One of the best parts of running New Tech Seattle is being exposed to companies large and small who are doing amazing things. Its inspiring to watch them grow and create larger and larger impacts in their industries and beyond.
Many New Tech Seattle alumni presenters (some from way back in our Seattle Tech Meetup days; two and a half whole years ago) continue to make waves and put Seattle more prominently on the map as a city of innovation.
Some have had great funding rounds. some have shared their ups and downs publicly to mentor others, many have been awarded Seattle’s Best Companies to Work For awards, some have been acquired, and many are on steady paths of impact that will result in even more future success stories:
Zumobi, our first presenter ever (Left: Zumobi co-founder John SanGiovanni on 2 stools presenting) at ImpactHUB in February 2013, makes so manystrides in the mobile ad spaceit’s hard to keep up with them.
Avalara, another early Seattle Tech Meetup presenter and ongoing sponsor, is a tour de force. They’re constantly winning awards, expanding internationally and painting the world orange one event at a time like the U.S. Open at Chamber’s Bay.
Buuteeq sold to Priceline after being another Seattle company branded in bright orange. …are you seeing a pattern here?
Decide.com sold to ebay in 2013 a few months after being our headlining presenter at our inaugural annual UW event. They raised their first $2.5M in January 2010 and shot up like a rocket from that moment on.
Moz former-CEO Rand Fishkin has contributed to the startup community by sharing his struggles with depression. Current CEO Sarah Bird continues the Moz community spirit by speaking often (even at the White House), and opening their office regularly to local meetups. And MozCon continues to get bigger while bringing industry leaders together to share their experiences with the community.
TUNE has raised $27M and expanded past the 100 employee mark. More significantly, their CEO Peter Hamilton has the proud distinction of being our only presenter to stun the audience by singing a beautiful aria when he headlined for us at Cornish Playhouse. The hair stood up on my arms when he belted it out unexpectedly. Peter has a past life as an opera singer (honestly). Who knew?
SimplyMeasured moved into a beautiful huge waterfront office and offers their =LIFT conference in October to share insider marketing analytic secrets.
LiquidPlanner has experienced 43% growth this year, continues to make additional key hires and is expanding their enterprise feature set.
Killer Infographics moved to a larger Capitol Hill office and delivered an amazing motion graphic for the Geekwire awards while CEO Amy Balliett seems to be speaking at 2 conferences or more a month spreading Seattle love across the country.
Nordstrom once again was given the top retailer spot in Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies list while expanding it’s techonline and in stores.
AMP has made some key hires and continues to expand their features set after raising $700K in angel funding.
Julep raised $30M in Series C funding and is a juggernaut in the beauty industry while CEO Jane Park and Julep are press darlings featured in Inc., Forbes, Huffington Post, Self, Redbook, Venture Beat and many other national publications.
Porch reached $100M in funding earlier this year as it’s nation-wide expansion continues.
OfferUp is reportedly in the process of hitting the $100M in funding milestone also.
Zulily recently sold to QVC for $2.4B after only 5 years in business.
Rover.com’s revenue has jumped over 500% since they launched. My dogs and family love Rover.com and are beyond stoked about their partnership with PetCo and their quality service. Additionally, many parents are teaching their kids about money and business through having them participate as Rover.com sitters.
These are just the stories that are top of mind for me today.
We’re very grateful to be a hub of the Seattle tech community to give Seattle tech companies a platform to share their struggles and successes with the community in ways that both inspire us and bring us together.
On a side note about community, we’re very concerned for everyone affected by all of the Washington wildfires. Thank goodness our beloved rain has returned to slow down the destruction. The Seattle Times has collected a great list of resources to assist the wildfire relief efforts. There are many ways to help and donate to this cause if you’re so moved.
