AI2 Incubator rebrands and leans into the community building of AI House

• Founded inside the Allen Institute for AI long before artificial intelligence became a household term, the incubator spun off from Ai2 in 2022 and last year launched AI House as a physical hub for Seattle’s AI ecosystem.

• Longtime investor Sri Chandrasekar is joining as a new managing director, saying, “I can’t imagine a more exciting opportunity than investing in AI companies in an area that has a plethora of AI talent like Seattle.” Read more.

Above, from left: AI House managing directors Yifan Zhang, Jacob Colker, and Chandrasekar. 

Coordination, not code: Speaking of AI House, Seattle startup Devplan is coming out of stealth with $2.5 million led by the fund formerly known as AI2 Incubator, betting that the real bottleneck in software development is no longer writing code but keeping teams aligned. Read more.

Dan Lewis is back in the startup world: The former Convoy CEO and co-founder has left Microsoft to start a stealth company focused on running AI models more efficiently, the latest chapter in a career spent at the intersection of AI and logistics. Read more.

Did Florida lure another billionaire? Valve co-founder Gabe Newell is the reported buyer of a $70.8 million estate north of Miami, signaling the possible exit of another Seattle-area billionaire. Newell has led the Bellevue-based video game studio since 1996 and is worth $11 billion. Read more.

Another big funding round: Gradial raised $65 million, bringing its total to $110 million in the past 16 months, as the Seattle startup sees rapid growth around its agentic AI tools that automate enterprise marketing. Read more.

Kidney care's fax problem: Seattle startup Apacendo Health is building AI agents that read incoming faxes and enter patient data into electronic health records for nephrology practices, aiming to free up the hours of staff time that administrative work eats up each day. Read more.

Tech Moves: After executive roles at Microsoft, Amazon and Google, Brian Hall joins Mistral; Amazon's VP of Alexa Domains retires; Dropzone AI names a head of product; and more personnel changes.

Hot Links:

• Seattle Public Schools has been named one of nine U.S. school districts leading the way on AI in K-12 education by MagicSchool, earning national recognition for its strategic approach to promoting AI literacy and equitable tech access. (Globe Newswire)

• A payload of 36 Amazon Leo broadband satellites was successfully lifted into space aboard Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket, which lifted off from French Guiana on Wednesday. (Space.com)

• Boeing successfully completed ground and environmental testing on its Q4S quantum networking satellite payload, a milestone that keeps the compact system on track for a planned 2027 launch to test global quantum internet capabilities in orbit. (Boeing)

• Seattle is the fifth-ranked startup metro in the U.S. according to a new WeWork report measuring co-working growth, which reveals startup teams expanded by an average of 34% over the last three years. (WeWork)

• "Going in the wrong direction": That's how Downtown Seattle Association CEO Jon Scholes describes Seattle's current trajectory in a new interview centered on the JumpStart payroll tax and its impact on jobs and investment. The discussion follows GeekWire's recent report on a new analysis examining the tax's effect on downtown Seattle five years after it was enacted. (KOMO)

• The Seattle Orcas extended their partnership with AI and technology firm UST through the 2026–27 Major League Cricket seasons, securing the tech company as the franchise's principal partner to help expand fan engagement and youth cricket initiatives. (UST)