Seattle has already birthed a couple of early stage companies trying to help shoppers track the price swings and model rollouts of expensive electronic gadgets. Well, add another one to the mix—thanks in part to the national battle between Amazon.com and big-box retailers over collecting taxes for online sales. I’m talking about Shopobot, which just … Continue reading “Seattle, Meet Shopobot: Amid Amazon Sales Tax Fight, Comparison-Shopping Startup Flees San Francisco”
Author: Curt Woodward
Clearwire Takes Another Step Toward LTE While Investor Search Continues
Broadband provider Clearwire (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CLWR]]) is working with a major Chinese company to encourage development of devices for a new fourth-generation wireless network, even as the Kirkland, WA company continues looking for investors to bankroll its expansion. Clearwire is collaborating with China Mobile to develop common technical specifications for makers of networking gear and mobile devices, … Continue reading “Clearwire Takes Another Step Toward LTE While Investor Search Continues”
Urbanspoon Co-Founder Hates Insurance Shopping, Creates New Search Service
What’s a technology entrepreneur do when facing the head-slappingly opaque process of shopping for individual health insurance coverage? Get to work hacking together a solution. That’s what gave rise to PickHealthInsurance, a new online search service developed by Urbanspoon co-founder Adam Doppelt. PickHealthInsurance is a side project—Doppelt is hard at work on Dwellable, which helps … Continue reading “Urbanspoon Co-Founder Hates Insurance Shopping, Creates New Search Service”
Sprint, Amazon, BigDoor, Giant Thinkwell: The One-Minute Week in Seattle Tech Headlines
It looked like so much fun, they just had to join. Sprint is an unabashed fan of the U.S. Justice Department‘s lawsuit to block the AT&T and T-Mobile merger, and has now jumped into the fray itself with a separate antitrust lawsuit that expands on the DOJ’s arguments. Interestingly, Sprint (NYSE: [[ticker:S]]) reportedly wanted to … Continue reading “Sprint, Amazon, BigDoor, Giant Thinkwell: The One-Minute Week in Seattle Tech Headlines”
Kal Raman Resigns from GlobalScholar
Entrepreneur Kal Raman has resigned as CEO of education imprint GlobalScholar, the company that was acquired for up to $160 million late last year by Scantron. GlobalScholar spokeswoman Jodie Cadieux confirms a report in GeekWire, saying that Raman left the CEO’s job “to pursue other interests but does continue in a consulting role.” Scantron, a … Continue reading “Kal Raman Resigns from GlobalScholar”
Giant Thinkwell Ditches Facebook Games, Dives into the “Live Web” with Flickmob
The Seattle startup that put hip-hop legend Sir Mix-a-Lot back in the national headlines is making a big shift. Giant Thinkwell, a member of the first Seattle TechStars class, has dropped its previous focus on making Facebook-based games for celebrities and is now digging into a new project called Flickmob. It’s still in a semi-private … Continue reading “Giant Thinkwell Ditches Facebook Games, Dives into the “Live Web” with Flickmob”
BigDoor Media Snaps up OneTrueFan as Gamificiation Gets Serious
Gamification as a concept in the broader business world is still in the toddler stage. But that’s soon enough for a little consolidation, right? Guess so. Today, Seattle’s BigDoor Media is announcing the acquisition of San Francisco-based OneTrueFan, a company backed by 500 Startups that uses game mechanics to help website publishers keep their audience … Continue reading “BigDoor Media Snaps up OneTrueFan as Gamificiation Gets Serious”
Amazon Tablet Tracker: A Timeline of Leaks, Reports, and Non-Denials
Amazon.com (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMZN]]) is notoriously tight-lipped about the details of its day-to-day business, telling the press and analysts only what it wants them to know. Ever try to find out how many books they’re selling? How quickly certain types of merchandise is moving? Tough luck. But when it comes to the Seattle e-commerce pioneer’s ambitions … Continue reading “Amazon Tablet Tracker: A Timeline of Leaks, Reports, and Non-Denials”
