Seattle’s newest unicorn | Privacy, AI and the cloud

Seattle’s newest unicorn: Logistics startup Flexe just raised $119 million to push its valuation past $1 billion. Demand for the company’s warehousing technology continues to grow, with revenue doubling year-over-year to date, and Flexe is expanding to serve more logistics needs. As some startups lay off workers and cut expenses amid a potential recession, the economic uncertainty is actually a tailwind for Flexe’s business. Read more. 

Amazon gets back into restaurant food delivery: The tech giant is partnering with Grubhub as part of a new perk for Prime members in the U.S. The move comes three years after Amazon shut down its Amazon Restaurants delivery service. Read more.

Privacy, AI and the cloud: Microsoft and Amazon insist they didn’t use an IBM database of Flickr images to train their facial recognition algorithms, but twin lawsuits allege they violated Illinois privacy laws by exploring the possibility. The unfolding dispute illustrates the broader challenges facing the tech industry and society in the emerging era of AI and the cloud.

Seahawks, Trail Blazers not for sale — yet: Jody Allen issued a statement on the future of the teams she controls as chair of the Paul G. Allen Trust, saying her late brother’s plan was to have her sell the franchises, but for now the focus is on “building championship teams.” Read more.  

Tech Moves: Microsoft’s former consulting chief economist joins DOJ antitrust team; Stack Overflow hires AWS director; and more personnel changes. 

Fintech incubator adds new startups: Four companies from outside Seattle are joining the incubator run by BECU, Washington’s largest not-for-profit credit union, and the University of Washington’s CoMotion Labs. Read more. 

Thanks for reading, and have a great day. — GeekWire Managing Editor Taylor Soper, taylor@geekwire.com, GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop, todd@geekwire.com, and GeekWire reporter Kurt Schlosser, kurt@geekwire.com.