Transforming takeout: Madrona’s Brian McAndrews named chairman of merged GrubHub and Seamless

Brian McAndrews

Brian McAndrews, the former aQuantive CEO who now serves as a venture partner at Seattle’s Madrona Venture Group, is already playing a role in the transformation of the news business (as a board member at The New York Times) and of the mobile broadband business (as a board member at Clearwire). Now, the former online… Read More…

Apptio raises $45 million at a hefty valuation, plans to accelerate ‘on all fronts’

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Apptio is not playing small ball. Just 14 months after raising a $50 million venture round, Bellevue-based Apptio is back with a little more cash in its pocket. The company, which offers on-demand software and services for managing corporate IT departments, today is announcing that it has raised another $45 million in series E funding. It marks… Read More…

These new mini robots could teach your 5-year-old how to program

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Kids love robots. And now a new San Francisco area company, backed with $1 million from the likes of Google Ventures and Madrona Venture Group, is looking to develop a new class of low-cost robots designed to help five to eight-year-olds learn the basics of programming. All Things D has details on Play-i, which is… Read More…

Heralded UW computer science professor scores $6.75M for GraphLab, looking to make better online recommendations

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It was a major coup last summer when The University of Washington hooked computer science professor Carlos Guestrin, a leading data scientist and expert in machine learning. What wasn’t widely known at the time was that the Guestrin-led open source project, an ambitious undertaking known as GraphLab.org, would soon sprout into its very own startup. But that’s… Read More…

GeekWire Awards: Vote for Startup of the Year

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We’re nearing the end of the voting for the GeekWire Awards, and today we’ve got a big category on hand: Startup of the Year. To qualify for Startup of the Year, companies had to be three years or younger, and on a fast-track to success. We’re expecting a tight competition in this field of contenders,… Read More…

GeekWire Awards: Vote for Startup Deal of the Year

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OK, geek fans, we’re back for another round of voting in the GeekWire Awards. And today’s category promises to be a fun and competitive one: Startup Deal of the Year, presented by UK Trade & Investment. We’ve got some top-notch companies and firms in the running this year, and we’re curious to see how this one… Read More…

After series of pivots, Haiku Deck scores $3 million to make presentation tools fun

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Haiku Deck has reeled in $3 million in fresh funding, money that the Seattle startup will use to continue to build out its easy-to-use presentation tools. Trilogy Partnership led the round, with Madrona Venture Group, Founder’s Co-op, entrepreneur Sarah Leary and others also participating. The TechStars Seattle grad, led by former Cranium executive Adam Tratt,… Read More…

Ignition Partners raises $150M fund, opens new Silicon Valley office

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It’s a new era for Ignition Partners. The Bellevue venture capital firm has a new fund, new offices and a new direction as it celebrates its 13th year. Today, the firm — an investor in companies such as Glympse, DocuSign and Splunk — is announcing that it has closed on a $150 million fund. Ignition’s… Read More…

Decide.com lands $8 million, names former drugstore.com CEO to board

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Decide.com has reeled in $8 million in fresh funding, money that the Seattle startup will use to hire more engineers and developers to crunch data in order to tell consumers what products to buy.  Paul Allen’s Vulcan Capital led the deal, making the round a decidedly Seattle affair. Other investors included Seattle venture capital firms… Read More…

Men’s fashion site Indochino sews up $13 million to help guys sharpen their style

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Indochino, the Vancouver, B.C.-based men’s fashion site, has pulled in $13 million in fresh funding that it will use to build out its e-commerce site for suits, shirts, and other custom menswear. The deal was led by Highland Consumer Fund, with existing investors such as Madrona Venture Group, former Yahoo executive Jeff Mallett and others participating… Read More…