Tech
GeekWire Awards: From the farm to space, Next Tech Titan finalists growing to meet big challenges
The path from successful startup to industry heavyweight is often marked by the ability to solve massive, complex problems at scale — whether those challenges are on a farm, battlefield or in low-Earth orbit.
This GeekWire Award, presented by Baird, takes notice of the next dominant force in Pacific Northwest tech. The Next Tech Titan finalists are: Overland AI, Carbon Robotics, Stoke Space, Chainguard and MotherDuck.
Now in its 18th year, the GeekWire Awards is the premier event recognizing the top leaders, companies and breakthroughs in Pacific Northwest tech, bringing together hundreds of people to celebrate innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit. It takes place May 7 at the Showbox SoDo in Seattle.
Last year’s Next Tech Titan winner was Truveta, a Bellevue, Wash.-based company that aims to aggregate medical records data from partner institutions to link treatments with outcomes and underlying health. Truveta raised $320 million in fresh funding in 2025 to push its valuation above $1 billion.
Continue reading for information on the 2026 Next Tech Titan finalists, who were chosen by a panel of independent judges from community nominations. You can help pick the winner: Cast your ballot here or in the embedded form at the bottom. Voting runs through April 10.
Overland AI develops autonomous vehicle software and hardware designed specifically for complex, off-road environments. The company’s platform allows robotic vehicles to navigate high-speed, unpredictable terrain where GPS and cellular signals are often unavailable. Overland is focused on operational integration with the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, and is a key player in the emerging defense-tech corridor of the Pacific Northwest.
GeekWire first covered Overland AI in 2022 when it was a small, stealthy group of researchers spinning out of the University of Washington’s Robot Learning Laboratory. The company, No. 12 on the GeekWire 200, has grown to more than 100 employees, raised more than $140 million, and opened a 22,000 square-foot production facility in Seattle since then.
Ag-tech startup Carbon Robotics builds AI-powered machinery designed to eliminate weeds without the use of chemical herbicides. Its flagship LaserWeeder uses computer vision to identify and zap weeds with lasers, a process powered by the company’s “Large Plant Model.” This AI model, trained on 150 million labeled plants, allows the machines to adapt to new crops and environments in minutes. The company is also expanding into autonomous farm equipment with its Carbon ATK platform and an unrevealed new AI robot.
Founded in 2018 by Isilon Systems co-founder Paul Mikesell, the Seattle-based company has raised $177 million to date and employs about 260 people. Its LaserWeeders are now active on hundreds of farms across 15 countries, helping growers significantly reduce labor and pesticide costs. Carbon is No. 10 on the GeekWire 200.
Stoke Space is developing Nova, a medium-lift rocket designed for 100% reusability and rapid turnaround between flights. Unlike competitors that focus on heavy-lift vehicles, the Kent, Wash.-based company is targeting the medium-lift market with a unique second-stage design featuring an actively cooled heatshield for atmospheric reentry. The goal is to provide a more flexible and cost-effective launch platform that can be reused as seamlessly as an aircraft.
Founded by former Blue Origin and SpaceX engineers, Stoke Space has raised $1.34 billion to date, including a massive $860 million Series D round concluded in early 2026. The company, No. 8 on the GeekWire 200, is currently preparing for its first orbital launch from Cape Canaveral later this year and has already been selected by the U.S. Space Force for national security launches.
Chainguard secures the “software supply chain” by protecting the open-source components and container images used in modern cloud applications. The company’s tools allow developers to use verified, vulnerability-free code, automating the process of keeping foundational software secure. By focusing on the root of software production, Chainguard helps engineering teams eliminate security risks without slowing down development cycles.
Founded in 2021 and based in Kirkland, Wash., the startup has raised $892 million to date, reaching a $3.5 billion valuation. In fiscal year 2025, the company grew its annual recurring revenue sevenfold to $40 million. Now employing more than 500 people and serving over 200 customers — including GitLab and Hewlett Packard Enterprise — Chainguard is No. 2 on the GeekWire 200.