Livemocha Scales up Online Language Lessons, Lands New Deal in Brazil
For most of its four-year history, Seattle-based Livemocha has built its international language-learning business through the online equivalent of hand-to-hand combat: Amassing individual consumers into a big user base and earning money through advertising or premium services. It’s worked pretty well, with about $14 million in venture funding raised and more than 6 million members … Continue reading “Livemocha Scales up Online Language Lessons, Lands New Deal in Brazil”
Sprint Joins Antitrust Fight with New Lawsuit Against AT&T’s T-Mobile Bid
[Updated at 3:30 pm Pacific with details, AT&T response] Sprint (NYSE: [[ticker:S]]) was already cheering the federal government’s antitrust lawsuit against competitor AT&T’s $39 billion bid to acquire Bellevue, WA-based T-Mobile USA. Now, the third-place U.S. wireless carrier is putting some skin in the game with its own, separate civil suit, filed today in federal … Continue reading “Sprint Joins Antitrust Fight with New Lawsuit Against AT&T’s T-Mobile Bid”
Big Fish Gets New CFO from Amazon
Seattle casual games company Big Fish Games has added a former Amazon.com vice president as its new chief financial officer. David Stephenson replaces Michael Vernon, who left BigFish in May to join fast-growing Seattle daily-deal startup Zulily. Stephenson worked at Amazon (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMZN]]) for 11 years, most recently serving as vice president of finance for … Continue reading “Big Fish Gets New CFO from Amazon”
AT&T, T-Mobile, Decide: The 1-Minute Week in Seattle Tech Headlines
—The federal government’s surprise lawsuit to block the $39 billion merger of AT&T and T-Mobile dominated the region’s tech headlines last week, and the fallout will continue to turn heads for the rest of the year (and maybe beyond). I deconstructed the Justice Department’s arguments in this post, which is kind of a Cliff’s Notes … Continue reading “AT&T, T-Mobile, Decide: The 1-Minute Week in Seattle Tech Headlines”
Seattle Snippets: Windows Phone, Expedia, Bungie Aerospace
Fresh Mangoes: HTC, the handset maker with North American headquarters in Bellevue, WA, has unveiled its first phones running on Microsoft’s new “Mango” version of the Windows Phone operating system. The phones are named the Titan and the Radar—guess which one is bigger—and gadget geeks can check out a thorough demo via Engadget, which features … Continue reading “Seattle Snippets: Windows Phone, Expedia, Bungie Aerospace”
Decoding the DOJ’s Lawsuit Against the AT&T and T-Mobile Merger
The federal government has put its foot on AT&T’s proposed $39 billion buyout of Bellevue, WA-based T-Mobile USA, filing a lawsuit today that yanks the merger away from regulators at the Federal Communications Comission and puts the whole thing in the court system. If the Justice Department has its way, that’s where the story will … Continue reading “Decoding the DOJ’s Lawsuit Against the AT&T and T-Mobile Merger”
Decide’s Hunt for New-Gadget Rumors Points to the Future of Smarter Search
Oren Etzioni is getting a little impatient. More than dozen years after Google emerged from Stanford and set up shop in a California garage, the University of Washington professor and artificial intelligence expert says Internet search still isn’t evolving fast enough. Right now, as Etzioni recently wrote in Nature, the list of links coughed up … Continue reading “Decide’s Hunt for New-Gadget Rumors Points to the Future of Smarter Search”
Viableware Enters Pay-at-Table Wars
Paying for your restaurant tab by handing a credit card over to the server is suddenly sounding so last-decade, now that startups are starting to attack the restaurant payment game with new devices and technologies. I guess it shouldn’t be much of a surprise with the spread of powerful mobile computing, novel payment devices like Square, … Continue reading “Viableware Enters Pay-at-Table Wars”
SEOmoz, Jobs, Zillow: Your 1-Minute Guide to the Past Week in Seattle Tech
