TechStars Spotlight: Tred aims to help dealers, shoppers with test drives

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[Editor's note: GeekWire is running a series of profiles on the startups participating in this year's class in the TechStars Seattle incubator program. Check back each day at 1:30 p.m. for a new profile, leading up to Demo Day on Nov. 1] Grant Feek spent high school and college summers working at BMW dealerships in… Read More…

TechStars Spotlight: Task manager Sandglaz looks to boost team productivity

Sandglaz CEO Nada Aldahleh

[Editor's note: GeekWire is running a series of profiles on the startups participating in this year's TechStars Seattle incubator program. Check back each day at 1:30 p.m. for a new profile, leading up to Demo Day on Nov 1.] There’s no shortage of online tools to help workers collaborate online and work more efficiently. But Nada… Read More…

Bring out your dead: Startup offers $1M to ‘acqui-hire’ alums of TechStars, Y Combinator and 500 Startups

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The hiring crunch for developers in the tech industry is a pain point we hear about nearly every day. Now, a San Francisco startup called Twice — that specializes in selling secondhand clothes of all things — is taking one of the more unusual approaches we’ve encountered to get developers in the door. Today, the year-old… Read More…

Microsoft and TechStars tap 10 startups for new Windows Azure Accelerator

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After receiving 600 applications, Microsoft this morning named 10 startups to participate in its Windows Azure Accelerator, a three-month program focused on creating new business apps and building new companies on Microsoft’s cloud computing platform and related technologies. The accelerator is a partnership with TechStars, and a follow-up to the similar Kinect Accelerator program that… Read More…

TechStars Seattle grad GoMiles acquired by Traxo

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GoMiles, a Seattle startup that allows consumers to better manage frequent flyer miles, has been acquired by Dallas-based Traxo in a deal of undisclosed size. Led by Michael Komarnitsky and Marc Kamaka, GoMiles was part of the TechStars Seattle 2010 class. I caught up with the company (and the other TechStars’ grads last year), and at… Read More…

Meet the startups that just got accepted into TechStars Seattle

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TechStars Seattle just accepted its latest batch of companies, choosing 10 young upstarts from around the world to participate in the technology incubator. About 600 companies applied for this year’s class, and this marks the first time that TechStars Seattle has welcomed two female CEOs. A number of the companies also have already raised angel financing… Read More…

Vizify turns your ‘ugly’ social media pages into a hip presence

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The way Vizify CEO Todd Silverstein sees it, social media pages are “cluttered, ugly and noisy.” In other words, the layout and design of most pages just don’t make you look good. Vizify today is setting out to change that, launching a new service that sucks in your profile pages from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and… Read More…

Microsoft starts the Bing Fund, a mysterious new ‘angel incubator’

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Over the years, Microsoft has steered clear of the corporate venture capital arms found at companies such as Intel and Google. But could that be changing with the formation of the Bing Fund? Mary Jo Foley recently spotted a Twitter account and home page for the entity, and reported that the Bing Fund is now… Read More…

Business is booming on Kinect as Microsoft embraces hackers

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Walking the floor at Microsoft’s conference center in Redmond yesterday for the conclusion of the three-month Kinect Accelerator startup program, it was remarkable to see not just tech demos but full-fledged companies being built on the company’s Kinect sensor. A Los Angeles-based startup called Styku has struck a deal to pilot its Kinect-powered virtual fitting room… Read More…

Q&A: TechStars CEO David Cohen sees Microsoft Kinect as a startup engine

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After three months of work, putting in long hours to hone their technologies and business plans, eleven startups will be making a pitch more than 100 investors in Redmond this afternoon. It’s Demo Day — the traditional capstone event for the TechStars startup accelerator program. The difference this time: The startups are all basing their… Read More…

The ‘acquihire’ of the day: TechStars Seattle grad Thinkfuse gobbled up by Salesforce.com

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Thinkfuse, one of the original startups to move through the TechStars Seattle program, is being acquired by Salseforce.com in a deal of undisclosed size. This appears to be a true “acquihire” where larger entities gobble up the team, not the product. As part of the deal, the Thinkfuse service will be shut down on July… Read More…

The silly side of tech: Put Clippy on your Web site with this startup’s nostalgic hack

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OK, the first question we’ve got to ask is: Why? Why on Earth would someone want to recreate Clippy, the highly-annoying paperclip virtual assistant that popped up on versions of Microsoft Office from 1997 to 2oo3. Clippy was hated by many users since it interfered with daily tasks on the computer, and it was eventually… Read More…

EveryMove lands $2.6 million to create a ‘mileage rewards program’ for health

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Should Americans earn rewards for good health and fitness practices, just as they earn free miles for frequent flying and discounts for safe driving? That’s the promise of EveryMove, a Seattle startup that today is announcing $2.6 million in financing from Premera Blue Cross, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska, BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners and… Read More…

The Founders’ Promise: Put your money where your angst is

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“There is no reason why good cannot triumph as often as evil. The triumph of anything is a matter of organization. If there are such things as angels, I hope that they are organized along the lines of the Mafia.” – Kurt Vonnegut. Depending on who you ask, the Seattle startup ecosystem is weak and/or… Read More…

TechStars, Microsoft ally on new Windows Azure startup incubator

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Microsoft is deepening its relationship with TechStars, announcing today a new startup accelerator program in Seattle designed for those companies developing cloud-based services on the back of Windows Azure. The program will kick off this fall with 1o companies traveling to the TechStars Seattle incubator space in the South Lake Union neighborhood, which ironically happens… Read More…

Jeff Bezos, Eric Schmidt bankroll money transfer startup Beamit Mobile

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Seattle startup Beamit Mobile has raised $2.4 million in fresh financing from former Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s TomorrowVentures, Founder’s Co-op and Bezos Expeditions, the venture capital firm of Jeff Bezos. The money will be used to continue development of the company’s technology, which allows immigrants to transfer money to mobile phones in developing countries. “These investors share our vision of… Read More…

Microsoft picks 11 startups for new Kinect Accelerator

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When Microsoft introduced its new Kinect Accelerator startup program a few months ago, the company anticipated receiving about 150 applications. But nearly 500 startup companies applied, making the selection process “brutally hard,” said Craig Eisler, general manager for Kinect for Windows. “It was really quite remarkable and awe inspiring to see so many ideas,” said Eisler, adding… Read More…

An inside look at SURF: How an entrepreneur’s dream became Seattle’s latest startup experiment

Seaton Gras at the SURF incubator space in downtown Seattle

It’s 45 degrees outside, and a cold rain pounds against Seattle’s Exchange Building. But on the 8th floor of this historic 22-story art deco office — a concrete edifice that once housed industry titans such as GE and Standard Oil — Seaton Gras wants to talk about surfing. Why surfing? Well, for one Gras — a… Read More…

TechStars perk: Free cloud services from Microsoft’s Windows Azure

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Hook ‘em while they’re young. That could very well be the code-name of a partnership announced today between Microsoft and TechStars, the high-tech incubator which operates programs in Seattle, Boulder, Boston, New York and Texas. As part of an alliance today, Microsoft said that it will offer both graduates and current enrollees of the three-month… Read More…

Microsoft partners with TechStars for new Kinect Accelerator

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Microsoft is looking for a few good Kinect hackers, and it’s turning to TechStars to help discover those teams. Microsoft this week launched the Kinect Accelerator — a new incubation program developed in partnership with TechStars. Ten teams will be invited to the TechStars’ offices in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood beginning in May for… Read More…