MotherDuck provides a serverless analytics platform built on the open-source DuckDB database engine. Designed for “small data” that doesn’t reach petabyte scale, the technology allows users to run fast SQL queries locally in a browser or in the cloud without the complexity of distributed architectures. By merging local processing speed with cloud scalability, the platform aims to make data analysis more cost-effective and accessible.
Founded in 2022 by former Google BigQuery founding engineer Jordan Tigani, the Seattle startup has raised more than $100 million and is No. 25 on the GeekWire 200.
Astound Business Solutions is the presenting sponsor of the 2026 GeekWire Awards. Thanks also to gold sponsors Amazon Sustainability, Baird, BECU, JLL, First Tech and Wilson Sonsini, and silver sponsors Prime Team Partners.
The event will feature a VIP reception, sit-down dinner and fun entertainment mixed in. Tickets go fast. A limited number of half-table and full-table sponsorships available. Contact events@geekwire.com to reserve a spot for your team today.
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Appliances might be smarter than ever, but 2025 study data from J.D. Power suggests that they aren’t as reliable as they used to be. Senior managing director of retail practice at J.D. Power, Michael Taylor, explained that although “modern appliances are far more sophisticated and packed with more technologies than ever before,” the increased complexity of today’s appliances means that there are more systems to potentially go wrong. As a result, he said that reliability was now a “critical factor” in picking a new appliance.
According to the study, buyers looking for the most reliable French door refrigerator from a major refrigerator brand should look toward GE’s current lineup. The brand saw the lowest number of problems per 100 appliances (PP100), with owners reporting 65 PP100. GE’s score was slightly ahead of Whirlpool’s rival refrigerators, which saw 68 PP100 reported. The third most reliable brand in the segment was LG, with owners reporting 74 PP100.
French door refrigerators suffered from more problems on average than most other types of appliances. Across the category, owners reported 76 PP100 on average, while side-by-side refrigerators were subject to 68 PP100 on average. Two appliance categories shared top honors for being the most reliable on average: cooking appliances and clothes dryers. Both saw an average of 56 PP100 reported.
GE scored highly for reliability in other categories
Although it didn’t quite achieve a clean sweep, GE managed a first-place finish for reliability in almost all appliance categories in J.D. Power’s study. As well as being the most reliable French door refrigerator brand, GE also took top honors in the clothes dryer, front-load washer, and top-load washer categories, among others. However, not everyone agrees with J.D. Power’s verdict, with Consumer Reports crowning LG’s front-load washers the best on the market.
Even so, J.D. Power’s study unequivocally puts GE’s home appliance range at the top of the pile for reliability. As a bonus, when things do go wrong, the study claims that GE has the best service experience, too. The brand received 778 points for its appliance service out of a possible 1,000 points, while Samsung earned second place with a score of 768 points. Unfortunately, owners of Samsung appliances are more likely to end up testing out its appliance service than most, since the Korean brand’s appliances were subject to more problems than average in seven out of eight appliance categories.
Cohere, the Canada-based enterprise AI unicorn, announced Friday that it would merge with the Germany-based enterprise AI company Aleph Alpha.
The deal, which has yet to close, will value the newly formed company at $20 billion, the FT reported. Schwarz Group, one of Aleph Alpha’s top backers, will also invest $600 million in Cohere’s Series E round, which is expected to close later this year, CNBC reported.
A handful of Silicon Valley players continue to dominate the AI commercial landscape, which is busy with consolidation activity.
A press release announcing the Cohere-Aleph Alpha union said one goal of the merger was to give businesses and governments an alternative to these dominant tech players, one that offers greater independence and control over their data. It also hopes to combine the talent pool across Canada and Germany to create a “transatlantic AI powerhouse.”
Most video doorbells make you choose between a wide-angle view of your porch or a tight shot of whoever’s face is at the door, but the Ring Battery Doorbell doesn’t ask you to compromise.
Right on that premise, the Ring Battery Doorbell is currently down from $99.99 to $59.99 at Amazon, putting $40 back in your pocket for a camera that covers significantly more of your front door area.
