Investors from Bill Gates’ office launch new Seattle firm | Google AI helps manage traffic signals

Investors from Bill Gates’ family investment office have launched Bison Ventures, a $135 million Seattle-based fund focused on startups using “deep technology” to tackle some of humanity’s most difficult challenges. Read more.

• Above, the Bison Ventures team, from left: Ari Wright, principal; Ben Hemani, founding partner; Casey Cragle, executive assistant and operation support; Tom Biegala, founding partner; and Caleb Appleton, principal.

Another Seattle-based investment firm, Curious, raised $16 million to fuel a unique thesis: buy struggling software startups that are running out of money. Read more. 

WeWork files for bankruptcy: The co-working company, once valued at $47 billion, plans to undergo a reorganization. WeWork has eight locations in the Seattle region. A spokesperson said the city remains a “key market” for WeWork. Read more. 

“If you learn too much about a problem and you really understand the need and the gap and the pain that it’s causing people, you get to a point where you can’t not do something about it.”

• That’s the view of Xiao Wang (above), who moved from China to the U.S. with his parents at age 3. The co-founder and CEO of Seattle startup Boundless is using technology to streamline the immigration process.

• Wang is one of six “Uncommon Thinkers” who will be recognized at the GeekWire Gala on Dec. 6. The inventors, scientists, technologists and entrepreneurs are transforming industries and driving positive change in the world. Read the story.

Will OpenAI ever release its own ChatGPT device? “We’d like to figure out something amazing,” CEO Sam Altman told reporters in response to questions at the company’s developer event in San Francisco. “I do believe that every time a new … technology of this magnitude comes along, there’s supposed to be an amazing new computing device.” Read more.

• More from the event: OpenAI ‘GPTs’ will let users create customized, personal versions of its AI chatbot

• Watch the full OpenAI DevDay keynote. 

• Above, Altman (right) and OpenAI CTO Mira Murati and CEO Sam Altman speak with reporters Monday in San Francisco. 

Seattle startup funding news:

• KeySavvy, a peer-to-peer vehicle payment platform, raised $2 million from Porsche and others to eliminate the risk of title fraud for buyers and payment fraud for sellers.

• Tapp Finance raised $300,000 to build out an app that aims to democratize access to Wall Street strategies for everyday investors.

In a bid to keep traffic flowing and to cut down on stop-and-go vehicle emissions, Google is using AI to help manage traffic signals in Seattle and other cities. The Seattle Department of Transportation says “Project Green Light” speeds the ability to tweak intersection timing. Read more.

It’s Election Day. Amazon isn’t getting involved in this year’s Seattle City Council race — here’s why.

Seattle investor Ben Gilbert (above) is transitioning to a new role at Pioneer Square Labs, the startup studio he co-founded in 2015, so that he can focus more energy on “Acquired,” the leading technology and business podcast that he co-hosts. Read more. 

• More Tech Moves: Retired Air Force Col. Katie Buss and tech entrepreneur Ben Howard have taken the helm as co-CEOs of Vancouver, Wash.-based KinectAir, which provides a digital platform for booking on-demand private air travel. Read more.

Hot Links:

• Oracle and Microsoft expanded their partnership again with a multi-year agreement in which Microsoft will use Oracle Cloud Infrastructure AI alongside Microsoft Azure AI to power Bing conversational searches. (Oracle)
• Microsoft isn’t in a hurry to make big changes at Activision-Blizzard after completing the hard-fought acquisition, Blizzard Entertainment President Mike Ybarra says in an interview. (The Verge)