Seattle, move production to Eastern Washington
October 30, 2026
NIC Global is closing its 100,000-square-foot manufacturing site in Woodinville, Wash., as demand shifts to Eastern Washington. (NIC Photo) Metal fabricator NIC Global plans to close its Woodinville, Wash., plant, eliminating 103 jobs. Declining business from local customers is prompting the...
Power outage takes down KEXP streaming for Seattle radio station’s worldwide audience
October 30, 2026
Seattle independent radio station KEXP, based in Lower Queen Anne, lost power early Friday morning. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser) KEXP’s website and online streaming were down Friday morning after a power outage hit the Seattle radio station, though its over-the-air broadcast was back and...
Andy Jassy’s prediction: Amazon could have two $1 trillion businesses within a decade
October 29, 2026
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told analysts Thursday that “some folks are sleeping a bit” on how much progress the company’s stores business has made. (GeekWire File Photo) No company has ever had a business with $1 trillion in annual revenue. Andy Jassy says Amazon is on a path to have two. Amazon...
Tech Moves: Former Amazon execs depart Warner Bros. Discovery; Amazon leader returns to Microsoft
October 29, 2026
Avi Saxena, left, and Tyler Whitworth. (LinkedIn Photos) — Two former Amazon executives who helped build Discovery’s direct-to-consumer operation in Bellevue, Wash., are stepping down from their leadership roles following the company’s acquisition by Paramount Skydance. They will remain in...
AWS growth hits 39%, its fastest in nearly five years, as Amazon misses on earnings
October 29, 2026
AWS now brings in revenue at a $184 billion annual pace, and it’s closing in on Amazon’s third-party seller business as the company’s second-largest source of sales. (GeekWire File Photo / Todd Bishop) Amazon Web Services revenue grew 39% to $46 billion in the third quarter, its fastest pace in...
Coding Dojo co-founder unveils ‘Idea to Launch,’ a 30-day program to help aspiring founders build with AI
October 29, 2026
Richard Wang says he gets inspiration from mentoring aspiring startup founders. (Idea to Launch Photo) Richard Wang, co-founder and former CEO of coding bootcamp Coding Dojo, is launching Idea to Launch, a 30-day program that helps would-be founders turn a startup idea into a working product...
Seattle-area startup Group14 raises $169M, plans battery materials factory in Spain
October 29, 2026
Group14’s silicon anode facility began manufacturing materials in 2024. (Group14 Photo) Next-generation battery materials startup Group14 Technologies today announced $169 million in new funding and plans to build a manufacturing facility in Spain, expanding a production network that includes...
Zillow agrees to pay $212.5M to settle investor lawsuit over failed home-flipping business
October 28, 2026
A for-sale sign on a home sold through Zillow Offers, the company’s home-flipping business, which Zillow shut down in 2021. The company has agreed to pay $212.5 million to settle an investor lawsuit over its statements about the business. (Zillow Photo) Zillow Group will pay $212.5 million to...
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