Upgrade your home with 40% off a Ring Battery Doorbell
For anyone who has been putting off adding a smart doorbell to their home, this 40% discount makes the barrier to entry massively lower.
The headline feature here is Head-to-Toe Video, which expands the vertical field of view compared to the previous generation, so you can see both a visitor’s face and any packages left on your doorstep in a single frame.
That wider perspective pairs naturally with Live View, which lets you pull up a real-time feed from your phone at any moment, whether you’re in the next room or across town on a work trip.
Two-Way Talk is built in as well, so you can have a full conversation with whoever’s at the door without opening it, which is particularly useful for redirecting delivery drivers when you’re not home.
Motion Detection alerts push a notification to your phone the moment activity is detected outside, and because the doorbell runs on a built-in rechargeable battery, installation doesn’t require any existing doorbell wiring at your property.
Charging is handled via USB-C; you simply detach the unit from its wall bracket, connect the included cable, and click it back into place when it’s ready, which makes the whole process considerably less disruptive than it sounds.
The Ring Battery Doorbell also connects with Alexa-enabled devices, meaning an Echo Show can display a live feed when motion is detected, and compatible Echo speakers will announce when someone arrives.
It’s worth noting that features like Smart Alerts for person and package recognition, video history, and Quick Replies each require a Ring Protect subscription, sold separately, so factor that into your running costs.
For anyone who has been putting off adding a smart doorbell to their home setup, this 40% discount makes the barrier to entry meaningfully lower than it has been.
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Engadget’s hottest review roundup truly has it all this week: a new pocket cam, a 2-in-1 smart grill, a pair of drones and a pricey skinny vac. And that’s before we even get to the highly capable gaming display that will only set you back $350. Read on to catch up on the reviews you might’ve missed over the last two weeks as we prepare for another slate of big events next month.
DJI Osmo Pocket 4
DJI/Engadget
The Osmo Pocket 4 is still the best pocket-friendly vlogging camera you can buy. With excellent image quality, improved photos, great stabilization and pro D-Log mode, it’s incredibly easy to record everything from simple vlogs to near cinematic-quality video. The high level of portability and extended battery life make this an easy camera to reach for whatever you’re filming.
- Excellent image quality
- Improved low-light performance
- Onboard storage
- Modular accessories
- Still only 3K in portrait mode
- No dust or water protection due to the gimbal
- No optical zoom
- Not available in the US
DJI’s Osmo Pocket cameras have become a staple of Engadget’s live event coverage over the last few years. They’re convenient, compact and product high-quality footage when speed matters. Contributing review reporter James Trew recently put the new Osmo Pocket 4 through its paces, concluding that “you’re getting better image quality that will pay you back over time.”
Recteq X-Fire Pro 825
Recteq/Engadget
The X-Fire Pro offers the ease of gas with the wood flavor of pellets in the same grill. While there could be more features, the build quality is excellent and the performance is reliable.
- Two grills in one
- Reliable Wi-Fi tools
- Robust build quality
- Direct-flame searing
- Small pellet hoppers
- No super smoke, keep warm or other handy modes
- Not compatible with wireless food probes
With the X-Fire Pro, Recteq set out to make a pellet grill that would appeal to fans of gas grills. The company has done just that, offering a dual-mode device that imparts wood flavor you don’t inherently get from propane or natural gas. “Recteq has successfully combined the best aspects of pellet grills with a dedicated high-heat mode and separate controls that will be familiar to gas grillers,” I said. “This model offers robust build quality, reliable performance and Wi-Fi connectivity for extended smoking sessions.”
Alienware 27 QD-OLED monitor
Dell / Engadget
In a world where every piece of gaming gear seems to be getting more expensive, Alienware’s $350 AW2726DM 27-inch QD-OLED monitor feels like a gift to gamers on a budget.
- Stupendously affordable
- Three-year warranty with burn-in protection
- Simple, straightforward design
- QHD resolution with 240Hz VRR
- Rich colors
- Mediocre brightness
- Not a ton of ports
- No native G-Sync support
Can a $350 gaming monitor offer enough to get the job done? If you’re talking about the Alienware 27 QD-OLED display, that answer is a resounding “yes.”
