Top funding deals in Q1 | Bill Gates digs visit at Seattle-area startup

Top funding deals of Q1: The tech startup investment climate remains tepid, but many up-and-coming Pacific Northwest tech companies are still raising cash to fuel growth. Check out the top 10 deals from the first quarter.

Bill Gates stopped at a Seattle-area startup this week and filled potholes in the parking lot. Here’s why.

In his annual letter to shareholders, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says the company’s Project Kuiper satellite venture will be “a very large revenue opportunity” in the future — but he’s hedging his bets as to exactly when that future will be.

• Overall, Jassy’s letter "misses an opportunity to address ordinary shareholders honestly and directly,” writes Martin Peers of The Information. 

• Previously on GeekWire: Thinking in primitives at the world’s biggest startup: Notes on Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s annual letter

This weekend on the GeekWire Podcast: Amazon CTO Werner Vogels on the evolution of AI, and what’s next in technology. Check tomorrow’s newsletter, or subscribe to GeekWire in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

Hot Links:

• The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency disclosed that Russian hackers stole U.S. federal agency email correspondence with Microsoft. (Politico)

• Seattle fintech startup Level was acquired. The company’s co-founder and CEO David Edelstein is now a chief innovation officer at Washington bank First Fed. (LinkedIn) 

• Seattle biotech company Eliem Therapeutics agreed to acquire Tenet Medicines and said it is raising $120 million in new capital. (Eliem Therapeutics)

• Seattle’s Museum of Flight is hosting Yuri’s Day on Saturday to celebrate spaceflight. The event will feature haptic wearables to boost a dance experience for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community. (Museum of Flight) 

• Xbox partnered with a nonprofit called Cure Cancer to design custom Xbox Series X consoles that draw inspiration from work done by Seattle-based biotech company Nanostring Technologies. (LinkedIn)

Thanks for subscribing to the GeekWire newsletter, and have a great weekend. — GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop, todd@geekwire.com, and GeekWire editor Taylor Soper, taylor@geekwire.com.