Recent posts and comments

• Future of Search Event Nov. 30 to Draw Top Startups, VCs, and Execs to UW

  Online search and information discovery are being transformed before our eyes. It’s no longer just Google, or Google and Bing, or even Google, Bing, and Twitter—there are big problems in technology... Read more »

• Clearwire Closes $1.5B, Alder Scores $1B Partnership, Software Financings Are Down, & More Seattle-Area Deals News

  Healthcare deals are going one way, tech deals another. That’s my read from the past week in the Northwest, where we’ve seen some of the biggest biotech deals around, even as... Read more »

• BigDoor Opens Virtual Currency Site

  Bellevue, WA-based BigDoor Media, a developer of software that helps social entertainment sites make money, has rolled out a not-for-profit community website called VirtualCurrencyExperts.com. It is meant to... Read more »

• Where Are the Software Deals? WA Firms Raised $70M in October, Mostly in Healthcare, Gaming

  Early-stage software and IT deals are a scarce breed these days. That’s my initial take from looking at the October funding numbers for Washington state, courtesy of ChubbyBrain, a New... Read more »

• Clearwire to Get $1.5B More, Report Says

  Kirkland, WA-based Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR) is about to receive an investment of at least $1.5 billion led by Sprint Nextel, according to the Wall Street Journal. Sprint will invest... Read more »

• Startup Failure: Seattle’s Stigma, Boston’s Chip on Its Shoulder, and Silicon Valley’s Badge of Honor

  “People say if you fail in Seattle, you’re screwed,” said Marcelo Calbucci. “If you fail in the Bay Area, you just have a badge of honor.”

  We were at the TechStars... Read more »

• LaserMotive Wins $900K NASA Prize

  Kent, WA-based LaserMotive has won $900,000 in a NASA competition to build a small prototype device that one day could help lead to a commercial “space elevator,” a cable that could... Read more »

• Porn Always Wins, Bacon Salt Expands, and Other Thoughts from Entrepreneur University

  I’m not going to do justice to this event. Let’s just get that out there right now. There were some great speakers and panels at yesterday’s Entrepreneur University in Bellevue, WA,... Read more »

• Elias Zerhouni Talks Public Health Challenges, Culture Wars at WBBA Annual Meeting

  Just came back from the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association’s annual meeting in downtown Seattle, where 500-plus biotechies and distinguished guests (including more than a few local politicians) gathered for a... Read more »

• A Tale of Three Cities: How Boston, Boulder, and Seattle Measure Up as Tech Innovation Hubs

  I was chatting with a couple of local investors at the TechStars (seed fund and mentorship program) event in Seattle on Wednesday. They thought the VC panel discussion of the... Read more »

• Evri, SEOmoz, Topsy, and Sage to Present at “Future of Search” Forum

  Want to know what the real opportunities are for startup companies and investors in the field of Web search and information discovery? Or what happens when you put Google and Bing... Read more »

• Report: RealNetworks Lays Off 70

  Seattle-based RealNetworks is cutting 4 percent of its worldwide staff today, about 70 out of 1,700 jobs, according to All Things Digital. The report cites the economic downturn and cost-cutting... Read more »

• VC Len Jordan Joins Madrona, Says Frazier Technology Ventures Won’t Raise Another Fund

  Len Jordan, a general partner at Seattle-based Frazier Technology Ventures, will be joining Madrona Venture Group, also based in Seattle, as of January 1, 2010. Jordan will start at Madrona as... Read more »

• Kashless Expands, Enters Marketing Phase as It Rewards Consumers for Recycling Products

  I caught up yesterday with noted entrepreneur and investor Martin Tobias, after his latest startup, Seattle-based Kashless, announced a partnership with RecycleBank to reward people for recycling items at Kashless.org.... Read more »

• Movaya Bought by Digby

  Seattle-based Movaya Wireless, a mobile software startup, has been acquired by Digby, a mobile commerce firm based in Austin, TX. Financial terms were not announced. Movaya was founded in 2006 by... Read more »

• Microsoft Lays Off 800 More; Washington and Massachusetts Affected

  Microsoft has confirmed it is cutting 800 positions across the company today, in its third round of layoffs this year. About a quarter of the jobs are in the Seattle area,... Read more »

• Microsoft’s Craig Mundie on Future Interfaces, Computer Science Education, and Life After Bill G

  Craig Mundie is a geek, and I mean that in the best possible way. Microsoft’s chief research and strategy officer, the 17-year veteran of Redmond, WA, still talks like an engineer,... Read more »

• Calypso Teams Up with Siemens

  Seattle-based Calypso Medical Technologies announced today it has signed a strategic development agreement with Siemens Healthcare to jointly develop products for radiation therapy of pancreas and lung cancer, as well as... Read more »

• Amazon Closes Zappos Deal, RF Arrays Raises Cash, 16 Under the Radar Financings, & More Seattle-Area Deals News

  It was a quiet week for deals in the Northwest, but we dug up some important ones in business software, wireless, and biotech.

  —Seattle-based Amazon’s (NASDAQ: AMZN) acquisition of Zappos,... Read more »

• $1.2B Amazon-Zappos Deal Closes

  Seattle-based Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) said today its acquisition of online apparel and shoe seller Zappos, based in Las Vegas, has closed. The Zappos management team will remain intact, the company... Read more »