Weekly Refresh: Amazon’s New Music Service, and Several Startup Fundings

by Brian Nordli
September 23, 2019
Seattle Skyline
Image via shutterstock

Amazon pledged on Thursday to reach zero carbon emissions by 2040, and kicked off those efforts with the purchase of 100,000 electric vans. Amazon ordered the vans from Michigan-based electric delivery vehicle producer Rivian. The company aims to have a new fleet of electric delivery vans on the street by 2021. Amazon has a tall task ahead — its current environmental footprint is 44.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. [BizJournal]

Amazon also wants music buffs to tune in. The tech giant launched Amazon Music HD, a high-definition music streaming service, on September 17  to rival Tidal. The platform will include 50 million songs with “lossless” audio files that haven’t been compressed for MP3 and reveal a richer sound. The service costs $12.99 for Amazon Prime customers and $14.99 for everyone else. [GeekWire]     

Starform, a new gaming studio in Seattle, raised $1.25 million in funding this week to make online mobile games. The company aims to create gaming community forums within its mobile games to allow players to connect with game developers and each other. The studio’s founding leaders came from mobile game developer Z2Live. [Built In Seattle]

Boeing’s robotic refueler completed a two-hour test flight last week that included an autonomous taxi and takeoff. The successful flight marks a milestone in Boeing’s development of a refueling drone for the Navy. The MQ-25 is meant to deliver up to 15,000 pounds of fuel to war plans flying 500 nautical miles away from their carriers. [GeekWire

Navigating Cancer added $25 million in Series D funding to help cancer patients and doctors manage overwhelming amounts of information. The platform is modeled after Salesforce and other customer relationship management tools. Doctors can use it to manage treatment plans and patient files, while patients are able to check in and stay up-to-date for treatment plans and medication dosages. The company plans to use the funds to grow its team. [Built In Seattle]

Microsoft shook up its board of directors on Thursday, nominating GlaxoSmithKline CEO Emma Walmsley to the board. Meanwhile, longtime members Charles Noski and Helmut Panke stepped down after holding their positions since 2003. If Microsoft confirms Walmsley, its board will inch closer to gender parity, with eight men and five women. Ten years ago, the board had just two women. [GeekWire]

Ookla, a Seattle-based speed test platform for internet, data and analysis, added Shivani York as its new Chief Operating Officer last week. York previously worked as the CEO and founder of BrandPartner, a management consulting group based in New York. [Press Release]

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