A rocket ride for the region: As SpaceX prepares for its historic $75 billion initial public offering, the Pacific Northwest’s aerospace community is looking for the upside. Local founders and investors say the IPO could drive new capital into Seattle-area startups, mint wealthy angel investors from local employee ranks, and solidify the region's role as a dominant satellite manufacturing hub.
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Bezos' next big bet: Prometheus, the AI startup where Jeff Bezos is co-CEO, raised $12 billion in Series B funding at a roughly $41 billion valuation. Bezos and co-CEO Vik Bajaj gave their first joint interview about the company, describing its plan to build an "artificial general engineer" for designing and manufacturing physical objects. Read more.
Another former Amazon leader’s power play: Ex-Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky is returning to the cloud infrastructure world as co-founder and CEO of Helix Digital Infrastructure. The $10 billion venture is backed by KKR, Nvidia, and Vistra to build massive, power-integrated data centers for tech giants struggling with grid bottlenecks. Read more.
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AWS, meanwhile, is making a bold claim on data center water use, saying its infrastructure is seven times more water-efficient than the industry average, attempting to rewrite the narrative around the environmental toll of AI computing. Read more.
Back at the helm: Seattle enterprise software unicorn Amperity is putting its founders back in charge, tapping co-founders Kabir Shahani and Derek Slager to serve as co-CEOs following what the startup called a planned, “mutual transition” that ends the short tenure of former Salesforce executive Tony Owens. Read more.
Prepping for a wave of World Cup riders: Inside a sprawling warehouse south of downtown Seattle, Lime is readying its fleet of 15,000 e-bikes and scooters in time for an influx of sports fans and summer tourists. The company plans new service and operational perks including valet parking, discounted ride passes, and more. GeekWire got an inside look and tested AI-powered tech during a ride.
New school of thought: Alpha School, an AI-powered private school chain that promises to teach students core academics in just two hours a day, is expanding to the Seattle area with a new campus in Kirkland this fall and summer programs kicking off on Microsoft's Redmond campus. Read more.
Xbox leader calls for a reset: CEO Asha Sharma warned employees that the division's heavy spending and thin profit margins "cannot continue," issuing a blunt memo calling for a sweeping business reset as reports emerge that Microsoft is planning major layoffs for its gaming unit next month. Read more.
Latest names tied to Seahawks sale: L.A. billionaire sports mogul Todd Boehly and Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla are the latest names to emerge as potential suitors weighing bids for Seattle’s NFL team. Read more.
MiiR tussles with Tesla: The Seattle-based drinkware maker filed a lawsuit claiming the Elon Musk-led company copied its patented tumbler design rather than choosing to “innovate and develop its own unique style.” Read more.
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Amazon is placing a big bet on humanoid robotics, joining a $1.4 billion funding round for German startup Neura Robotics that also includes investments from Nvidia, Qualcomm and others. (CNBC)
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Vulcan Real Estate is reportedly close to selling two Bellevue office towers for $650M, including an Amazon‑leased building, illustrating how deeply the tech giant and the late Paul Allen’s real-estate legacy still shape the market. (PSBJ)
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Microsoft is blocking employees from using Anthropic’s Fable 5 model while its legal team reviews the model’s data-retention rules, raising new questions about how AI vendors handle customer and confidential information. (The Verge)
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)
