The Seattle tech scene is steadily growing by funding startups and attracting more companies. Read more about what developments came to the Puget Sound last week. This is the Built In Seattle weekly refresh.
Auth0 to be acquired by Okta. The company and its cloud-based identity authentication platform are being purchased by identity enterprise veteran Okta for $6.5 billion. The deal will allow Auth0 to function independently within Okta’s structure as their respective platforms become integrated. Customers will be able to select whichever identity solutions suits their particular needs. [Built In Seattle]
Secure reveals Suze Orman as a co-founder. Now that it’s gone live, this Kirkland-based fintech company unveiled its “secret weapon.” With the influence of Orman as a best-selling author and television personality, the company is looking to bring more attention to its product that lets customers create emergency savings accounts. [Puget Sound Business Journal]
Seattle Tech Quote of the Week
Chewy is coming into Seattle. With its e-commerce marketplace centered upon petcare items, Chewy recently announced that it’s looking to secure a new Seattle office location by the end of this year. Already, the company is hiring for dozens of open positions, and it’s looking to hire for hundreds more within the next few years in departments including tech, merchandising and product. [Built In Seattle]
Karat launches a diversity initiative. Its product helps engineering teams screen and hire prospective applicants and find the best-suited roles for them. The company’s new program, called Brilliant Black Minds, aims to give Black developers and computer science students the resources they need to land jobs as software engineers. [Built In Seattle]
Theorycraft Games pulled in $37.5M. Founded by big-name execs in the gaming industry from Riot Games, Bungie, Blizzard and Valve Software, video game startup Theorycraft launched out of stealth mode with Series A funding led by NetEase. The company, based out of Seattle and LA, is planning to expand its team with open roles in engineering, design and more. [Built In Seattle]
Founders’ Co-op got $50M. This VC firm has companies including Remitly, Outreach and Auth0 under its belt, and it just secured its largest fund to date in order to invest in new startups in the Pacific Northwest region. With the fresh cash, Founders’ Co-op is looking to invest larger sums as well as participate in up to 25 new funding rounds for early stage startups. [GeekWire]
