‘30 under 30’ entrepreneurs raise $3M for Seattle startup backed by Meta

After more than a year of remote work, Devin Ajimine and his friends could not find a productivity tool that would help them stay focused. So they decided to build one themselves over a weekend.

• The result is LifeAt Spaces, an app that organizes a set of productivity tools onto a single platform, letting users create their own digital office from a browser or desktop app. The Seattle startup has drawn attention on social media and from investors including Facebook parent Meta. Ajimine, CEO, and his colleagues made Forbes’ “30 under 30” list. Read the story. Above, LifeAt Spaces employees, from left: Ajimine, Ashika Mulagada, Pouya Rad and Marisa Chentakul. 

ZeroAvia recently grabbed headlines for successfully flying the largest aircraft to date under hydrogen and battery power. The green aviation company is building up R&D operations in the Seattle region. 

• Washington state, the historic home of aerospace heavyweight Boeing, is proving attractive to ZeroAvia and fellow aviation newcomers such as MagniX, Eviation and Universal Hydrogen. Read more. 

A Seattle band that played at Climate Pledge Arena during a Kraken hockey game last week got disinvited for two more appearances.

• Who Is She? was playing as the “house band” between periods when it lampooned Amazon founder Jeff Bezos during a song. The band later tweeted that it wasn't welcome back at the arena. The NHL team blamed poor behavior. Read more.

A wildlife research nonprofit backed by the Paul G. Allen Foundation is studying how the Pacific Northwest lynx population is affected by wildfires. 

• The study will examine how lynx use patchy landscapes and how to optimize forest treatments to reduce fuels and preserve lynx habitats. Since 2016, lynx have been endangered in Washington state. Read more. 

Our newest GeekWire Podcast episode highlights the business potential of generative AI such as the GPT-3 natural language processing technology. 

• The featured guest is Kirill Zubovsky, an engineer, startup founder, and tech consultant who recently launched Smartynames, a domain and business name finder that uses GPT-3. Listen and read more.