Articles by Nate Bek

Nate Bek worked at GeekWire from 2022 to 2023 as a reporter covering Pacific Northwest startups and venture capital. A native of Oʻahu, Hawaii, and graduate of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, he is now a principal at Seattle-based venture capital firm Ascend. Follow him on LinkedIn.

Redfin CEO recounts encounter with OpenAI’s Sam Altman to warn about impact of AI on housing tech

Transformational or overhyped? How these geeks at Seattle’s giant ‘Founders Bash’ think about AI
‘Convoy Mafia’: Alumni from trucking marketplace company take the wheel at their own startups
Zillow and Redfin earnings reports reflect slumping real estate market

Latest from Nate Bek

Hootsuite lays off 30% of staff, says it’s focusing on ‘financial sustainability’ amid downturn

Hootsuite told employees on Tuesday that it would lay off 30% of its staff, becoming the latest tech company to… Read More

Ex-Adobe and Facebook engineers raise $2M for Seattle software startup that helps small landlords

Marble, a Seattle startup building software-enabled rental management systems for smaller landlords, raised $2 million. The company was co-founded in… Read More

Sella, which uses gig workers to promote and resell unwanted items, raises $3M

Sella, a startup using gig workers to market, list and sell items from users on its platform, raised $3 million.… Read More

Seattle AI startup that helps professionals improve public speaking by analyzing speech raises $6M

The news: Yoodli, a Seattle startup with an AI-enabled software platform that analyzes speech to offer tips for improving communication… Read More

Meet the Seattle techie picked to lead a new venture arm at iconic auction house Christie’s

Legendary auction house Christie’s got a front-row seat to the NFT craze. In March 2021, the 256-year-old art merchant facilitated… Read More

Redfin misses revenue expectations, citing housing market slowdown

Seattle-based online real estate giant Redfin missed expectations for the second quarter amid a slowing housing market impacted by rising… Read More

WTIA’s Apprenti program lands $23.5M grant from Dept. of Commerce to expand tech training program

The Apprenti apprenticeship program run by the Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA) was awarded a $23.5 million grant to help train more tech… Read More

The rise of high-tech real estate investing platforms and their effect on housing affordability

Real estate tech startups are making it easier for people to invest and manage property. But critics argue that these… Read More

Amazon is partnering with GNC, PacSun, other retailers to offer same-day delivery

Amazon announced Monday that it is launching same-day delivery options for items from retailers including PacSun, GNC, SuperDry and Diesel.… Read More

Seattle startup Shelf Engine lays off 43 employees due to ‘challenging economic conditions’

Shelf Engine is the latest Seattle startup to cut its workforce. The company, which helps grocers manage food orders, confirmed… Read More

Panopto aims to acquire enterprise video competitor Kaltura in proposed $383M deal

Seattle-based enterprise video provider Panopto offered to acquire New York-based competitor Kaltura at $3 per share, valuing Kaltura at $383… Read More

T-Mobile adds 1.7M customers, shares climb despite missing earnings expectations

T-Mobile reported $19.7 billion in revenue for its second fiscal quarter, which was down slightly from the year-ago quarter and… Read More

Seattle startup making it easier to manage single-family rental properties raises $16.7M

The news: Latchel, a platform that facilitates maintenance requests from rental property tenants, raised $16.7 million. The product: Founded in… Read More

Microsoft is the latest tech giant to report decelerating advertising revenue

Microsoft announced the slowest growth in its digital advertising business in more than a year, part of a bevy of… Read More

Amazon vets launch Unwrap, a new AI2 spinout that aggregates and analyzes customer feedback

The news: Unwrap, an AI-powered natural language processor that aggregates and analyzes user feedback, raised $3 million after going through… Read More

Getty Images set to go public Monday after completing SPAC merger

Seattle-based Getty Images will once again be a public company. The 27-year-old digital media provider announced Friday that it completed… Read More

Health care startup 98point6 lays off 10% of workforce, but says it’s still in ‘growth mode’

Seattle-based 98point6 recently laid off 10% of its workforce, but the telemedicine startup remains in “growth mode,” according to a… Read More

Rad Power Bikes cuts about 10% of staff, citing economic uncertainty and rising operating costs

Rad Power Bikes is laying off 63 employees, citing an effort to be a more “self-sustaining business” amid the broader… Read More

Seattle-area cybersecurity startup led by former Amazon principal engineer lands $3.5M

The news: Strac, a software startup building tech that plugs into a company’s website or mobile app to secure sensitive… Read More

Startup building software that helps airlines upsell customers raises $25M

Gordian Software, which builds tech that helps airlines and travel websites upsell customers with add-on features, raised $25 million. The… Read More

Phaidra, which sells AI tech to industrial customers, raises $25M from DeepMind co-founder, others

Phaidra, a startup building artificial intelligence tools for industrial customers ranging from vaccine manufacturers to paper mills, raised $25 million.… Read More

How Washington state could use federal infrastructure money to close the digital divide

Deploying broadband throughout Washington state has been at the top of local lawmakers’ minds for years. The state legislature enacted… Read More

GeekWire 200 update: Check out which Pacific Northwest startups are moving up the rankings

The latest update to the GeekWire 200 rankings shows four newcomers to the top 10 and several startups making big… Read More

Buyers wanted: Exit opportunities for venture-backed startups sharply decline amid downturn

It’s getting harder for an early-stage company to find a buyer. The exit value for U.S. venture capital-backed startups in… Read More

Seattle-area community college lands grant from Dell, Intel to launch AI lab

Edmonds College landed $76,000 in grants to build out an artificial intelligence incubator program. The funding will cover AI computing… Read More

No going back: Anticipated return to office ‘has failed to materialize’ in Seattle, report says

Offices in Seattle will remain partly empty until 2024. At least, that’s what commercial real estate company Broderick Group predicts… Read More

Seattle startup raises $14M to fuel ambitious plan for a social network built on the blockchain

Metaverse. Web3. Cryptocurrency. Blockchain. NFTs. Peer’s got it all. The new Seattle-based startup riding all the latest tech trends recently… Read More

Amazon rolls out fleet of e-cargo bikes to make deliveries in the UK

Amazon is rolling out a fleet of e-cargo bikes and on-foot delivery staff in the United Kingdom as part of… Read More

Developer bootcamp Coding Dojo lands $10M to train more software engineers

Coding Dojo secured $10 million to boost its computer programming bootcamp. The Bellevue, Wash.-based organization trains software engineers both in-person… Read More

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