Part of the WTIA’s mission is to grow a strong and sustainable workforce, which means we’re passionate about keeping local talent plugged into our state’s technology industry. Every other week we’ll be keeping you connected to Washington’s job market with the latest in local hiring news.

Spokane-Based Stay Alfred Receives $47 Million for Expansion

The Spokesman-Review | Becky Kramer |October 11, 2018

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2018/oct/11/stay-alfred-receives-47-million-in-investment-fund/

“Stay Alfred, a Spokane startup that popularized the concept of ‘travel apartments,’ plans to double its inventory after receiving $47 million in venture capital funding.

Stay Alfred leases nearly 2,000 apartments in 28 U.S. metro areas for short-term stays. The company advertises spacious units in walkable downtown locations, including Spokane, touting hotel-style amenities in a more relaxed vacation rental setting…Stay Alfred has about 230 employees, mostly in the Spokane area. By the end of 2019, the company will employ about 400 people, Anderson said.

Stay Alfred outgrew its Spokane headquarters at 123 E. Sprague Ave. The company is in the process of relocating to the former Itron building in Spokane Valley, a move that should wrap up by late November, Anderson said.”

Learn more about local job opportunities at Stay Alfred.

Pulumi Raises $15M for Its Infrastructure as Code Platform

TechCrunch | Frederic Lardinois |October 22, 2018

https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/22/pulumi-raises-15m-for-its-infrastructure-as-code-platform/

“Pulumi, a Seattle-based startup that lets developers specify and manage their cloud infrastructure using the programming language they already know, today announced that it has raised a $15 million Series A funding round led by Madrona Venture Group. Tola Capital also participated in this round and Tola managing director Sheila Gulati will get a seat on the Pulumi board, where she’ll join former Microsoft exec and Madrona managing director S. Somasegar.

In addition to announcing its raise, the company also today launched its commercial platform, which builds upon Pulumi’s open-source work.

‘Since launch, we’ve had a lot of inbound interest, both on the community side — so you’re seeing a lot of open source contributions, and they’re really impactful contributions, including, for example, community-led support for VMware and OpenStack,’ Pulumi co-founder and CEO Eric Rudder told me. ‘So we’re actually seeing a lot of vibrancy in the open-source community. And at the same time, we have a lot of inbound interest on the commercial side of things. That is, teams wanting to operationalize Pulumi and put it into production and wanting to purchase the product.’

So to meet that opportunity, the team decided to raise a new round to scale out both its team and product.’”

Learn more about local job opportunities at Pulumi.

Healthcare Tech Startup 98point6 Raises $50M, Led by Goldman Sachs, to Expand Its ‘Virtual Clinic’

GeekWire | Clare McGrane |October 30, 2018

https://www.geekwire.com/2018/98point6-raises-50m-expand-virtual-clinic-including-investment-goldman-sachs/

“98point6, a Seattle-based startup developing an entirely virtual primary care service, has raised $50 million in a round led by Goldman Sachs’ Merchant Banking Division.

The new funds, announced Tuesday morning, bring the company’s total raised to a whopping $86.3 million in just over three years.

‘The round itself is a reflection of our execution to date and the momentum that we’ve built,” said longtime Seattle entrepreneur Robbie Cape, 98point6 CEO and co-founder, in an interview with GeekWire. ‘What it enables is all of the growth that’s coming as a result of that momentum.’”

Learn more about local job opportunities at 98point6.

Exclusive: Take a Look Inside Unity’s Sleek New Bellevue Office

Built In Seattle | Quinten Dol |November 5, 2018

https://www.geekwire.com/2018/ex-amazon-advertising-leader-raises-3-5m-new-startup-help-brands-optimize-presence-amazon/

“Walking into Unity’s new downtown Bellevue office feels a lot like arriving at an exclusive restaurant…The real-time 3D development company has just finished moving its 200 or so employees into the new space which, once it reaches capacity, will house around 340 workstations. Founded in Copenhagen in 2004, Unity is now headquartered in San Francisco and has offices in 27 countries throughout North and South America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. The company’s Eastside presence dates back to 2009, and this latest move doubles its office space to 50,000 square feet.

A lot of digital creatives use Unity’s tools to build their creations. And by ‘a lot,’ we mean that over 50 percent of mobile games and more than 60 percent of augmented and virtual reality content use Unity technology in some shape or form. The Bellevue office hosts teams working on graphics, machine learning and AI, engineering, finance, connected games, and mixed reality.”

Learn more about local job opportunities at Unity.

 

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