“The AW2726DM might not have all the fancy features you get on more expensive monitors, but it’s an excellent example of a no frills gadget done right,” senior reporter Sam Rutherford said. “You get just enough ports, a straightforward design and a beautiful QD-OLED panel with a solid resolution and refresh rate — all for just $350.”
DJI Lito drones and a Dyson PencilVac
Like the Osmo Pocket 4, DJI’s latest Drones are unlikely to make it to the US. However, if you live elsewhere, there’s a lot of performance available for under $400. “The Lito series shows that DJI is intent on dominating every drone price range and category, including the bottom end,” contributing reporter Steve Dent said. “Despite their low prices, the new drones don’t skimp on features, offering full obstacle protection, ActiveTrack subject tracking, relatively high speeds and sharp 4K video quality — just like models that cost a lot more.”
If your spring cleaning could still use a jump start, perhaps a fancy, skinny vacuum could do the trick for light duty. “With its minimalist form factor, the PencilVac is still an engineering marvel,” UK bureau chief Mat Smith said. “Its high degree of mobility makes it easy to clean in tight corners and between furniture. I just wish it were slightly more powerful.”
Qualtrics CEO Jason Maynard shook up the company’s senior leadership team on Friday at its dual headquarters in downtown Seattle and Provo, Utah, less than three months after taking the helm of the experience management technology company.
Five executives are no longer with the company, Maynard told employees in an internal email viewed by GeekWire, calling the moves “a difficult but important step” designed to “simplify our structure and ensure we are positioned for our next phase of growth.”
The impacted leaders span Qualtrics’ business, engineering, IT, and marketing teams:
- Brad Anderson, president of products, UX, engineering and security;
- Eddie Chen, chief strategy and corporate development officer;
- Jeff Gelfuso, SVP and chief product and experience officer;
- Juan Rodriguez Estevez, chief information officer;
- and Lynn Girotto, chief marketing officer.
Anderson is the most senior of the departing execs, having been at Qualtrics for more than five years, overseeing the company’s engineers, product managers, designers, and security engineers. He previously spent nearly 18 years as a high-ranking Microsoft exec. Maynard’s email singled him out, thanking him for his leadership and impact in his role.
In addition to the departures, Maynard outlined plans for a broad reorganization, reshuffling teams across marketing, customer operations, IT, and corporate development. He said in the memo that a new SVP of marketing would be named Monday, and more details will be announced internally next week.
It’s not clear how many employees were impacted by the changes overall. Qualtrics is not yet commenting publicly on the changes.
The priority is to “ensure we build with speed, clarity, and a relentless focus on driving stronger outcomes for customers and bringing new AI capabilities to market faster,” Maynard wrote.
Maynard took over as CEO on Feb. 3, succeeding Zig Serafin, who stepped down in October 2025. (Jim Whitehurst and Mark Gillett had served as interim co-CEOs in the meantime.) Maynard previously spent a decade at Oracle, where he was executive vice president of revenue operations, joining through the NetSuite acquisition in 2016.
Qualtrics, which employs more than 4,500 people globally, makes software that helps companies gather and act on feedback from customers, employees, and others through surveys, AI-powered analytics, and other tools. It was taken private by Silver Lake and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in 2023.
Physicists have proposed a new kind of atomic clock based on a revived superradiant laser concept that could produce an extraordinarily stable signal with a linewidth around 100 microhertz, potentially the narrowest ever for an optical laser. “The implications of this result could stretch well beyond timekeeping,” reports Phys.org. “A laser immune to environmental frequency shifts would be a powerful tool in optical interferometry — using interference patterns in light to make ultra-precise measurements.” From the report: In a conventional laser, a mirrored cavity bounces light back and forth between atoms, building up a bright, coherent beam. A superradiant laser works differently: rather than relying on the cavity to maintain coherence, the atoms themselves act as single coordinated emitters, collectively synchronizing their light emission. Following early theoretical ideas emerged in the 1990s, the concept didn’t gain concrete traction until 2008, when researchers at the University of Colorado proposed that superradiant lasers could serve as a new kind of atomic clock.
