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Geek Wire
31-07-2025
- Business
- Geek Wire
Why these startup founders love building in Seattle
GeekWire's startup coverage documents the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial scene. Sign up for our weekly startup newsletter , and check out the GeekWire funding tracker and venture capital directory . From top left, clockwise: Stronghold Labs CEO Pete Schwab; Variata co-founder James Lee; Casium CEO Priyanka Kulkarni; Exia Labs CEO Jon Pan; Vercept CEO Kiana Ehsani; and Read AI CEO David Shim. There are a lot of advantages to building a startup in Seattle. That's the word from founders we interviewed Wednesday evening at a startup showcase event hosted as part of Seattle Tech Week. We asked what they like about being a startup founder in Seattle. Here's what they had to say: 'There's less noise. People want to get stuff done. People want to put in the work. They pick something and they commit. It makes it easier to build and recruit.' — David Shim, CEO and co-founder of Read AI 'We can build in a more quiet, focused environment than the Bay Area. And there's a lot of talent. It's very underrated.' — Kiana Ehsani, CEO and co-founder of Vercept 'The community here is super welcoming. There's very little attitude. Everybody, up-and-down the ladder, has been willing to listen.' — Pete Schwab, CEO and co-founder of Stronghold Labs 'We're so close to Joint Base Lewis-McCord. That's a really unique benefit for defense companies in Seattle.' — Jon Pan, CEO and co-founder of Exia Labs 'Seattle has the right energy. It's a blend of excitement and pragmatism.' — James Lee, co-founder at Variata 'Seattle is home to some of the brightest people. I love the energy. It has been home to some really great companies — and we're going to be the next one.' — Priyanka Kulkarni, CEO and co-founder at Casium Audiori, a new Seattle startup, pitches at the Seattle Startup Showcase on Wednesday at the Showbox Market. (GeekWire Photo / Taylor Soper) Seattle's elite technical talent and cultural humility were themes in our story this week on the state of Seattle's startup ecosystem in the AI era. But our reporting also showed that there is concern about the region's risk-averse culture, the lack of local capital, and government policy. Generally, though, the vibe is optimistic. 'I am very, very, very bullish on Seattle, particularly in the AI space,' said Pioneer Square Labs Managing Director Greg Gottesman, speaking at another Seattle Tech Week event on Tuesday. Related coverage: Related stories about the companies mentioned above:
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Wispr Flow raises $30M from Menlo Ventures for its AI-powered dictation app
Startups developing voice AI technology and applications are having their moment. Model builders like ElevenLabs and Cartesia have raised millions of dollars in the last few months. Applications such as AI-powered notetaker Granola, and meeting tools Read AI and Fireflies AI have also received investor attention and backing. Continuing the trend, dictation app Wispr Flow announced today that it is raising $30 million in Series A funding from Menlo Ventures with participation from NEA, 8VC, Opal CEO Kenneth Schlenker, Pinterest Founder Evan Sharp, Carta CEO Henry Ward, and Lindy CEO Flo Crivelli. Menlo's Matt Kraning, who also backed the company as an angel investor, will join its board. To date, the company has raised $56 million. The startup's founder and CEO, Tanay Kothari, started building Wispr to create a device that would allow users to type just by mouthing words silently. Its prior funding was for that business. Last year, the company instead started focusing on Wispr Flow, the software interface designed for the hardware device. The company released a Mac app in October 2024, followed by a Windows app in March 2025, and an iOS app earlier this month. Kothari mentioned that, since its early release, VCs in Silicon Valley have been using the product. 'I think every single tier one venture fund in the valley uses Wispr Flow for their emails, memos, documents, and more. They feel themselves being hooked on it, and it is one of the products they use every day. Because of this, we started getting a lot of inbound,' Kothari said about investor interest. Notably, Granola also had a similar story of receiving immense investor interest because VCs used their product a lot. Kothari also noted that the startup will soon achieve profitability at the current rate of growth, and initially, he didn't want to raise money. However, he worried that big tech players with a massive distribution advantage could be a risk to the company. He wanted to multiply the company's revenue and reach rapidly, and decided to take the investment. Kraning, who has been an avid user of the app, said that his initial thesis for Wispr Flow was that with the current set of input methods, like keyboards, we are 'waiting for our thumbs to catch up with our thoughts.' 'Wispr Flow is creating an efficient way to translate digital thoughts and intent. The app captures users' speech and what they want to convey very well. The team has thought about how people speak while developing models rather than focusing on things like word error rates,' he told TechCrunch. The startup said that the app has been growing its user base by 50% month-over-month. Kothari noted that 40% of users of the app are in the U.S., 30% in Europe, and 30% in other parts of the world. In addition, more than 30% of the app's users are from a non-technical background. 