Shock and sadness over Techstars Seattle ending | Crypto startup EigenLayer raises $100M

Sad, surprised, and shocked: Those were some of the feelings shared following the news that Techstars Seattle is shutting down. Techstars said it is “doubling down” on cities with higher venture capital activity. But the decision to close its longstanding Seattle accelerator perplexed many given the success of startups that went through the program since it launched in 2010 — including unicorns like Remitly, Outreach, and Zipline. “Techstars Seattle played an important role in helping build and invigorate Seattle’s startup ecosystem,” said Andy Sack, the accelerator’s first managing director. “Sad the chapter is ending.” Read more.  

• Related: Chris DeVore, a longtime Seattle-area investor who ran Techstars Seattle for five years, provides behind-the-scenes insight on what he believes went wrong at Techstars.

• Above: Sack, left, thanks the crowd at a 2014 Techstars Seattle event announcing his replacement, DeVore, right, who ran the program until 2019.

Startup fundings:

• EigenLayer, a Seattle-based blockchain infrastructure startup led by a former University of Washington professor, raised $100 million from Silicon Valley heavyweight Andreeesen Horowitz. 

• Finpilot, a Seattle startup that uses generative AI to help financial analysts speed up research, raised $4 million in a round led by Madrona.

• See all recent Seattle startup investments at our funding list. 

First Mode opens clean-tech factory in Seattle: The 40,000-square-foot facility in the SoDo district “represents the latest in smart manufacturing,” CEO Julian Soles said as the company plans to build its powertrain conversion kits for mining trucks. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (above, fourth from right) — and GeekWire contributing editor Alan Boyle — got a tour.

“I’m proud of being a job hopper”: A Seattle-based software engineer has gone viral with his LinkedIn post about moving from Amazon to Microsoft to Google in three years, raising questions about employee vs. company loyalty. Read more.

Jeff Bezos is revved up about rocket raising: With an orbital class New Glenn rocket standing tall on a Florida launch pad for a round of tests, the Blue Origin founder shared his excitement over the first-ever rollout. “Big year ahead. Let’s go!” said Bezos (above with CEO Dave Limp). Read more. 

Remitly is on a roll: The Seattle-based digital remittance company reported total revenue last year of $944.3 million, up 44% year-over-year. Read more.

Tech Moves: Expedia taps executives to run new divisions; Bumble hires a Microsoft veteran as CTO; and more personnel changes in PNW tech.

Is your company the next Pacific Northwest powerhouse? Community nominations are open for the 2024 GeekWire Awards! Cast your ballot today for Next Tech Titan and more as we get set to honor the leading entrepreneurs, innovators, deal makers and non-profit leaders across more than a dozen categories, May 9 in Seattle. 

Thanks for subscribing to the GeekWire newsletter, and have a great day. — GeekWire managing editor Taylor Soper, taylor@geekwire.com; and GeekWire reporter Kurt Schlosser, kurt@geekwire.com.