Rand Fishkin, the CEO of Seattle search-marketing software company SEOmoz, is known for his extensive blog posts that lift the curtain on running a startup company. But the amount of transparency he showed recently wowed even longtime observers, as Fishkin laid out an extremely open tale of a possible new round of venture capital. We … Continue reading “SEOmoz, Jobs, Zillow: Your 1-Minute Guide to the Past Week in Seattle Tech”
SEOmoz’s Disappearing VC Round: Transparency on Another Level
One of the most well-documented entrepreneurial sagas out there just got even more interesting. Rand Fishkin, the co-founder and CEO of Seattle search-marketing firm SEOmoz, has updated his extremely transparent journey toward a possible second venture capital round with a disappointing final note: The $24 million deal fell through at the last moment, after a … Continue reading “SEOmoz’s Disappearing VC Round: Transparency on Another Level”
Maveron Promotes Former Zynga Exec
Andrew Trader, an early executive at social-game juggernaut Zynga, has been promoted to venture partner at Maveron, the consumer-focused venture capital firm of Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. Trader started working with Maveron as an entrepreneur in residence since last fall. Trader was part of what’s been called the founding team at Zynga, where he focused … Continue reading “Maveron Promotes Former Zynga Exec”
Steve Jobs Calling: The Stuff of Customer Service Legend
Kevin Pedraja will be the first to admit he was just spouting off. Back in 2000, after an infuriating runaround with Apple about cracks in the plastic case of his shiny new Power Mac G4 Cube, Pedraja finally lost it and faxed a letter to Steve Jobs, threatening to use his professional PR skills to … Continue reading “Steve Jobs Calling: The Stuff of Customer Service Legend”
SEOmoz’s Fishkin: The Most Transparent Fundraising Saga Ever?
Rand Fishkin is not what you’d call a shy person. As the co-founder and CEO of Seattle search-marketing firm SEOmoz, Fishkin is a near-constant presence on almost any content channel you can think of. It’s good for his company, but unlike some other Internet oversharers, Fishkin also puts a premium on high-quality content. So, when … Continue reading “SEOmoz’s Fishkin: The Most Transparent Fundraising Saga Ever?”
Zillow Finds Profit in First Earnings Since IPO
[Updated at 4 pm Pacific] Real-estate website operator Zillow (NASDAQ: [[ticker:Z]]), which went public in late July, reached profitability in the second quarter on revenues of $15.8 million, more than double the sales of a year earlier. The Seattle company’s net income for the quarter was $1.6 million. A year earlier, it had lost $2 million. … Continue reading “Zillow Finds Profit in First Earnings Since IPO”
Inrix’s $37M Led July Equity Deals in WA; Varolii, Lucid Commerce, PayScale, Yapta Follow
Traffic-data company Inrix‘s $37 million investment round easily outpaced all other deals to top July’s $93 million tally of Washington state equity financing deals in technology, cleantech and life sciences, according to data compiled by our partners at CB Insights. Two companies tied for second place with $8 million, while PayScale came in fourth and Yapta’s … Continue reading “Inrix’s $37M Led July Equity Deals in WA; Varolii, Lucid Commerce, PayScale, Yapta Follow”
Microsoft, Medify, Evo Media: Your 1-Minute Week in Seattle Tech Headlines
Hewlett-Packard‘s surprise exit from the mobile computing business roiled the tech world last week—and its effects will be wide-ranging for a long time. Here in the Seattle area, the change cements Microsoft (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MSFT]]) as “the vital new underdog” in mobile computing, as Xconomy’s Wade Roush wrote in the latest edition of his weekly column. … Continue reading “Microsoft, Medify, Evo Media: Your 1-Minute Week in Seattle Tech Headlines”
Motricity CEO Wuerch Out
Ryan Wuerch is out as CEO of Motricity (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MOTR]]) and is no longer on the board, the company announced today. Motricity said Wuerch’s termination was “mutually agreed,” but it gave no reason for the change. President and chief operating officer Jim Smith was named interim CEO, and is being considered for the permanent position … Continue reading “Motricity CEO Wuerch Out”