'More and more people are using AI tools, but still, there isn't a good interface for people who are not techies. ChatGPT-style interface is the most common one, and that was released three and a half years ago. We are building for all kinds of users so they don't have to write system prompts to interface with AI,' Kothari said. At the moment, Wispr Flow supports dictation in 104 languages. Kothari said that 40% of dications are in English, and 60% of them are in the rest of the languages, with Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Hindi, and Mandarin being the top languages. The company will use the funding to grow its team of 18 with roles in engineering and go-to-market. It will also release an Android app and cater to Enterprise users by setting up company-wide phrase context and support teams. The startup is working on building Flow into a product that is akin to an AI-powered assistant that knows more about your personal context and helps you do everyday tasks like send messages, take notes, and set reminders. Plus, the company said it's working with some AI hardware partners, without naming them, to power the interaction layer. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Insider
26-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
3 money questions experts say you should never ask AI — and 3 you should
AI struggles with certain math questions, so asking it to calculate your taxes might go poorly. AI can help you with budgeting and financial habits; for more complex questions, ask a human expert. Rather than asking AI how to invest for retirement, use it to assess how on track you are now. Haven't yet tapped into the power of artificial intelligence? Then it might be time to get on board. 71% of businesses regularly use AI for at least one function of their business, up from 65% just last year. With AI being used for everything from customer service to diagnosing medical issues, traffic management, self-driving cars, and even fraud detection, it makes sense that the financial industry is getting on board. But sometimes, it makes sense to consult a real, live person rather than AI when dealing with your finances. Here are three questions you should never ask AI, plus a few you should. Don't ask: What are my estimated tax payments this year? When working with AI, keeping it general is key, said LJ Suzuki, President of CFOshare, a company that uses Read AI to outsource finance departments for growing small businesses. "It's OK to ask AI, 'How do estimated income taxes work for S-corporations?' but you should not ask AI, 'Please calculate my estimated income tax payments for the next year,'" he explained. It's most useful for providing generalized feedback, he said. "AI is great for providing broad and general advice to someone who knows nothing about a topic. If you're unsure how to estimate your income tax payments, AI can give you a great overview of the concept." Where it falls short, ironically, are logical operations, such as math. "Lots of people are confused by this since traditional computers are excellent at logical operations (better than humans)," he explained. "AI is different — it thinks more intuitively, which means it makes logical errors." Don't ask: How should I invest my money? Focus on personal questions that delve into your habits. "'Where did all my money go this month?', 'How much am I actually spending on takeout?' These honest, habit-focused questions are where AI shines," said Sam Taylor, VP of technology at Cleo, an AI financial assistant. He noted that it's best to avoid personalized guidance on investments, loans, and other major financial decisions as of now. (For those questions, consider hiring a financial advisor.) "There will come a day when AI can give you personalized guidance in the way of investments, loans, and more," Taylor said. "But, for now, focus on principles like how to start saving, building a budget, and where you can better your financial habits." Don't ask: What can I do to reach my retirement goals? Instead ask: Am I on track for my target retirement date? Determining whether someone is on track for their target retirement date is one area in which AI shines. Joseph Patrick Roop, financial advisor and host of the 'Retire(meant) for Living' podcast, asked an AI assistant that question, telling it, "'I'm 52 years old, have $500,000 in my 401(k), $63,000 saved in a brokerage account.' "It really did a great job laying out my target retirement date, what I have saved, including any Social Security or pensions." But it was missing that human element. "As a financial advisor looking at this, there are some other ways we could help this client get to their desired income by utilizing some other tools that it didn't bring up," said Roop. "From a very novice standpoint, if you're not a financial advisor and want to know where you stand, I thought the answers were very good." Remember, AI is still evolving Regardless of how sophisticated AI may seem, it can't replace a human just yet, especially when it comes to finances. "AI is still not capable enough to replace a financial strategist," Suzuki explained. But if you're looking for general advice on financial best practices, AI can help. "AI is great at generating ideas and financial best practices," Suzuki said. "For example, if you are having trouble collecting payment from customers, you can ask, 'List the best practices in collecting payments in B2B sales.' I guarantee you'll find some useful ideas you'd never previously considered."
