Rover fetches a SPAC deal: The online pet sitting marketplace is the latest to go public as part of the SPAC craze, joining other Seattle-area startups such as Porch and Nautilus Biotechnology which also have completed SPACs in the past two months. Rover’s deal values the company — which began as an idea at a Startup Weekend event nine years ago — at $1.35 billion.
Amazon’s fight against counterfeits: The tech giant and luxury retailer Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A. filed two lawsuits against four people and two entities that the companies allege sold knock-off belts via Amazon’s online marketplace. The company is also waging a bit of PR battle against the vestiges of the Trump administration for calling its international e-commerce marketplaces “notorious markets.” Read more.
New startup mining healthcare data: A group of 14 U.S. health systems, representing tens of millions of patients across 40 states, will pool their data using software developed by Seattle startup Truveta. The goal of the company, led by former Microsoft Windows chief Terry Myerson, is to extract insights to improve healthcare without sacrificing the privacy of patients. Learn more in a new episode of GeekWire’s Health Tech Podcast.
Robinhood to open Seattle office: After raising $3.4 billion in fresh capital following a tumultuous past couple of weeks, the budding fintech giant — whose app helped fuel the wild stock surges for GameStop, AMC, and others — is the latest Silicon Valley company to plant a flag in the Seattle region. Read more.
Zillow Group’s $500M acquisition: The Seattle real estate giant will acquire ShowingTime, a Chicago-based company that sells software to facilitate home showings. The deal comes as Zillow sees record traffic driven by a strong U.S. housing market that the company predicts will grow even more in 2021.
New sales route for electric vehicle makers? A bill working its way through the Washington state House would allow makers of electric vehicles to sell direct to the public without involving an auto dealer. EV makers Tesla and Rivian testified in favor of the bill, while many existing auto dealers opposed it. Read more.
Pivotal Commware raises $50M: The Bill Gates-backed venture plans to expand research, development and distribution for its millimeter-wave 5G network infrastructure products. Read more.
Microsoft’s cloud in space: The tech giant is teaming with Hewlett Packard Enterprise to bring Azure to the International Space Station, delivering edge computing, AI capabilities and a cloud connection to orbit. Read more.
Tech Moves: Zillow VP of Partner Success Racquel Russell joined the board of micro-mobility company Bird; former Create33 executive director Rebecca Lovell is the new CEO of Seattle-based Denali Financial Consulting. Catch up on those and other key personnel changes across the Pacific Northwest tech industry.
AWS + NHL: Amazon Web Services is teaming with the National Hockey League as the official cloud provider in a move that leverages AI and machine learning tech to bring enhanced analytics and broadcast features to the league. AWS CEO Andy Jassy, recently named as the future successor to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos — and also a part-owner of the Seattle Kraken — said AWS will help the NHL with its digital transformation.
Go deep on snow data: Skiers, snowboarders and avalanche watchers, take your eye off the potential snowfall coming to the Seattle region and focus instead on this new online tool which measures snow depths at Pacific Northwest mountain sites.
Thanks for reading, and see all our latest headlines below. — GeekWire managing editor Taylor Soper, taylor@geekwire.com, and reporter Kurt Schlosser, kurt@geekwire.com.
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