Finally, some good news.
Despite a tumultuous year, Seattle tech companies are looking toward the future. They are raising capital, virtually onboarding new talent and addressing issues like mental health both internally and externally. Below, we’ve highlighted five such orgs that came out on top of 2020 and are gearing up for an even stronger 2021.
Team members at the following organizations are contributing to the local tech scene in more ways than one. And they’re emphasizing the value of community and cross-functional teamwork while they’re at it. Here are our five featured local companies of the month.
What they do: Wyze is a customer-centric smart home technology company. The WyzeCam allows customers to livestream footage directly to their smartphone at a reasonable price.
Making moves: This summer, Wyze raised $15 million in funding to scale its product line to include a motion sensor, smart lightbulb, connected outlet, smart lock and fitness tracker. The round was led by Norwest Venture Partners.
Perks and benefits: Wyze employees receive 15 annual vacation days, six paid holidays and an additional day of vacation for every year that they have been employed at Wyze, uncapped. In addition to lunch and learns and professional development opportunities, team members receive four weeks of parental leave for both primary and secondary caretakers.
What they do: Coinme provides users with easy access to consumer financial services built on blockchain technology. The fintech company is building out a mobile-first bank-like experience featuring ATMs that connect consumers to cryptocurrencies.
Raising cash: Last spring, Coinme announced a $5.5 million round of funding from Pantera Capital as part of its ongoing Series A, bringing the total for the round to $10 million.
Making community a priority: Coinme team members are all about impact. “We consistently look at ways in which we can give back to our community both locally and nationally,” leadership recently told Built In. “We encourage employees to bring up giving opportunities such as sponsoring a family for holidays.”
What they do: Project Archer is an augmented reality studio dedicated to apps in the retail space. The business creates productive and entertaining immersive real-world shopping experiences.
What’s on the horizon: Natural language processing. “NLP is about how humans can use natural language to interface with a computer,” Principal Product Manager Holly Hirzel previously told Built In. “I use Siri every day, but I’ve certainly never built anything that uses NLP like Siri does, so for me that has been a huge opportunity to learn something new.”
Team makeup: At Project Archer, 3D artists, software engineers, animators and AR industry analysts work together daily.
What they do: NetMotion’s performance management and traffic optimization software helps companies streamline and track work, especially for remote employees.
Good vibes: One of NetMotion’s core values is “Positive attitude and a family spirit.” According to the company website, that means eliminating negative interactions and creating space for fun, inclusion and success.
A global presence: While NetMotion is headquartered in Seattle, team members work out of office spaces across the world, including the U.K., Australia, Canada and Japan. Of course, remote work is also an option.
What they do: Anduril is a software company focused on national security challenges. The company’s products, such as sensor fusion and object detection, are meant to aid and protect those who serve on the front lines.
A chance for collaboration: At Anduril, employees work cross-functionally, often relying on each other for QA and advice. “I get to collaborate with domain experts, whether that is a military veteran who has had to defend a perimeter and can give real feedback on our user experience, or a hardware engineer who’s an expert on the development of new helicopter rotors,” Head of Product Design Gaby Javitt previously told Built In.
Room for growth: According to software engineer Vik Pattabi, leadership at Anduril rewards drive and ownership. “In the last year, I’ve been able to work on high-level designs for some of our systems and then implement those designs,” Pattabi, who started out as an intern a year and a half ago, previously told Built In.