Laser Maker nLight Adds $17.5M, Mulls IPO
Semiconductor laser manufacturer nLight Corp. is heading toward a possible public stock offering after completing a $17.5 million round of venture financing from existing investors. In an interview with VentureWire, chief financial officer Dave Schaezler said nLight is “at a size where it makes sense to plan for an IPO,” although the Vancouver, WA-based company doesn’t … Continue reading “Laser Maker nLight Adds $17.5M, Mulls IPO”
Medify, Stocked with Farecast Vets, Digs Deep into Online Health Data
Saving money on a flight to visit your sick grandma is pretty easy these days. Finding out whether her doctor is using the latest treatment is another thing entirely. And piercing that veil in the healthcare delivery system is exactly what Seattle startup Medify is trying to do. The airfare comparison is no accident, by … Continue reading “Medify, Stocked with Farecast Vets, Digs Deep into Online Health Data”
Why All the Churn Around Clearwire? It’s All About the Spectrum
It’s been quite a month so far for Kirkland, WA’s Clearwire (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CLWR]]), and that would be true even if the markets weren’t riding out an anxiety-fueled funnel cloud that has hammered plenty of technology stocks. Then again, turbulence is nothing new to Clearwire overall—the company has been plowing ahead with a huge makeover in … Continue reading “Why All the Churn Around Clearwire? It’s All About the Spectrum”
Point Inside’s GPS for Shoppers Grows Revenue, Looks for More Investment
Josh Marti’s wife is one organized lady. When she sends him a text message with the night’s grocery shopping, it’s arranged like a roadmap to the whole store, with items listed in the order they’re found in the aisles for maximum turn-by-turn efficiency. With four daughters at home, that list is one heck of a … Continue reading “Point Inside’s GPS for Shoppers Grows Revenue, Looks for More Investment”
Bezos Gives $10M to Museum
Billionaire Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is giving $10 million to establish a “Center for Innovation” at Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry, which is moving into a new headquarters next year near the new Amazon (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AMZN]]) campus in the South Lake Union neighborhood. The new center will focus on the legacy of … Continue reading “Bezos Gives $10M to Museum”
Zulily, OpsCode, Clearwire: Your 1-Minute Weekly Roundup of Seattle Tech Headlines
One of Seattle’s hotter tech startups, Zulily, has been operating fairly under the radar in recent months, even as competitors in the daily deals/private sales sector court tons of publicity. That modesty ebbed a bit last week, when Zulily announced that it had raised $43 million in venture financing to help fuel its growth in … Continue reading “Zulily, OpsCode, Clearwire: Your 1-Minute Weekly Roundup of Seattle Tech Headlines”
Get Big, Get Small, Get Lucky: Why EVO Media Was Ready When Opportunity Came Calling
When the customer that would transform their business came calling, the entrepreneurs behind Seattle’s EVO Media Group weren’t exactly flying high. After a $1.5 million fundraising round and a period of rapid hiring, the three-year-old startup was confronting an intractably slow economy and a target market that wasn’t generating enough sales. EVO was forced to … Continue reading “Get Big, Get Small, Get Lucky: Why EVO Media Was Ready When Opportunity Came Calling”
WA VCs Invest in OR Cloud Startups
A couple of financing deals on the radar this week for Oregon-based cloud computing firms, with the money coming from Seattle-area venture capitalists. The first was the $6 million round for Portland’s Cedexis, which helps companies monitor cloud computing performance. Madrona Venture Group of Seattle was named as an investor, along with Palo Alto, CA-based … Continue reading “WA VCs Invest in OR Cloud Startups”
Fast-Growing Zulily Adds $43M, Wants to Stand Alone in Mom & Baby Deals
