Q&A: Photo sharing upstart Linea raises $4 million to fix ‘broken photo libraries’

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It’s 2013 — nearly 10 years after the founding of Flickr and more than a year after Facebook bought Instagram — and yet we still can’t seem to find the perfect way to store and share photos. Well, here comes Linea, a new Seattle startup that just scored $4 million in angel financing from undisclosed… 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…

SquareHub emerges with high-profile backers and a goal to connect families

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Dave Cotter is a divorced father of three girls — a busy guy who struggles to keep up with his family’s hectic schedule. “My ex wife and I were just looking for a better way to stay coordinated,” says Cotter, a well known entrepreneur who previously served as a general manager at Amazon.com. From that personal… Read More…

Proof of concept: Majority of angel investments made in revenue producing startups

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Angel investors historically have placed bets at the earliest stages of a company’s formation, oftentimes when the business is nothing more than an idea on the back of a napkin. But as the venture capital marketplace shifts, so is angel investing. According to a new report out today from The Angel Resource Institute, Silicon Valley Bank and CB Insights,… Read More…

After bootstrapping to $10M in sales, BizX scores real cash for virtual currency

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Why pay cash, when you can just trade for services? That’s the question driving BizX, which is not your traditional startup. Founded in 2002 by Bob Bagga, Chris Haddawy and Raj Kapoor, the Bellevue-based online bartering service last year posted revenue of $10 million after helping to facilitate more than $60 million in transactions. Not bad… Read More…

Relaborate scores cash to help big brands figure out what to write about

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Relaborate has raised more than $500,000 in a first round of funding, money that the Seattle startup will use to continue to developing what it dubs a “smart content marketing engine” for companies. As part of the round, some of the company’s initial users have become angel investors. “We help solve problems businesses face by… Read More…

Welcome to the Northwest (where startups are cheaper than the Valley)

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I got a call last week from a Bay Area venture capitalist who was gathering intel on the Pacific Northwest, wondering what the region was all about and how they might be able to make a mark in this mossy land. Part of the discussion turned to valuations, and we discussed how a VC’s dollar… Read More…

Yes, it really is harder to land that series A round from VCs

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A lot has been made about the so-called “series A crunch” — the idea that it is increasingly challenging for early-stage companies to continue to raise financing as they move beyond the idea stage. That’s always been the case in the startup arena with more carnage in the earliest of stages of development. But a… Read More…

Obituary: Angel investor Bob Arnold helped dozens of entrepreneurs take flight

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Seattle lost one of its most prolific angel investors last month when former banking executive Robert Arnold died at the age of 84 after a brief illness. Arnold was one of the most active angel investors in the Pacific Northwest, using his skills as a banker as well as his love of people to discover… Read More…

Find the perfect birthday spot: PlaceFull lands $1M to connect busy parents with hot venues

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Seattle startup PlaceFull has reeled in $1 million in cash to continue building out a service for helping folks find the perfect party spot — whether laser tag, pottery painting or educational day camps. We previously reported on $500,000 of the round, which was provided by Seattle angels last year. At the time, the company… Read More…

PetHub scores cash to make sure Fido, Rover and Spot never go missing again

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Dogs and cats go missing every day, but Seattle startup PetHub wants to help discover those wayward canines and felines via the power of technology. The three-year-old company, maker of a QR code pet-finding tag that attaches to a pet’s collar, just landed $375,000 of $750,000 round. Part of the funding is coming via angel investor… Read More…

Seattle super angels sink cash in shopping app Zoomingo

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Some of Seattle’s top angel investors are tossing their support behind Zoomingo, the mobile shopping application developed by serial entrepreneur Shirish Nadkarni. Investing in the new round are former Facebook general counsel Rudy Gadre, former Smilebox CEO Andrew Wright and former Twango CEO Serena Glover. Total funding in Zoomingo, which raised $1.3 million from Benaroya… Read More…

Blaze Bioscience raises $8.5M to help surgeons pinpoint cancer cells with ‘tumor paint’

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Seattle biotechnology startup Blaze Bioscience has raised $8.5 million to continue developing technologies that  are designed to help surgeons more easily identify cancer cells in the body. Total funding in the company, with operations in the South Lake Union area of Seattle, now stands at $9.8 million. Blaze said that the money came from individual… Read More…

B.C. super angel Boris Wertz keeps on trucking, raises another $4M for Version One

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It’s a tough time for many in the venture business, with many firms struggling to raise new funds. But don’t tell that to Boris Wertz, the Vancouver, B.C.-based super angel and former COO of AbeBooks. After successfully raising an oversubscribed $15 million venture fund last summer, Wertz has attracted more cash from Business Development Bank of… Read More…

Seattle cloud startup Scope 5 raises $500,000 to track sustainability data

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Seattle startup Scope 5 has scooped up $500,000 in angel financing, money that it will use to build out its cloud-based service for tracking sustainability data. Funding was provided in part by the Northwest Energy Angels. “Increasingly companies are connecting the social value of emissions reductions with the business value of reduced costs,” said Scope… Read More…

Seattle angel group Keiretsu Forum invests $20M in 34 startups in 2012

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The Keiretsu Forum Northwest today announced that it invested $20.1 million in 34 companies last year, backing startups such as iCapEquity, Journey Gym, Minetta Brook and Puralytics. All but three of the investments were new deals, with technology companies receiving 43 percent of the funding. That was followed by life sciences (30 percent) and real… Read More…

This startup just raised $1M for an algorithm to help employers fill engineering jobs

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Everywhere you go in the tech industry these days companies are struggling to find smart engineers, designers and developers. Enter Group Talent. This Seattle/San Fran/NYC startup, which just scored $1 million in seed funding, has developed a matching engine that’s designed to pinpoint the perfect fit for your engineering jobs. Since Valentine’s Day is in… Read More…

Startup tries new approach to dating: Let your avatars get to know each other first

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Anomo is a new Seattle mobile startup that’s looking to solve an age-old dilemma: How do you find that special someone? The company, which recently landed a $255,000 seed round from Kiss.com founder Lee Zehrer; Pirq CEO James Sun and Microsoft vice president Amit Mital, has a unique approach to matchmaking. It forces everyone to… Read More…

CloudSway raises $1.4M to boost collaboration around financial information

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As we’ve noted in the past, there’s no shortage of companies trying to make it easier for teams of employees to collaborate around various business tasks. (Examples in the Seattle area include Smartsheet.com (which just raised $26 million); Liquid Planner and recent TechStars grad Sandglaz). Now, a new Tacoma startup is getting in the game,… Read More…

Startup Jedi: 3 phrases every VC or angel wants to hear during a pitch

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[Editor's note: Startup Jedi is a new column by GeekWire chairman, investor and serial entrepreneur Jonathan Sposato. Future columns will be made available exclusively to GeekWire members in a special members-only area of the site. You can become a GeekWire member by registering here]. I hear a lot of startup pitches. I can tell you… Read More…