Seattle drone startup takes flight | Novo Nordisk lays off Seattle workers | Last call for GeekWire Awards nominations

Led by 23-year-old founder Blake Resnick (above), Seattle drone startup Brinc is bulking up its team with former Amazon engineers as it aims to ride tailwinds from geopolitical tension.  

• Brinc manufactures tactical unmanned aerial vehicles and equipment for public safety missions. The company’s drones can flip around after a crash, see in the dark, communicate through a microphone — and break through glass, as GeekWire reporter Nate Bek observed at Brinc’s headquarters in Seattle. Read more. 

Tech Moves:

• Armoire hires ex-Microsoft technical fellow as CTO; Chewy adds VP after buying Seattle-area startup Petabyte; and more personnel changes across PNW tech.

Novo Nordisk, the Danish multinational biopharma company, is laying off 86 employees in Seattle as part of the closure of its “wet lab” operations.

• The company will continue to have operations in the city focused on digital therapy, data science and artificial intelligence. Read more.

Salesforce stock spiked more than 14% after the enterprise sales software company beat Q4 estimates with revenue of $8.4 billion.

• Tableau, the Seattle-based data visualization company acquired by Salesforce in 2019, reported Q4 revenue of $636 million, up 5.6% year-over-year. Read more.

Microsoft will reportedly get the green light from EU regulators for its proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. 

• Reuters reported Thursday that recent licensing deals offered by Microsoft to its rivals helped address concerns.  

U.S. home prices fell annually for the first time in a decade, but rising mortgage rates are keeping homebuyers on the sidelines and could lead to a "prolonged winter for the housing market."   

• That's the word from Redfin, which released a new report Thursday. "Limited inventory and continued interest in turnkey homes in desirable neighborhoods will keep prices somewhat propped up — and high rates will continue to be a hit on affordability," said Redfin Deputy Chief Economist Taylor Marr. Read more.

In her new book, an ex-Google manager offers a cautionary tale on the alleged pregnancy discrimination that she endured at the tech giant.

• In “Black Box: A Pregnancy Discrimination Memoir,” Chelsey Glasson of Seattle says the obstacles to standing up to her workplace ordeal felt insurmountable. Read the excerpt.

Last call for 2023 GeekWire Awards nominations!

• Act now if you want to help us honor the top innovators, entrepreneurs and technology leaders in the Pacific Northwest ahead of the big event in Seattle. Read more.