Tech Strikes: Flexe hires Amazon biometrics chief; Contemporary Chalk founder departs; and extra
— Versatile warehousing firm Flexe employed Amazon vet Lara Rogers as SVP and basic supervisor.
Rogers spent the previous decade at Amazon and was most lately director of enterprise, product and know-how for Amazon One, the tech big’s palm-reading ID system.
Based in 2013, Flexe closed out 2020 with a $70 million Sequence C spherical and has raised $134 million in complete funding.
The corporate’s market lets retailers buy warehousing house on an on-demand foundation, avoiding long-term warehouse leases.
— Longtime Microsoft govt Gavriella Schuster joined the board of cybersecurity firm Open Programs. The 25-year veteran of Microsoft left in August to concentrate on range, fairness and inclusion initiatives.
— Enterprise software program startup Enlarge introduced Sajo Jacob as its CTO and a co-founder. He was most lately a basic supervisor at Amazon the place he spent eight years and beforehand a software program architect at Microsoft.
The Seattle and Bend, Ore.-based firm got here out of stealth mode with $6 million in funding final month. Enlarge’s instrument optimizes onboarding and use of software program utilizing AI and machine studying.
— Material, a Seattle e-commerce startup, appointed Prakash Muppirala as EVP of platform options and buyer success.
Muppirala was most lately CTO and president of digital innovation at retailer Restoration {Hardware}, now know as RH. He beforehand was an govt at Staples and spent nearly a decade at eBay.
Material offers back-end infrastructure for on-line purchasing, focusing on mid-market manufacturers.
— Scener, the Seattle-based startup that provides a social layer to the viewing of streaming tv content material, has named David Baron as CEO. The corporate additionally introduced a brand new workforce of buyers and advisors, together with J.J. Abrams, the filmmaker and producer. Learn the story.
— Contemporary Chalk co-founder Liz Pearce is now VP of promoting at GoDaddy. Pearce co-founded Contemporary Chalk, a service to search out native professionals by means of good friend suggestions, in 2019.
Previous to Contemporary Chalk, Pearce was chief income officer at Streem and spent 10 years at mission administration platform Liquid Planner, together with 5 years as CEO.
“I used to be impressed by the numerous small enterprise house owners I labored with over the previous few years at Contemporary Chalk,” Pearce instructed GeekWire in an e mail.
“I joined GoDaddy to serve entrepreneurs on a bigger scale, whereas additionally leveraging my expertise constructing and promoting software program.”
Her fellow co-founder Patrick O’Donnell, who additionally co-founded Urbanspoon and MightyAI, is now CEO of Contemporary Chalk.
— Pay-equity startup Syndio added three new executives:
- Rekha Shenoy as chief product officer. She was most lately chief product and buyer officer at Portland, Ore.-based Zapproved.
- Christine Hendrickson as VP of strategic initiatives. She is a lawyer and skilled on pay fairness and reporting legal guidelines.
- Carol Grant as VP of promoting. A Microsoft alum, Grant has labored as a advisor and is a former Zillow director of product advertising.
Syndio raised $50 million in September for its data-science powered software program. The corporate at the moment has 114 workers, up from 80 two months in the past.
— Apptio promoted Jeremy Ung to the newly established function of chief engineering officer. He joined the cloud-based IT administration firm in 2019 as VP of engineering.
Previous to becoming a member of Apptio, Ung was a senior supervisor of software program growth at Amazon Internet Providers and spent 5 years at Microsoft.
Apptio additionally promoted Toyan Espeut to chief buyer officer earlier this yr.
— Microsoft veteran Scott Rockfeld joined voice-enabled storytelling platform Novel Impact as chief advertising officer.
An angel investor and startup mentor, Rockfeld spent 18 years at Microsoft, most lately as a senior director of product administration and advertising.
Based in 2015, Novel Impact participated within the inaugural Alexa accelerator, appeared on Shark Tank and gained a Webby award. The Seattle startup closed a $3 million Sequence A spherical in 2018.
— Seattle startup Educative added startup veterans Sarah Daniels as chief content material officer and Cody Lamens as VP of gross sales. Educative raised $12 million for its coding growth platform in Could.
Daniels is the previous CEO and co-founder of Blue Canoe, an app for studying to talk English, and chief advertising officer at Market Chief. In her new function, she is going to oversee Educative’s catalog of programs for software program builders.
“It’s going to be a really enjoyable experience right here, and I really like serving to builders develop their profession and be taught to construct the following technology of know-how,” Daniels stated. She’s going to stay an adviser to Blue Canoe.
Lamens joins Educative from Rosetta Stone the place he was VP of world enterprise and training gross sales. He was beforehand head of gross sales at TINYPulse and director of gross sales at Ideoclick.
Karen Taylor is now CEO of Blue Canoe. She has been a board member on the firm for the previous 5 years.
— The Riveter co-founder Amy Nelson departed SaksWorks in October to return to The Riveter the place she continues to serve on the board.
Nelson joined SaksWorks, a brand new co-working partnership between Saks Fifth Avenue-owner Hudson’s Bay Co. (HBC) and WeWork, as president in July. She instructed GeekWire that she left after launching the partnership and preliminary areas and was excited to return to The Riveter.
Based in Seattle in 2017 as a female-focused co-working house supplier, The Riveter pivoted to a digital neighborhood final yr after shutting down its bodily areas. The corporate is now remote-first with a workforce of 4 and rising once more.
Nelson instructed GeekWire that The Riveter will return to its roots by “specializing in ladies who seek the advice of, freelance or are launching their very own enterprise.” She cited a necessity for extra sources, particularly as she’s witnessed extra ladies go unbiased in the course of the pandemic.
Nelson relocated to Columbus, Ohio earlier this yr.
— Entrepreneur and startup veteran Clay Robinson departed Salesforce to affix worldwide commerce platform Mamneta as chief expertise officer.
Previous to Salesforce, the MightySE founder beforehand labored at Seattle-area corporations Shiftboard, Apptio and Tellwise.
— Amazon veteran Stephen Curial joined Jungle Scout as CTO. The Austin, Texas-based firm creates software program for Amazon sellers.
Curial spent greater than a decade at Amazon, most lately as director of software program growth for the Fulfilled by Amazon program. He’ll proceed to be based mostly in Seattle.
— Form Therapeutics appointed David Huss as chief scientific officer and Lisa Taylor Ash as basic counsel. Each are alum of Juno Therapeutics, the place Form Therapeutics CEO and co-founder Francois Vigneault was VP of analysis.
Huss joined Form Therapeutics in 2018 and was most lately head of analysis. Taylor Ash joined the Seattle biotech firm in 2019 as VP of authorized.
This yr, Form Therapeutics raised $112 million and signed a deal value as much as $3 billion with pharma big Roche. The corporate is creating RNA modifying and gene remedy applied sciences
