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Inside the Seismic-Highspot merger: San Diego-based Seismic finished its takeover of Seattle’s Highspot two weeks ago, and CEO Rob Tarkoff is in town for key meetings following the multi-billion-dollar merger of the sales enablement rivals. Sitting down with GeekWire, he talked about product strategy and Seismic’s future in Seattle, and said the combined company has about $600 million in annual recurring revenue, roughly $200 million of it from Highspot. He acknowledged areas of overlap but declined to give specifics when asked about job cuts that have surfaced since the deal closed.
AI-stuffed toys lose their charm fast: A new University of Washington study reveals that children quickly turn from curious to frustrated when playing with generative AI-powered plush toys, eventually growing hostile toward the devices as conversational glitches and physical disconnects derail playtime. Researchers noted that handing over synthetic imagination to a toy fundamentally alters how kids engage in creative play.
AI’s funding gap: Madrona named 45 winners to its sixth annual IA40 list, and three of them — Anthropic, OpenAI and Databricks — account for 92% of the $410 billion the group has raised. But other companies on the list are still raising so much that Madrona had to lift its own ceiling for “early stage” to $50 million from $30 million. Clarify and Gradial are the two Seattle-area companies that made the cut.
Dementia startup scales up: Seattle-based NewDays expanded its AI-driven dementia care platform into Nevada while securing additional backing to close a $16 million seed round led by Madrona and General Catalyst. The startup pairs telehealth visits from human clinicians with an interactive AI companion designed to help patients preserve cognitive function.
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