The end of "no layoffs": Expeditors International, the Seattle-area logistics company known for never cutting jobs, laid off about 230 tech workers in the state on Monday, roughly 15% of its global technology workforce. The move breaks a no-layoff tradition dating back as far as the company's 1979 founding. The cuts hit software developers, quality-assurance testers, project managers and others across the company's offices in the Seattle area. Read more.
Seattle sinks in new ranking: The city fell 11 spots to No. 13 on a list of the best U.S. cities for attracting foreign investment, according to Financial Times and Nikkei. The report added fresh concern and criticism to the ongoing dialogue about the business climate in the city and state. Read more.
Let’s keep things in perspective! Many places would love to have the startup and investment activity that the Seattle region enjoys. A couple examples:
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Startup powerhouse emerges from stealth: ArchAstro launched with a founding team pulled from Microsoft, Stripe, Statsig and Meta, plus a backer list that reads like a who’s who of technology leaders. The startup, which raised $6.2 million in pre-seed funding, is building a network of "privacy-aware" AI agents to automate complex software deployments across corporate boundaries. Read more.
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Fast follow: Golden Analytics, the AI analytics startup from former Tableau product chief Francois Ajenstat, added $14 million to its seed round just two months after launching, bringing the total to $21 million as Insight Partners joined NEA and Madrona. Read more.
See GeekWire’s full list of recent Pacific Northwest startup fundings here.
First digital kiosk unveiled: An 8-foot-tall IKE Smart City digital wayfinding device (above) is up and running in Seattle near the Pike Place Market. Check the site later today or newsletter tomorrow for coverage of the rollout.
Ask the ocean: Seattle's Ai2 has launched Shippy, a free AI agent built on its Skylight platform that lets maritime analysts query live vessel-tracking and satellite data in plain language to spot illegal fishing and vessels that have gone dark.
Read more.
Meanwhile, in our local waters, here’s the latest on Mark Zuckerberg’s superyacht and its sidekick, in case you’re not sick of this seafaring saga!
Hot Links:
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Lumen Technologies is having some fun with the FIFA World Cup requirement to temporarily rename the Seattle sports stadium that bears its name, as its marketing and strategy chief Ryan Asdourian does his absolute best to eliminate every reference to its brand there. (YouTube)
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Weeks after its New Glenn rocket exploded on a Florida pad, Kent-based Blue Origin said its Blue Moon lander is still set for Artemis III, now planned for 2027. NASA named a four-person crew for the mission, which will test the lander in Earth orbit. (NASA / Space.com)
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University of Washington researchers created a first-of-its-kind "digital twin" of the I-90 floating bridge, using real-time sensor data to help crews monitor and maintain the world's first floating light rail crossing. (UW CEE)
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What’s it like for a computer science major to graduate into a job market upended by the AI revolution? One UW Tacoma student is concerned that the entry-level coding roles he spent years preparing for are vanishing. (The Seattle Times)
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Amazon launched "Sleep Studio," a new Amazon Kids+ feature that transforms Echo devices into automated bedtime systems with curated sleep content and meditations from Calm, Headspace, and Moshi. (Amazon)
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Seattle software development startup DevZero launched a platform that automatically adjusts Kubernetes and AI computing workloads in real time to cut cloud costs. (GlobeNewswire)
Thanks for subscribing, and have a great day. — GeekWire editor Todd Bishop, [email protected]; reporter Kurt Schlosser, [email protected]; and reporter Lisa Stiffler, [email protected]. (Top image: Alamy Photo / JHVEPhoto)
