DeepMind's secret mafia: Meet the stealth startups emerging from Google's AI lab

Alphabet's AI research lab DeepMind nurtures the industry's top talent. It's also spawned a wave of secretive new startups.

Symbl.ai | Nebula

We are excited to introduce Nebula, a large language model (LLM) for natural human conversations. Nebula enables businesses and developers to build Generative AI experiences and workflows that involve human conversations.

Groundlight emerges from stealth with $10M seed round to help businesses use computer vision

Groundlight, an artificial intelligence startup based in Seattle, emerged from stealth today with the launch of its new computer vision platform for businesses.

The Bet Bill Gates Made on an AI Assistant 10 Years Ago

It seems Bill Gates's vision for an AI Personal Assistant is something I described to him, 10 years ago. And he invested over 12 million dollars in the company I built based on it. You may never have heard of it because we were too early.

Vouched, an identity verification startup backed by Zulily co-founders, raises $6.3M

Vouched, a Seattle startup that helps companies verify identity, raised $6.3 million. The funding round was led by BHG VC and SpringRock Ventures as well as prior investors Darrell Cavens and Mark Vadon, co-founders of e-commerce giant Zulily.

Digs Out Of Stealth With $7 Million Seed Funding

Digs came out of stealth at the International Builder Show today. The company raised a $7M seed round led by Fuse and Flying Fish to make AI-enabled digital twins of new homes (digs). This digital twin of your Digs becomes a platform for the builder, vendors and suppliers, and is eventually handed off to the homeowner.

6 notable tech updates from the National Retail Federation's 2023 show

NEW YORK - With two large exhibition floors, the National Retail Federation's annual conference this week had hundreds of vendors, from brand-new startups to larger players like Google and Microsoft, show off their services and offerings to industry leaders.

NLX Raises $4.6M in Series Seed II Funding

NLX , a New York-based provider of an end-to-end platform for creating, managing, and analyzing customer conversations, raised $4.6M in Series Seed II funding. The round was led by IAG Capital Partners with participation from JetBlue Ventures and Flying Fish Ventures. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate marketplace expansion and product optimization.

Variational AI Files Two US Provisional Patents for Potential COVID-19 Drug Created by Generative AI - Variational AI

Variational AI, developer of the Enki™ generative artificial intelligence (AI) drug discovery platform to redefine the economics of drug development, today announced that the company has filed two provisional patents with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) related to new chemical entities (NCE) successfully created using generative AI.

Reclaim, a calendar software startup that creates schedules for teams, raises more cash

New funding: Portland, Ore.-based Reclaim.ai raised an additional $3.2 million. The 16-person company launched in 2019 and has raised $9.5 million to date. The business: Reclaim helps teams identify and prioritize essential tasks, account for their time, and coordinate schedules. The platform has 70,000 active monthly users - a number that quadrupled over the past year.

Smart shopping cart maker Veeve adds $6.7M to its basket to reach more grocery stores

Smart shopping cart maker Veeve has added more cash to its basket. The Seattle-based startup raised $6.7 million in new funding as the company looks to push its retail innovations to more physical grocery stores.

Stealthy AI2 spinout led by Napster co-founder unveils AI-powered sidekick

Augment AI wants to be your AI-powered sidekick. The Seattle startup, which spun out of the Allen Institute for AI (AI2), emerged from stealth mode Tuesday and opened a private beta. The move provides a more detailed look at the secretive startup, which GeekWire first spotted in January when it raised a $3.5 million seed round.

Seattle startup Picnic partners with Domino's to test pizza-assembly machine

Picnic, a Seattle-based automation startup, is partnering with Domino's to test its pizza-assembly machine in a functioning Domino's store in Berlin, Germany. The two companies have been working together since 2021 to research and product test in preparation for the launch. The collaboration coincides with a shortage in food service labor and Domino's rapid expansion into new market geographies.

MOTO Enlists Picnic Works™ to Make Coveted Artisanal Pizza for More Customers in Greater Seattle

Picnic Works, Seattle-based innovator of food automation technology, today announces a partnership with MOTO to support the "odd" pizzeria's expansion and make more of its highly-sought pie. With orders selling out months in advance, deploying the Picnic Pizza Station (lovingly named Otis) will allow MOTO to produce a higher volume of the artisan craft pizza that is taking Seattle by storm.

Phaidra, which sells AI tech to industrial customers, raises $25M from DeepMind co-founder, others

Phaidra, a startup building artificial intelligence tools for industrial customers ranging from vaccine manufacturers to paper mills, raised $25 million. The startup, led by alum from Alphabet's AI research hub DeepMind, launched in Seattle in 2019 and focuses on creating AI-powered tech that is both scalable and repeatable.

Variational AI Adds Leading Oncology Researchers to Scientific Advisory Board - Variational AI

Leading Cancer and Drug Discovery Biologists Dr. John F. Boylan and Dr. Mads Daugaard Join SAB Vancouver, BC - June 27, 2022 - Variational AI, developer of generative AI-based drug discovery platform for novel kinase inhibitors, today announced that it has added industry and scientific leaders Dr. John F.