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
AI note-taking app Granola raises $43M at $250M valuation, launches collaborative features
AI-powered note-taking tool Granola has been on a roll. The startup's seen a steep uptick in usage since it launched a year ago, mostly thanks to word of mouth among VCs and founders, but a big driver seems to be the fact that people are using it for doing more than its core pitch — automated note-taking for meetings. Granola's co-founder, Chris Pedragel, told TechCrunch that the company's users are increasingly using Granola for taking personal notes, which helps them make all their information, both from work and otherwise, available to the app's AI to parse and surface insights from. "[People] have Granola open all day because they have a lot of meetings, so it's like [...] where they're starting to live," he said. Pedragel said Granola's organic popularity among the tech crowd and diversifying use-cases has helped its user base grow 10% every week since its launch, though he didn't specify how many users it currently has. Off the back of that rapid growth and popularity, Granola on Wednesday said it has raised $43 million in a Series B funding round led by Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross's venture firm, NFDG, at a valuation of $250 million. The round also saw participation from existing investors Lightspeed and Spark, as well as angel investors including Vercel's Guillermo Rauch, Replit's Amjad Masad, Shopify's Tobi Lutke, and Linear's Karri Saarinen. The round brings the company's total funding raised to $67 million. Alongside this funding, Granola is also extending its remit beyond its current single-user focus to make itself more useful for businesses: It's launching a new collaboration feature that lets users share transcripts and notes with teammates, and enable the app's AI take to advantage of a broader pool of notes and details to surface insights. Users in an organization can create custom folders for various collaborative use cases like sales calls, customer feedback and hiring. The app will also let users share meeting notes with people who don't use Granola to let them chat with its AI and ask it questions. Other meeting transcription and note-taking apps, such as Read AI, Fireflies and Otter, already offer similar shared space features. Pedregal, though, says Granola is for more than note-taking. "I think how Granola differs from other notetakers is that it is very personal and you are in control all the time. You can edit notes at any point. It is not about just capturing a meeting, but it is a space where you can work, even post meetings," he said. Earlier this month, Granola updated its app to enable users to ask the AI bot questions about all meetings it had recorded. Building on that, the company will now allow users to ask questions about specific folders as well. Granola's new collaborative focus is part of a broader trend — many AI-powered meeting transcription and note-taking tools are expanding their focus and building integrations with other tools as they try to become a hub that stores and lets users search through knowledge from various sources. Meanwhile, productivity suites are introducing transcription tools to keep customers from having to use other apps for that purpose. For instance, Notion just yesterday launched an AI meeting note-taking tool. Lightspeed's Mike Mignano believes that Granola has an edge in this space because of its interface and user experience. "Since the start, the company has had the right mix of AI transcript and human control of taking notes. Now that they are building context across the meetings and making the notes shareable, the product has become stronger. With these features, Granola will have long-term context for users and teams, kicking off network effects for the startup," he said. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
TechCrunch
14-05-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
AI note-taking app Granola raises $43M at $250M valuation, launches collaborative features
AI-powered note-taking tool Granola has been on a roll. The startup's seen a steep uptick in usage since it launched a year ago, mostly thanks to word of mouth among VCs and founders, but a big driver seems to be the fact that people are using it for doing more than its core pitch — automated note-taking for meetings. Granola's co-founder, Chris Pedragel, told TechCrunch that the company's users are increasingly using Granola for taking personal notes, which helps them make all their information, both from work and otherwise, available to the app's AI to parse and surface insights from. '[People] have Granola open all day because they have a lot of meetings, so it's like […] where they're starting to live,' he said. Pedragel said Granola's organic popularity among the tech crowd and diversifying use-cases has helped its user base grow 10% every week since its launch, though he didn't specify how many users it currently has. Off the back of that rapid growth and popularity, Granola on Wednesday said it has raised $43 million in a Series B funding round led by Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross's venture firm, NFDG, at a valuation of $250 million. The round also saw participation from existing investors Lightspeed and Spark, as well as angel investors including Vercel's Guillermo Rauch, Replit's Amjad Masad, Shopify's Tobi Lutke, and Linear's Karri Saarinen. The round brings the company's total funding raised to $67 million. Image Credits: Granola Alongside this funding, Granola is also extending its remit beyond its current single-user focus to make itself more useful for businesses: It's launching a new collaboration feature that lets users share transcripts and notes with teammates, and enable the app's AI take to advantage of a broader pool of notes and details to surface insights. Users in an organization can create custom folders for various collaborative use cases like sales calls, customer feedback and hiring. The app will also let users share meeting notes with people who don't use Granola to let them chat with its AI and ask it questions. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | REGISTER NOW Other meeting transcription and note-taking apps, such as Read AI, Fireflies and Otter, already offer similar shared space features. Pedregal, though, says Granola is for more than note-taking. 'I think how Granola differs from other notetakers is that it is very personal and you are in control all the time. You can edit notes at any point. It is not about just capturing a meeting, but it is a space where you can work, even post meetings,' he said. Earlier this month, Granola updated its app to enable users to ask the AI bot questions about all meetings it had recorded. Building on that, the company will now allow users to ask questions about specific folders as well. Image Credits: Granola Granola's new collaborative focus is part of a broader trend — many AI-powered meeting transcription and note-taking tools are expanding their focus and building integrations with other tools as they try to become a hub that stores and lets users search through knowledge from various sources. Meanwhile, productivity suites are introducing transcription tools to keep customers from having to use other apps for that purpose. For instance, Notion just yesterday launched an AI meeting note-taking tool. Lightspeed's Mike Mignano believes that Granola has an edge in this space because of its interface and user experience. 'Since the start, the company has had the right mix of AI transcript and human control of taking notes. Now that they are building context across the meetings and making the notes shareable, the product has become stronger. With these features, Granola will have long-term context for users and teams, kicking off network effects for the startup,' he said.
