While you were out doing last minute costume shopping or “testing” the Halloween candy you planned to give to trick-or-treaters, these Seattle tech companies were busy doing business. Here’s the Seattle tech news you may have missed from the past week.
Pacvue acquired by Assembly. Seattle-based Pacvue has developed a platform for e-commerce advertising, sales and intelligence. With the Pacvue platform, brands and sellers are able to grow their business on third party online marketplaces, like Amazon and Walmart. LA-based Assembly is also an e-commerce data platform, which is used by millions of online merchants. Assembly acquired Pacvue in order to incorporate its solutions and grow its e-commerce offering. Exact financial terms of the deal were not announced. [Pacvue]
Blue Origin is building a commercial space station. Blue Origin is partnering with aerospace company Sierra Space to build what it compares to an “orbiting business park.” The space station, which is called Orbital Reef, will host various public and private research projects, manufacturing projects, space tourism trips and a variety of other functions. The companies hope to get the station operating between 2025 and 2030. [Puget Sound Business Journal]
SEATTLE TECH QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Rad Power Bikes got a $154M investment. With the new capital, Rad Power Bikes is now the most funded D2C e-bike company in the world — bringing its total funding raised to $329 million. The company manufactures and sells a variety of different e-bikes through its online and physical retail stores. The new funding will help the company expand its brick-and-mortar footprint, with the company aiming to triple its number of retail and service locations by the end of 2022. [Built In Seattle]
Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund invested in three new companies. These companies are EV charging startup Resilient Power, custom packaging manufacturer CMC Machinery and eco-friendly fuel producer Infinium. All three of these companies provide some sort of sustainability-focused product that Amazon can use in its business operations, which will help Amazon reach its goal of carbon net zero by 2040. [Built In Seattle]
CLEAR app gets green light to provide vaccine verification. The Seattle city government is requiring individuals to show proof of vaccination to enter certain businesses. One way to show that proof is through the CLEAR app. CLEAR is an identity verification startup that is probably most well-known for its pre-screening kiosks at airports, but the startup has also created an app that allows people to add their vaccination information and use that as an official form of vaccination verification. So instead of carrying around an official vaccination card or flipping through their phone to find that one picture of it, people can use the CLEAR app where proof of vaccination is required. [GeekWire]