Here’s one way to measure a fast-growing company: It runs through four different headquarters in about 18 months just to contain all the employees. That’s the story with Zulily, one of Seattle’s main contenders in the exploding (and crowded) marketplace for digital discount shopping. Zulily operates a members-only daily deals service targeting moms, bringing discounts … Continue reading “Fast-Growing Zulily Adds $43M, Wants to Stand Alone in Mom & Baby Deals”
Lighter Capital: $500K Up for Grabs
Lighter Capital, Seattle’s newly rebranded revenue-based financing startup, is trying to drum up more applications from “weird stuff that makes money” by promising it will lend up to $500,000 to at least one company that applies in August. The winner has to fit Lighter Capital’s requirements—generally speaking, companies that have “a proven revenue model and … Continue reading “Lighter Capital: $500K Up for Grabs”
New Clearwire CEO Faces Tough Road as Wireless Provider Looks for Cash
Clearwire has named Erik Prusch its new president and CEO, replacing interim chief John Stanton as the Kirkland, WA-based wireless broadband provider struggles with Wall Street doubts about its future. Prusch joined Clearwire (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CLWR]]) in 2009 as chief financial officer, and as the press release notes, helped the company raise more than $6 billion … Continue reading “New Clearwire CEO Faces Tough Road as Wireless Provider Looks for Cash”
New York Cloud Startup Apprenda Expanding to Seattle Area, Targets Microsoft’s Backyard
Money goes out, people come in. That’s the plan for the latest out-of-town investment by Bellevue, WA-based Ignition Partners, which led a $10 million growth round for Clifton Park, NY-based cloud computing startup Apprenda. I caught up with Apprenda CEO Sinclair Schuller after Tuesday’s announcement to get some more details on a nugget that wasn’t … Continue reading “New York Cloud Startup Apprenda Expanding to Seattle Area, Targets Microsoft’s Backyard”
Ignition Leads $10M in Apprenda
Bellevue, WA’s Ignition Partners continues its string of cloud computing investments since bringing on longtime software entrepreneur and executive Frank Artale. Today, the venture firm is leading a $10 million Series B round in Apprenda, a Clifton Park, NY-based company that sells cloud infrastructure software services. Artale, who has been an adviser to the company … Continue reading “Ignition Leads $10M in Apprenda”
CEO Change at DocuSign
Keith Krach, chairman of Seattle electronic-signature company DocuSign, is also taking over chief executive duties. He replaces Steve King, who was named CEO in January 2010. Founder Tom Gonser is quoted in the company’s press release praising King, and King is on record praising Krach. The company didn’t give explicit reasons for the change, but … Continue reading “CEO Change at DocuSign”
Video: Concur’s Steve Singh Talks Market Sell-Off and Tech Stocks with CNBC
Steve Singh, the chairman and CEO of Redmond, WA-based Concur Technologies, put the recent stock market swoon in perspective on CNBC yesterday for this “From the C-Suite” segment. While obviously worrisome, Singh takes a somewhat longer view that technology spending—by businesses in particular—will remain strong because it drives productivity. Singh said Concur (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CNQR]]), which … Continue reading “Video: Concur’s Steve Singh Talks Market Sell-Off and Tech Stocks with CNBC”
Former Avanade Chief Takes the Helm at Cloud-Services Startup Opscode
Opscode, a young Seattle company that sells cloud-computing management services, has added some executive firepower to help manage its growth—co-founder Jesse Robbins is handing over chief executive duties to Mitch Hill, founding CEO of tech-services company Avanade. Robbins, an Amazon.com veteran, is staying on board as chief community officer to guide work on Chef, Opscode’s … Continue reading “Former Avanade Chief Takes the Helm at Cloud-Services Startup Opscode”
Startup Weekend, Sucker Punch, Dashwire: Your 1-Minute Week in Seattle Tech News
Last week was acquisition mania in the Seattle tech sector—but before we get to that part of our weekly review, let’s get deep for a minute. In this story, I took a look at the international growth of Startup Weekend, and how its format hits on the same mental triggers that make your favorite video … Continue reading “Startup Weekend, Sucker Punch, Dashwire: Your 1-Minute Week in Seattle Tech News”
