Q&A: Rich Barton and Nick Hanauer on why Seattle is a great ‘startup cake’ (and NYC has a ‘sell out’ culture)

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We had a blast catching up with Seattle technology entrepreneurs and investors Rich Barton and Nick Hanauer on last weekend’s GeekWire podcast and radio show. Barton, the former CEO of Expedia and co-founder of Zillow, and Hanauer, an early investor in Amazon.com and aQuantive, like to think big as they look at ways to be… Read More…

This startup mines your Twitter stream to tell you what books to read

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Struggling to figure out what books to take to the lake house this summer? Well, you might want to consider BookVibe. The service, a product of San Francisco startup Parakweet, mines your Twitter feed to discover the most appropriate books that your friends are recommending or chatting about. Here’s a look at my BookVibe, which… Read More…

Microsoft Courier vets score $15M from Andreessen Horowitz to expand beyond blockbuster iPad app Paper

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FiftyThree, maker of the sketching and illustration app Paper, the Apple 2012 iPad App of the Year, has scored $15 million in fresh funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Highline Ventures, Thrive Capital, SV Angels and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. The company has offices in New York and Seattle, and the new funds will be used to make a… Read More…

Big data startup SpaceCurve lands $10 million

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SpaceCurve, which is developing a big data platform that it says provides “instantaneous intelligence” for location-based services, commodities and other markets, today is announcing that it has raised $10 million in venture funding. Investors in the deal include Triage Ventures, Reed Elsevier Ventures and Divergent Ventures. The money will be used to fund the Seattle company’s… Read More…

Game over? Heavily-funded iPad device maker Discovery Bay Games vanishes without explanation

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It looks like time has run out on Discovery Bay Games, a Seattle-based maker of gaming accessories and add-ons for tablet computers. Sources tell GeekWire that the company closed its doors in May. We contacted Bob Belknap, VP of Finance at Discovery Bay Games, but he would neither confirm nor deny the closure. Belknap said he “couldn’t… Read More…

Yabbly raises cash to help consumers get product advice, names Ben Huh and Andy Liu to advisory board

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Yabbly, the Seattle startup that’s looking to help consumers get solid advice on consumer products, everything from smartphones to baby strollers, has raised an additional $500,000 in angel financing from a group of a dozen investors. Total funding now stands at $1.3 million, with investors such as former Facebook general counsel Rudy Gadre; former Qpass… Read More…

A new marketplace: Nimia offers one-stop shop for managing and licensing professional video

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Zach McIntosh was busy wrapping up another video production project for National Geographic when he first realized a big problem: Someone at National Geographic had licensed content he had produced without him even knowing. “I realized there was a synergy to be made between contractual and license video production,” McIntosh recalled. Fast forward two years… Read More…

GeekWire 200 update: Bye, bye Tableau, and other big changes in our startup index

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This month’s GeekWire 200 update isn’t so much about who is moving up the charts, but who moved off the list. We waved goodbye to longtime powerhouse Tableau Software after its spectacular IPO on Wall Street, which has valued the company at more than $3 billion. The company previously ranked 4th on the list. As… Read More…

Report: Portland’s AppFog to be acquired by Savvis

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Portland platform-as-a-service startup AppFog is set to be acquired by Savvis, the big co-location and data center operator that’s owned by CenturyLink, according to a report in GigaOm. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But it could mark an exit for three Seattle venture capital firms — Ignition, Madrona Venture Group and Founder’s Co-op…. Read More…

Commentary: Tough love and less purity for impact entrepreneurs

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One reason I love getting to know social impact entrepreneurs is that they are among the most sincerely passionate folks you’ll ever meet.  They’re not just enthusiastic and driven. Social impact entrepreneurs care deeply and passionately, about their projects in a very personal way.  And their missions are often so profound and inspiring that I… Read More…

Q&A: Madrona’s Julie Sandler on startups, women in tech and getting promoted at Seattle’s top VC firm

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Venture capitalists tend to have sharp elbows and prickly demeanors. But Julie Sandler, who joined Madrona Venture Group two years ago after a stint on Amazon.com’s Kindle team, is taking a different approach as she builds bridges in the Seattle entrepreneurial community. “Our entrepreneurs rave about working with Julie,” says Madrona’s Greg Gottesman. “One of… Read More…

USA Today owner Gannett to buy KING parent Belo for $1.5B

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Big acquisition in the media world this morning: Belo Corp., the parent company of television stations including Seattle’s KING-TV, has agreed to be acquired by USA Today owner Gannett Co. for $1.5 billion in cash. The deal will add 20 television stations to Gannett’s portfolio, nearly doubling the Virginia-based company’s TV holdings. Belo, based in… Read More…

CreativeLive opens new broadcast studio in bid to take live educational courses mainstream

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CreativeLive, the fast-growing online education startup founded by photographer Chase Jarvis and entrepreneur Craig Swanson, is getting ready to open its next chapter. The startup company — founded in Seattle in 2010 — today is announcing that it plans to open a new 12,000 square foot broadcast studio in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill neighborhood. The new… Read More…

Tips: How to ask strangers for large sums of money

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Seattle is a hotbed of business happy hours — those awkward events designed for introducing people whose only known shared interest is that they’d rather be home watching Downton Abbey. It’s hard to find meaningful connection in a room teeming with stunted introductions and feigned interest. But one noted exception are the events hosted by Zealyst,… Read More…

Buying the best baby stroller: Decide.com unveils new baby gear category in major push to reach 100 million products

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As recent parents certainly can attest, it can be absolutely mind-numbing attempting to find the best value on baby products like cribs, strollers, car seats and play pens. I know in our family, we’ve spent hundreds of shopping hours trying to track down the best and most durable kids’ products. (The best of which being… Read More…

AMD finally gets @AMD thanks to Seattle entrepreneur’s creative charity swap

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Advanced Micro Devices is a 44-year-old Silicon Valley semiconductor giant, best known by the initials AMD. It’s the brand you see in marketing materials, and the stock symbol it uses on The New York Stock Exchange. Seattle entrepreneur Adam M. Doppelt is an AMD too, as those are the initials he’s had since birth 37… Read More…

InternMatch raises $4M to connect college kids with hot employers

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The market for talent continues to heat up, which means it is more important than ever for big and small companies alike to try to track down the sharpest college kids around. Enter InternMatch, a three-year-old startup that got its start in Seattle but now calls the San Francisco Bay Area home. The company, which… Read More…

Optimum Energy heats up with $12.2M to intelligently adjust temperature settings in buildings

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Optimum Energy, a Seattle startup whose software intelligently adjusts a building’s temperature in order to reduce energy consumption, has scored $12.2 million in fresh financing from new investor Navitas Capital and existing investor Columbia Pacific Advisors, GeekWire has learned. The company says it has been experiencing “torrid” growth, with the software now used to manage heating… Read More…

What’s your teen’s future? Sparkon maps a path for life

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Do you have a teen who’s trying to find a direction in life? Maybe you know a kid who’s really passionate about video games, but doesn’t know what skills they need to make it in the industry. Sparkon, a Redmond-based startup that launches today, aims to provide resources for teens who have questions like those… Read More…