Only a week into the new year, several companies made new moves and pulled in funding. Read more to catch up on the latest news in Seattle tech. This is the Built In Seattle weekly refresh.
Amazon is funding affordable housing. The giant is contributing its $2 billion Housing Equity Fund to construct affordable homes across the country. To stave off the unsustainable trend of lower-income workers losing their homes to those who earn higher wages, the company is partnering with government and affordable housing organizations to build homes priced below the market rate. [Built In Seattle]
Chronosphere secured $43.4M. Having just closed on its Series B round, the cloud-native monitoring expert released its platform for public use as a tool to help businesses harness their data. The funding round was led by Greylock, Lux Capital and Lee Fixel, and the cash will enable Chronosphere to increase its headcount across its sales, design, engineering, marketing and product teams. [Built In Seattle]
Seattle Tech Quote of the Week
Syndio pulled in $17M. Its software detects pay disparities between employees of major companies based on traits like race or gender. The Series B round led by Bessemer Venture Partners will enable the startup to develop new solutions for its platform. Syndio is also looking to grow its team with positions available in product, sales and engineering. [Built In Seattle]
Omnivor raised $2.7M. This company specializes in creating 3D holographic content that users can control across various devices to help with creating personalized content. The seed funding round was led by Sway Ventures and brings the startup’s total funding to $5.5 million to date. Omnivor plans to use the new capital to further developments on its platform and hire engineering talent. [FinSMEs]
Seattle tech startups had a prosperous 2020. There were 10 tech companies in the Seattle area that raised upwards of $1.1 billion in venture funding last year. 98point6 pulled in the largest amount, $161 million, to go toward advancements in telehealth. Zenoti was close behind with $160 million to improve its cloud-based business management tech, and Qumulo raised $125 million to expand its team of cloud data storage experts. [Built In Seattle]