Glia Acquires Finn AI to Deliver Turnkey Banking Virtual Assistants for Enhanced Digital Customer Service

‍ NEW YORK and VANCOUVER, BC, JUNE 23, 2022-Glia, the leading provider of Digital Customer Service, has acquired Finn AI, the premier AI-powered chatbot platform for banks and credit unions. The deal aims to mainstream virtual assistants for financial services companies by making Finn AI's proven conversational AI solutions an integral part of Glia's industry-leading Digital Customer Service (DCS) platform.

Seattle smart shopping cart startup Veeve, led by ex-Amazon engineers, rolling into Albertsons

Veeve, a Seattle-based startup launched by two ex-Amazon managers, is partnering with Albertsons to bring its smart shopping cart technology to the grocery chain. Veeve Smart Carts will be available at a few dozen stores across the country later this year, allowing shoppers to skip checkout lines thanks to the tech-enhanced devices.

Data for DEI: Included lands $3.5M to fuel software that helps companies analyze diversity trends

The news: Included, a Seattle startup that helps companies manage diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, raised a $3.5 million seed round. The fresh funding follows a $1.9 million pre-seed round raised last year. Why it matters: Companies are prioritizing DEI more than ever, and Included is riding that trend.

Variational AI Makes Prestigious Additions to Scientific Advisory Board - Variational AI

Leading Chemistry and Drug Development Researchers Alexander Tropsha, Ph.D. and Robert N. Young, Ph.D. Join SAB Vancouver, BC - April 5, 2022 - Variational AI, developer of state-of-the-art generative AI technology to redefine the economics of drug development by accelerating the discovery of novel and optimized small molecule therapeutics, today announced that it has added industry leaders Alexander Tropsha, Ph.D.

Life insurance provider Ethos acquires digital wills and estate-planning startup Tomorrow

Tomorrow, a Seattle startup that helps people set up digital legal wills and trusts, has been acquired by life insurance provider Ethos, the companies announced Thursday. Founded in 2016, Tomorrow's iOS and web apps offer online estate planning services without the need for a lawyer.

DEI tech reimagines workplace equity and attracts investors amid mounting calls for change

When Kim Vu joined fintech startup Remitly as the head of diversity and inclusion two years ago, she spent hours manually crunching numbers, scrambling to gain insights into the teams scattered across eight global offices. Then the pandemic hit, forcing the company to switch to remote work, and the Black Lives Matter movement put a spotlight on racial inequities.

Funding news: AI-fueled drug discovery startup and auto safety company raise cash

The news: Variational AI, a Vancouver, B.C.-based company leveraging artificial intelligence to help develop new small molecule drugs, has raised $3.5 million in seed funding. The tech: Variational AI's Enki software generates novel molecular structures using its algorithms trained on a set of compounds screened against drug targets from both experimental and computational sources.

How this Seattle startup is helping shift HR diversity efforts from 'touchy-feely' to data driven

The news: Seattle startup Included raised a $1.9 million pre-seed round from FlyingFish, SignalFire and Ascend. Putting data in DEI: In the wake of George Floyd's murder, companies nationwide pledged to better support racial and ethnic diversity throughout their operations. Their own employees, customers and regulators have likewise demanded measurable improvements.

Symbl.ai, provider of conversational intelligence APIs and tools, gets $17M

Hear from CIOs, CTOs, and other C-level and senior execs on data and AI strategies at the Future of Work Summit this January 12, 2022. Symbl.ai, the Seattle-based company that provides APIs to developers to build apps capable of understanding natural human conversations, has raised a $17 million series A funding.

These Portuguese startup co-founders are moving to Seattle. Here's why.

YData, a data science startup currently based in Portugal, is planting its flag in Seattle. On Monday, the startup announced a $2.7 million seed round led by Flying Fish Partners, a Seattle-based venture capital firm that focuses on early stage artificial intelligence and machine learning startups.

Ready to deliver on robotic pizza: Picnic sets price and starts taking orders for pie-making machine

Order up! Picnic, the Seattle food automation startup, announced Tuesday that it is accepting pre-orders from U.S. customers for its Picnic Pizza System, designed to reduce costs and labor in commercial kitchens. The robotic pizza maker will be available for monthly subscription prices ranging between $3,500 and $5,000, depending on the configuration and production volumes.

Picnic™ Raises $16.3 Million to Accelerate Growth and Adds Several New Strategic Partners

SEATTLE--()--Seattle-based Picnic™ ( www.hellopicnic.com), an innovator in automated, robotic food assembly, announced today that, it has raised a $16.3 million Series A financing. The new round was led by the venture capital group Thursday Ventures ( thursday.vc), who was joined by other investors including existing investors Creative Ventures ( creativeventures.vc), Flying Fish Partners ( flyingfish.vc), and Vulcan Capital ( capital.vulcan.com).

KKR Appoints Adriane Brown as New Independent Director

NEW YORK, Jun 16, 2021--KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR) today announced that Adriane Brown has been appointed to the Board of Directors of KKR & Co. Inc. Her appointment will bring the number of independent directors to ten out of a total of fourteen Board seats.