Large shareholder claims Clearwire has ‘stacked the deck’ in favor of Sprint deal

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Clearwire Chairman John Stanton is back again today urging shareholders to vote for Sprint’s $3.40 per share offer, a deal which represents a 14 percent premium over the previous $2.97 per share offer. The vote will be counted at a special meeting of shareholders on May 31, and could end the months-long back-and-forth bidding for… Read More…

Amazon, Apple, Facebook or Google: Who is building the coolest tech campus?

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One looks like a futuristic spaceship, another includes three steel and glass biodomes. A third is being developed by world-class architect Frank Gehry, and the fourth spans 42-acres on a former airfield. Welcome to the wonderful world of “geek-tecture” where Apple, Amazon.com, Facebook and Google are all trying to outdo one another with new corporate… Read More…

Amazon’s amazing biodome; Paul Allen’s abstract art; and other top stories of the week

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It’s Memorial Day Weekend. So, before the BBQs fire up and the engines purr at Indy, we’d like to take a moment and say thanks to those who’ve served our country and made the ultimate sacrifice. These efforts have allowed our country to thrive, making it a place where entrepreneurs of all stripes can focus on… Read More…

Fast-growing Solavei scores fresh cash, aims to top $100M in revenue

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Solavei, which rewards customers for signing up friends, family and co-workers for its wireless service, has scored $2 million in fresh funding from boutique investment banking firm Clark Dodge & Company, GeekWire has learned. The cash is part of a larger financing round that is expected to close in the coming months, and it brings total funding… Read More…

Dave McClure’s 500 Startups backs online presentation upstart 9Slides

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9Slides, the maker of online presentation software that syncs video with slides, has raised capital from Dave McClure’s 500 Startups as well as angel investors such as Terrapass co-founder Karl Ulrich and Tom Miner. 9Slides rolled out its iPad app in February, competing alongside fellow Seattle area startup Haiku Deck. The company’s other backers include Rudy… Read More…

Appature’s Kabir Shahani: Startups are 95% luck, 4% timing and 1% hard work

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Appature CEO Kabir Shahani is one of the most energetic and charismatic young entrepreneurs in Seattle. He’s also wise beyond his years, with a startup flop and a big success under his belt. So, who better to speak to a group of emerging student entrepreneurs than the 30-year-old UW grad, who is still flying high… Read More…

INRIX reacts quickly to I-5 bridge collapse, says traffic delays minimal right now

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One Seattle area tech company jumped into action shortly after a portion of Interstate 5 bridge spanning the Skagit River collapsed Thursday night. Within minutes, Kirkland-based INRIX had received notifications from the Washington Department of Transportation of the collapse and had put an operations team in place to update its traffic navigation apps and services…. Read More…

Glympse CEO Bryan Trussel: You really don’t want to take the startup leap, do you?

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I’ve seen a lot of entrepreneurs over the years talk about what it’s like to create a startup, explaining in detail the excitement, fear and, sometimes, lonely journey that makes up the startup voyage. But I’ve never seen all of those emotions summarized so well as Glympse co-founder Bryan Trussel did last night at the Get… Read More…

Geek Humor: Jon Stewart rips Apple and U.S. Senators

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This is absolutely hilarious. Comedian Jon Stewart rips into iPhone-loving U.S. Senators who were fawning over Apple CEO Tim Cook during his recent testimony on Capitol Hill. “Apparently there is nothing Apple can do to get us mad at them,” Stewart notes. “We could find out they’re using kitten hearts to power iPhones and we’d… Read More…

Melinda Gates ranks #3 on list of most powerful women

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Move over Oprah. Melinda Gates is out to change the world, and she’s moving up the list of the most powerful women. Forbes released its annual ranking of the 100 most powerful women in the world, and Seattle’s very own philanthropic powerhouse ranked third behind German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff. I guess that’s what… Read More…

Meet the clean water startup that just won 1st place in the UW biz plan competition

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When you think about innovation, water usually isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. But there’s a big problem to solve in cleaning up contaminated water, making it safe to drink or re-use. And for the second time in the past three years, a startup company that promises to clean up contaminated water has… Read More…

Bridge span collapses over I-5 near Mount Vernon

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Interstate 5 is snarled this evening after a bridge spanning the Skagit River near Mount Vernon collapsed. According to KING 5, the incident occurred around 7 p.m. and northbound and southbound lanes are now closed. It’s unclear at this point what caused the collapse and how many people were injured, but eyewitnesses indicated that some… Read More…

Holy, Womp Rats! Check out this amazing full-scale Lego model of an X-Wing Fighter

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OK, now this is about the coolest thing we’ve seen today. The folks over at Gizmodo get an inside look at a full-scale X-Wing Fighter — made out of Legos. That’s right. Legos. In fact, it took 5,335,200 bricks to create the 11-foot tall and 43-foot long masterpiece. Seeing is believing, so take a look at… Read More…

Ride sharing service Lyft zooms forward with $60M from Andreessen Horowitz

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Lyft, the ride sharing service known for the distinctive pink mustaches that drivers attach to their vehicles, has raised $60 million in venture funding from Silicon Valley powerhouse Andreessen Horowitz. The new funding values the San Francisco-based company at $275 million, according to The Wall Street Journal. The new money will be used to supercharge… Read More…

Medical device maker Ekos acquired in $180M deal

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Ekos, a Bothell medical device maker whose catheter-based ultrasound devices are used to break up blood clots in legs, has been acquired by British pharmaceutical company BTG for $180 million. The deal also includes up to $40 million in additional payouts if milestones are met. In addition to Ekos, BTG also agreed to purchased Nordion’s… Read More…

Calling all entrepreneurs: Startup Weekend and Startup America launch UP Global

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Startup Weekend is joining forces with Startup America to launch UP Global, a new program designed to help entrepreneurs through the entire startup journey. As part of the effort, UP Global will combine the education-oriented programs of Startup Weekend with the regional community networking programs of Startup America. “Startup Weekend and Startup America Partnership have been among the drivers… Read More…

Report: Zulily rival Totsy is going down the tubes

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Did Totsy just tumble? That’s the word from PandoDaily, which reports that the money-losing New York-based flash sales site is chopping its staff of 83 and looking to sell its list of four million email subscribers. That could mean one less competitor for Zulily, the fast-growing Seattle e-commerce giant which, like Totsy, specializes in selling… Read More…

Amazon Web Services expanding in northern Virginia, plans to hire 500

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Amazon.com is expanding its footprint in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, with Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell announcing today that the company’s Amazon Web Services unit plans to open a new office in Herndon, Virginia area. The expansion could add as many as 500 engineering and IT jobs in the area, and it comes about two… Read More…

LexisNexis closing Bellevue offices, 80 people impacted

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LexisNexis is closing its Bellevue operations at the end of this year, a decision that will impact about 80 people. The company’s Legal & Professional services business, which employs about 10,000 worldwide, established operations in the Seattle area through its acquisition of online document retrieval startup CourtLink in 2001. The company issued this statement when… Read More…

Bruce Montgomery biotech startup Cardeas Pharma raises $34 million

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It has been a good week for the Seattle life sciences community. On Monday, Seattle genomics tool maker NanoString Technologies filed for an initial public offering that could raise up to $86 million. Now, comes word that Cardeas Pharma Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company led by Seattle biotech veteran Bruce Montgomery, has raised $34 million in funding…. Read More…