GeekWire Awards: Vote for the ‘Next Tech Titan’

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Today’s featured category in the GeekWire Awards voting is a big one, literally. The Next Tech Titan — brought to you by Wave Business Solutions — will reward the company that’s moving from the tough trenches of startup land to the big leagues. The Pacific Northwest is loaded with those up-and-comer companies, and our judges… Read More…

Mobile marketing startup Urban Airship lands $25M

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Urban Airship, the Portland mobile marketing startup that helps companies such as ESPN, Groupon, Waze and others with push messaging, has reeled in $25 million in fresh funding in a deal led by August Capital. Existing investors, including Foundry Group, Intel Capital, True Ventures, Founder’s Co-op and Verizon, also participated. Total funding in the company, which… Read More…

Push messaging developer Urban Airship acquires PassTools creator Tello

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Mobile high performance push messaging software developer Urban Airship has acquired Tello, a Palo Alto-based startup that launched PassTools, a leading Apple Passbook management service. Passbook is an iOS app that lets you electronically store things like tickets, coupons and gift cards. Tello debuted its PassTools platform on September 19 and experienced tremendous success with… Read More…

Portland Digital eXperience: A few of my favorite things

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Dude, seriously, you are beautiful. … You’re so sexy when you smile. These two phrases were emblazoned across the mirror of the women’s bathroom in a karaoke bar in Portland, and from my brief foray to the Rose City for the Portland Digital eXperience (PDX) conference, they embody the spirit of both the event and the… Read More…

Buddy Platform jumps on board Urban Airship in push notification partnership

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Portland’s Urban Airship has sent out more than 10 billion push notifications to mobile devices since it was started. And most of those have been delivered to Android or iOS devices. A new partnership announced today at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona between Urban Airship and Buddy Platform — a Seattle upstart led by… Read More…

Urban Airship lands former Skype executive as chief revenue officer

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Urban Airship, a Portland upstart that provides behind-the-scenes services like push notifications and in-app purchasing for mobile apps, has named former Skype Chief Strategy Officer Christopher Dean to the position of chief revenue officer. It’s a big pick-up for the fast-growing startup. And it comes just two months after the company landed a $15.1 million venture capital… Read More…

Verizon, Salesforce lead $15.1M investment in Urban Airship

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Investors including Verizon and Salesforce.com have invested $15.1 million in Urban Airship, a Portland company that provides behind-the-scenes services like push notifications and in-app purchasing for mobile apps from big brands such as Warner Bros., Groupon, and Yahoo, among more than 20,000 customers. The investment, announced this morning, follows Urban Airship’s acquisition last week of San… Read More…

Rapping VCs: This one goes out to all of you entrepreneurs

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For those of you having a hard time getting back into the startup groove following the holiday weekend, here’s a little lighthearted fare courtesy of the rapping VCs at Foundry Group. This boy band of khaki and multi-colored suit-wearing investors certainly impresses. Led by Foundry’s Brad Feld, Seth Levine, Ryan McIntyre and Jason Mendelson, the quartet belts… Read More…