How to get more girls taking computer science courses

Only 31% of U.S. students in foundational computer courses are female, according to a new annual report out Wednesday from Seattle-based educational nonprofit Code.org. The solution might be making computer science a graduation requirement, as some states have done already. Read more. 

Zillow Group is adding to its arsenal of real estate tools, and furthering its quest to build the “housing super app,” with the acquisition of Follow Up Boss, a popular customer relationship management system for agents and brokers. The Seattle-based real estate company is paying $400 million in cash up front, plus an additional $100 million cash earnout. Read more.

Let the machines do the grunt work! “AI should make it so people have to work less, but make better decisions around the things that people are good at.” That’s one of the takeaways from longtime Seattle entrepreneur Rand Fishkin on a new episode of the Shift AI Podcast.

Leadership lessons from Impinj CEO Chris Diorio: The longtime leader of the Seattle RFID company, who won CEO of the Year honors at the GeekWire Awards earlier this year, explains how he motivates employees and why he loves racing as a hobby. Read the interview. 

Tech Moves: AI2 Incubator adds a managing director; Dropbox hires director from Goldman Sachs; and more key personnel changes. 

SIFF Cinema Downtown sets opening date: The former Cinerama theater in Seattle is coming back after a long closure and ownership change. The first film to screen on the giant screen has also been chosen. Read more. 

Latest startup fundings and deals:

• AdaptX raised $10 million to support its growth and expand its technology, which uses AI to help healthcare providers analyze medical data and improve patient care.

• Chainguard raised $61 million to help companies secure their open source software.

• Atana Inc. raised $6 million to further the development of its workplace training content. The company was previously known as Media Partners.

• Zeno Power won a $7.5 million contract from the Department of Defense to build and demonstrate a radioisotope distributed power system for the seabed.

See our full list of recent startup fundings.

Hot Links:

• Managing city curb space: Seattle is digitizing its parking rules to keep track of delivery vehicles and others who abuse load zones. (Axios)

• A tasty medical device: A lollipop developed by a University of Washington chemistry professor to collect saliva samples has been awarded a $250,000 technology commercialization grant to support additional development. (Washington Research Foundation)

• Halloween startup lessons: “Setting up a bunch of halloween decorations and waiting outside all night with a bucket of candy only to have nobody show up is a great crash course in starting a company,” said Seattle entrepreneur Adam Stelle. (LinkedIn)