Amidst regulation updates in California that could hurt their businesses, popular ridesharing apps Uber and Lyft are now feeling the pressure from Seattle, as Mayor Jenny Durkan announced that the city plans to implement minimum wage requirements and impose new taxes on the apps.
Read MoreTwo former Amazon employees, Shariq Siddiqui and Umer Sadiq, recently teamed up with former Google computer vision scientist Faisal Shifayat to introduce Veeve, a new tech-driven grocery cart technology system that could change the face of brick-and-mortar grocery stores. As GeekWire outlines, the entrepreneurs saw the power of the technology Amazon implemented in its “Go” stores and wanted to find a way to implement the technology in larger format stores.
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Over the past few years, Bellevue has emerged in the tech spotlight, with long-time giants such as Microsoft and the recent announcement by Amazon of a relocation to the Eastside. A new effort to build the Performing Arts Center Eastside (PACE) could add to the innovation with an immersive, cutting-edge approach to the concept of the performing arts center. The project has been in planning for decades but new CEO Ray Cullom is breathing new life into it - they have now raised $123 million of the estimated $200 million it will take to fund the project.
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After months of secrecy, T-Mobile has unveiled a new 20,000 square foot testing lab inside the Launch Pad, company’s innovation and testing facility. GeekWire recently toured the facility, which employees roughly 200 workers that test the function and durability of a range of devices, from smart homes to iOT gadgets.
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Seattle-based startup Blokable—which is working to disrupt housing development with modular smart home units—has generated $23 million to expand manufacturing into California and prepare for new projects. Since delivering a project in Edmonds in 2018, Blokable has held off on additional builds and instead has “focused on nailing down the business model and making sure the manufacturing meets housing regulations.”
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Control4 recently released its third Smart Home operating system, which has unlocked over 1,000 new features for an unrivaled and deeply personalized Smart Home experience.
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Microsoft has undertaken a multi-billion-dollar renovation of their Redmond headquarters, which will add another 2.5 million square feet of office space to the campus and easily accommodate 8,000 more employees. The project broke ground in January 2019 and it’s ambitious. Puget Sound Business Journal says, “the upgraded campus will include a two-acre plaza with room for 8,000 to 12,000 people for meetings and events, soccer and cricket fields, an underground ‘smart’ parking facility and a pedestrian and cyclist bridge over Highway 520 connecting the company’s East and West Redmond campuses.”
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Back in May, I looked at a growing trend in our region: the electric aerospace industry. At the time, local companies such as Magnix and Zunum Aero were raising capital for research in electric aviation and experts estimated that there were roughly 100 global companies developing electrically propelled aircraft. The Puget Sound region could soon see further advances in the industry, as billionaire Richard Chandler is backing Redmond-based Magnix with a sizable investment.
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Years after the official relocation announcement, Expedia’s move to Seattle is drawing ever closer, with some employees expected to start work in Interbay this fall. That figure will balloon to 4,500 employees by February 2020, when all Expedia workers are fully relocated. A large concern for Seattleites and commuters is the traffic impact, but as Seattle Times reports, the new office “will be an oasis for employees who want to avoid driving to work, offering private shuttles, plentiful bike amenities and cash for every day they don’t drive.” There is a parking structure for those that are committed to automobile use, which will accommodate 2,300 vehicles with room for expansion.
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The biotech presence in South Lake Union is set to grow, as Puget Sound Business Journal reports that Alexandria Real Estate Equities plans to construct an office and research building—with a $76.5 million price tag—at 1150 Eastlake Avenue East. The project will comprise 12 stories and 303,000 square feet and is one of four projects Alexandria is planning in the region.
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