Happy Saturday. Here are some of the week's biggest storylines, including a milestone for a local tech giant, the rise of rockets and robots in our startup ranking, another billionaire's superyacht squeezing through the Ballard Locks, and what local founders say is really holding Seattle tech back.
F5 turns 30 this year, and the Seattle company has reinvented itself repeatedly to get there — starting, improbably, as a video-game startup. On this week's GeekWire Podcast, recorded at F5 Tower, CEO François Locoh-Donou (above) discusses F5's latest reinvention, its move into AI security, and his path from Togo to Seattle. Drawing on his own start in the industry, he explains why he wants students from underrepresented backgrounds to know they belong.
Read more and listen here. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
- F5 is acquiring SurePath AI, a startup that detects which AI tools and agents employees are using inside companies, as part of a broader push into AI security. Read more.
Rockets, robots, and data centers in orbit: The latest GeekWire 200 update reveals a Pacific Northwest startup scene increasingly building physical things.
- Redmond-based Starcloud, which is putting solar-powered data centers in space, vaulted 96 spots to No. 75 after becoming the fastest Y Combinator company ever to reach unicorn status.
- Fusion leader Helion held onto No. 1, now valued at $15.5 billion.
- Two newly minted unicorns joined the list — including autonomous-hacking startup XBOW at No. 35.
Read more and check out the full ranking.
Redmond's eye in the sky: A suspected shoplifter learned the hard way that you can't outrun a drone. Police in Redmond released video showing their Drone as First Responder program tracking the suspect from a Target parking lot all the way onto a public bus for a safe arrest. Watch how it unfolded.
From Salem, Ore., to Wall Street: Agility Robotics, the maker of the two-legged Digit robot tested in Amazon warehouses, is going public via a $2.5 billion SPAC merger. The company is aiming to scale production to meet a growing labor shortage. Read more.
-
More robot news: Seattle-area startup Mind Children Robotics is building a 3-foot-tall humanoid social robot named Codey that uses advanced AI to build long-term relationships, with plans to deploy it as an affordable assistant in classrooms and eldercare facilities. Read more.
Microsoft's data center water diet: As public anxiety over AI's environmental impact grows, Microsoft announced its newest data centers use 90% less water than older facilities by switching to advanced cooling systems that only kick in when temperatures spike. Read more.
Latest layoffs: Sony is laying off 292 employees at its Bellevue-based Bungie game studio as it winds down development on Destiny 2, and Amperity, the Seattle customer data startup, cut an undisclosed number of jobs, restructuring its team as AI automation shifts how the company operates.
Billionaire boats abound: In the wake of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s superyacht cruising into and out of Seattle, another massive vessel squeezed through the Ballard Locks this week. See photos and video from this $200 million moment of “Zen.”
What’s holding Seattle tech back? GeekWire caught up with local founders and investors at a World Cup watch party to find out what the PNW startup ecosystem is missing — and the consensus points to a severe lack of bold, Bay Area-style risk tolerance. Read the Geek on the Street.
Upcoming events: Tech and startup community gatherings on our radar in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest.
Check out the GeekWire Calendar for more.
Thanks for subscribing, and have a great weekend. — GeekWire editor Todd Bishop, [email protected]; reporter Kurt Schlosser, [email protected]; and reporter Lisa Stiffler, [email protected].
