U.K. firm acquires Synapse, plans to grow team in Seattle

Seattle Times | Rachel Lerman | June 17

“Seattle-based Synapse Product Development has been acquired by Cambridge Consultants, a U.K. firm that offers similar services.

“The Seattle company said its 150 employees would all join Cambridge, bringing the combined company to more than 700 people total.” Read more.

Microsoft expands development work in B.C.

Seattle Times | Matt Day | June 17

“The Redmond company Friday is to officially open its expanded Vancouver, B.C., development center, inaugurating office space that can hold as many as 750 people, up from the 550 the software company now employs there.” Read more.

NewSpace 2016: Why Seattle is emerging as a major hub for commercial space

Geekwire | Nat Levy | June 21

“To succeed, space companies need to bring together people from a variety of fields, panelists said. Small space startups in the area are recruiting top people in technology, finance, marketing and other disciplines to turn their big ideas into sustainable business models. Space ventures aren’t just about aerospace engineering and hardware anymore, but about information technology, and that’s a big reason why Seattle is attracting space ventures.” Read more.

Outreach lands $17.5M for building out its salespeople platform

Puget Sound Business Journal | Rachel Nielsen | June 22

“Outreach, a Seattle company that creates a workflow platform for salespeople, has notched $17.5 million in Series B funding.

“The money will go toward further developing and promoting the platform, which helps sales professionals contact the right person at the right time.” Read more.

Growth still strong for coding bootcamps; industry on track to graduate 17,000 students this year

Geekwire | Kurt Schlosser | June 22

“Coding bootcamps continue to show strong growth as the industry is expected to graduate more than 17,000 students and grow by 74 percent in 2016. The findings are part of the third annual Market Sizing Report from Course Report.” Read more.