Zipline Adds Ex-Microsoft Games VP
Zipline Games, the Seattle startup behind the Moai platform for mobile games (and its own forthcoming casual game titles), is adding a game-industry heavyweight. Shane Kim, the former corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios, is now a Zipline board member. CEO Todd Hooper also confirms that Zipline has added $400,000 in angel financing from … Continue reading “Zipline Adds Ex-Microsoft Games VP”
Gamification Startup BigDoor Media Levels Up to Bigger Digs, Keeps on Hiring
Can a company that hands out digital coins make real money? That’s the idea at Seattle’s BigDoor Media, a growing startup playing in the burgeoning field of gamification. In case you’ve missed it—which is possible, since the phenomenon is really less than two years old—gamification is the video game-inspired idea that businesses can get users … Continue reading “Gamification Startup BigDoor Media Levels Up to Bigger Digs, Keeps on Hiring”
HTC Buys Dashwire to Boost Mobile Cloud Service
[Updated 2:40 pm Pacific] This week of acquisitions in Seattle tech is going out with a bang. Taiwan-based mobile device maker HTC announced early Friday that it is buying Seattle mobile data-syncing startup Dashwire for as much as $18.5 million, making the smaller company a wholly owned subsidiary through its American unit. Dashwire’s products synchronize … Continue reading “HTC Buys Dashwire to Boost Mobile Cloud Service”
Hipcricket Acquired by Augme for $44.5M to Combine Mobile Marketing Forces
[Updated at 12:15 Pacific with Hipcricket comment] OK, it’s officially M&A week in Seattle. Today we have Kirkland, WA mobile advertising software company Hipcricket being acquired by New York-based Augme Technologies for $44.5 million upfront—$6 million in cash and the balance in Augme stock. The price also could climb by another $27.5 million if Hipcricket … Continue reading “Hipcricket Acquired by Augme for $44.5M to Combine Mobile Marketing Forces”
Midweek Roundup: AdXpose & Griptonite Sold, Clearwire Reaches for LTE, Fundraising Tidbits
Online advertising company AdXpose is the latest Seattle-area tech firm to get snapped up by a bigger company, joining forces with comScore (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SCOR]]) in a transaction worth $22 million, mostly in comScore stock. And it sounds like the AdXpose team doesn’t have to sweat layoffs because of the buyout: CTO Greg Harrison tells Brier Dudley … Continue reading “Midweek Roundup: AdXpose & Griptonite Sold, Clearwire Reaches for LTE, Fundraising Tidbits”
How Game Psychology Helped Startup Weekend Become a Global Phenomenon
A couple of years ago, three guys crammed together in a Seattle condo were trying to turn a 54-hour crash-innovation meetup called Startup Weekend into something much bigger. Today, their humble little nonprofit is a global phenomenon, attracting some 36,000 people to events in about 200 cities around the world. Stocked with top mentors, touting some … Continue reading “How Game Psychology Helped Startup Weekend Become a Global Phenomenon”
Ex-Yahoos Raise $3.2M for ChoozOn
More money for online deals? You betcha. This time it’s Bellevue, WA-based ChoozOn, which is developing a consumer service to help shoppers sift and aggregate sales, deals, and offers from different sources. The company has raised $3.2 million, led by Michael Orsak of Worldview Technology Partners and James Brown of AVG Ventures. ChoozOn was founded … Continue reading “Ex-Yahoos Raise $3.2M for ChoozOn”
Indie Game Studio Sucker Punch Gobbled by Sony, Will Stay in Seattle Area
Bellevue, WA’s Sucker Punch Productions is heading to the mothership. After a longtime partnership developing games for Sony’s PlayStation consoles, Sucker Punch will become Sony Computer Entertainment’s 16th studio. Terms of the acquisition weren’t disclosed, but Sony says Sucker Punch will keep its current headquarters. Sucker Punch, founded in 1997 by former Microsofties, is known … Continue reading “Indie Game Studio Sucker Punch Gobbled by Sony, Will Stay in Seattle Area”