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

Jim Olson

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

Boris Wertz

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

keiretsu

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…

Seattle angels on what they look for in entrepreneurs, and why startups fail

Gaylord Kellogg; Geoff Entress; Andy Liu and Seaton Gras

You’ve got to be able to run through walls, leverage connections and  focus on revenue — all while raising money. Those were some of the tidbits of advice today at the World Financial Symposiums conference in downtown Seattle where three of Seattle’s leading angel investors — Andy Liu, Geoff Entress and Gaylord Kellogg — discussed… Read More…

TechStars grad FlexMinder raises $1.4 million to better manage healthcare accounts

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The health care system in the U.S. remains a confusing landscape, which is creating all sorts of new business opportunities. FlexMinder, which aggregates and automates the reimbursement process for healthcare flexible spending accounts, believes its software can help solve an important piece of the health care puzzle.  And some investors agree. FlexMinder, a 2011 graduate… Read More…