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This nonprofit shows how rigorous data analysis can dramatically reduce youth homelessness

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The Anchor Community Initiative team with A Way Home Washington captured their reaction to Spokane’s significant decline in youth and young adult homelessness, as revealed through their data analysis. (A Way Home Washington Photo) A Washington state organization is using data and analytics to help solve a crisis that is both unconscionable and has seemed intractable: the challenge of kids and young adults experiencing homelessness. The nonprofit A Way Home Washington recently announced dramatic reductions in the number of young people who are homeless in the Eastern Washington city of Spokane and it’s hoping to essentially eliminate youth homelessness by the end of the year in Walla Walla. If they reach that goal, it will be a first in the U.S. for this demographic. While the initiative is currently being deployed in a limited number of communities, its tech-driven approach could be applied and yield success statewide, said Julie Patiño , executive director of A Way Home Washing
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Seattle startup HDT Bio lands $1.8M U.S. Army grant to develop nasal spray against viruses

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HDT Bio CEO Steve Reed. (HDT Bio Photo) Seattle startup HDT Bio will develop a nasal spray designed to counteract a wide range of respiratory viruses with a nearly $1.8 million grant from the U.S. Army. “We hope to address not only disease progression, but transmission,” chief operating officer Christopher Pirie told GeekWire. HDT Bio’s platform involves a proprietary nanoparticle that delivers an attached RNA into cells. The technology is being harnessed to develop cancer treatments and vaccines. A COVID-19 RNA vaccine based on the company’s tech was recently approved in India. HDT’s nasal spray will be based on the same approach. The spray will consist of a nanoparticle attached to a special RNA derived from the Hepatitis C virus. The RNA was developed by University of Washington immunology professor Michael Gale , who co-founded the company in 2019 with Pirie, chief scientific officer Darrick Carter , UW professor André Lieber , and immunologist and biotech veteran Steve
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Ex-Adobe and Facebook engineers raise $2M for Seattle software startup that helps small landlords

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From left: Daniel Li, CEO and co-founder, and Daniel Kim, CTO and co-founder. (Marble Photo) Marble , a Seattle startup building software-enabled rental management systems for smaller landlords, raised $2 million. The company was co-founded in 2020 by Daniel Li , a former software engineer at Facebook, and Daniel Kim , a former senior engineer at Adobe. Li said that the idea to build Marble came from an experience in college, when it took his landlord more than 18 months to fix a leaky roof. “The only time they responded was when we started to threaten legal action,” he said. Marble, which went through Y Combinator’s accelerator program last summer, works with property owners to locate and place tenants, collect rent payment, and handle maintenance requests. The goal is to replace as many of the jobs typically done by landlords or property managers with software components. It makes its money through a subscription-based service; users pay $50 per month. “We realized there’s
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The state of the tech economy: Takeaways from Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta and Alphabet

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This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we play highlights and offer our thoughts on the recent earnings calls of Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta and Alphabet, seeking to better understand what’s next for the tech economy. A few of my thoughts after listening to all of the calls last week: “Uncertainty” is the watch word. Big tech companies are adjusting to the potential for a recession, with job cuts and other belt-tightening moves, but generally aren’t seeing the extreme realities of an actual downturn. One exception is the advertising market, where a pullback in marketing spending was evident for companies including Microsoft and Alphabet, which saw slower growth than expected; and for Facebook parent company Meta, which posted its first-ever revenue decline for the quarter. Amazon is faring better than most in this regard. Perhaps more than ever, many of the big tech CEOs are in full “pitch” mode on these ostensibly level-headed financial calls, touting their latest initiatives as
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Meet the Seattle techie picked to lead a new venture arm at iconic auction house Christie’s

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Seattle-based Devang Thakkar is the global head of Christie’s Ventures. (Christie’s Photo) Legendary auction house Christie’s got a front-row seat to the NFT craze. In March 2021, the 256-year-old art merchant facilitated the sale of a collage of the first 5,000 pieces made by digital artist Beeple, which sold for a mind-boggling $69.3 million . By the end of the year, Christie’s sold more than $150 million worth of NFTs . Not surprisingly, the auction house is now doubling down on its bet on the Web3 space, announcing a new venture capital arm. The auction house did not disclose the size of the fund, but said it will primarily fund early-stage tech startups building either a Web3 platform, a fintech company that focuses on the art market, or virtual or augmented reality tech that enhances the art viewing experience. The venture arm will be led by Christie’s executives, including CEO Guillaume Cerutti and COO Ben Gore, along with Seattle-based tech vet Devang Thakkar , who wil
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Seattle startup Legalpad acquired by payroll and compliance giant Deel

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Legalpad CEO Todd Heine. (Legalpad Photo) Legalpad , a Seattle startup that helps companies apply for visas on behalf of international talent, has been acquired by Deel , a San Francisco company that sells software to facilitate hiring and paying of employees on global teams. Founded in 2018, Legalpad helps American businesses automate and simplify the process of submitting work visa applications for foreign-born employees. Deel is a 3-year-old Y Combinator company backed by Andreessen Horowitz. It reportedly raised a $50 million round earlier this year at a $12 billion valuation. “As work becomes more distributed and global, together we can solve the immigration challenges employers face when building a global workforce,” Deel said in a blog post about the deal. The two companies first intertwined after Deel co-founder and CEO Alex Bouaziz used Legalpad to get a visa. Legalpad then used Deel when it hired its first contractor outside the U.S. Legalpad CEO  Todd Heine wro
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Amazon to acquire Roomba maker iRobot for $1.7 billion

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(iRobot Photo) Amazon is set to make another major acquisition. The Seattle tech giant said Friday it will scoop up iRobot , the Boston-area company known for its Roomba vacuum, in a $1.7 billion deal. The news comes just two weeks after Amazon announced it will acquire primary care company One Medical for $3.9 billion. This would be Amazon’s fourth-largest acquisition ever, behind its $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods, the $8.45 billion deal to buy MGM, and the One Medical acquisition. The iRobot deal signals Amazon’s large appetite for acquisitions amid the economic downturn and despite increasing U.S. antitrust scrutiny. Amazon will acquire iRobot for $61 per share, about a 22% premium from the company’s stock price at market close Thursday. Shares of iRobot were up nearly 20% in pre-market trading Friday. The deal marks Amazon’s latest investment in the smart home. The company is working on its own home robot, Astro , which debuted in September, and has an array of sm
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