Atomic clocks work by using laser light to probe a very precise transition in an atom, causing electrons to transition between energy levels at an extraordinarily stable frequency. Because a superradiant laser stores its coherence in the atoms rather than the cavity, its output frequency is far less vulnerable to environmental disturbances like vibrations or temperature fluctuations. Yet although this concept was first demonstrated experimentally in 2012 in a pulsed regime, the influence of heating has so far held superradiant lasers back from their full potential. To keep the laser running continuously as an atomic clock requires, atoms must be constantly replenished with energy. Doing this atom-by-atom delivers random kicks that heat the atomic sample and disrupt the lasing process, confining it to brief pulses rather than a steady beam.
In their study, Reilly’s team considered whether a modification to earlier theoretical concepts could make a continuous laser suitable for an atomic clock. In almost all previous studies, atoms were treated as simple two-level systems: an electron sitting in a ground state, occasionally jumping up to an excited state and back again. The team proposed that the heating problem could be solved by adding one extra ground state to the picture. In a two-level system, if both the pumping (re-energizing) and decay processes happen collectively through the cavity, the mathematics constrains the system in a way that prevents stable, continuous lasing. But with three levels available, pumping and decay can operate on entirely separate transitions, breaking that constraint and allowing the collective approach to work. The findings have been published in the journal Physical Review Letters.
Palantir has helped the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations office probe a variety of financial crimes in the U.S. for much of the last decade, The Intercept reported.
The IRS has paid the firm $130 million since 2018 to use its data analysis software to pore over financial records for investigative purposes, the outlet reported, citing public records detailing Palantir’s IRS contract that were obtained by the nonprofit watchdog group American Oversight.
It was previously known the IRS was using Palantir’s products, and that the agency sees the software as a way to automate and modernize audits. Last summer, it was also reported that Palantir was assisting DOGE, the “government efficiency” initiative launched by President Trump’s executive order with a project designed to access IRS records. However, the extent of the agency’s use of the company’s tools had not been previously reported.
The software, Palantir’s Lead and Case Analytics platform, is being used to aggregate and analyze data across a variety of federal agencies. The software can find “connections from millions of records with thousands of links” between various databases, and the tool is particularly good at mapping human relationships and communications, according to the outlet.
Earlier this week, American Oversight sued the Trump administration for public records related to numerous federal agencies’ use of Palantir tools, including the IRS. TechCrunch has reached out to Palantir for more information and will update the article if the company responds.
You didn’t see that coming, at least not now, but Tim Cook’s successor is John Ternus and there’s so much news about both men. Plus what Apple had to update because of the FBI, how “Star Wars” benefits from the Apple Vision Pro, and more, on the AppleInsider Podcast.
If John Ternus ever had to buy his iPhones at an Apple Store, he doesn’t now – image credit: Apple
This week, Apple pulled off something special. It managed to totally surprise everyone, and yet at the same moment, surprise no one at all.
It really was startling when it was announced that Tim Cook is stepping down as Apple CEO, but it wasn’t remotely unexpected that his successor would be John Ternus.
Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
OpenAI is pushing AI beyond chat with the recent release of GPT-5.5, a model designed to complete multi-step work instead of stopping at answers.
OpenAI logo
The company introduced GPT-5.5 on April 23, a new flagship AI model designed to handle multi-step tasks across software, research, and everyday computer work. It moves toward agentic systems that plan, act, and complete jobs with minimal guidance.
OpenAI claims that GPT-5.5 can handle loosely defined requests by breaking them into steps. It can use tools, verify results, and continue working until the task is complete.
Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
when you’re trying to stay focused on something, there’s no shortage of distractions on your phone, through your web browser, or out the window. And with attention spans crumbling in the TikTok era, we now have an entire category of apps dedicated to helping you stick to what you’re supposed to be doing.
These apps all work more or less in the same way, giving you a straightforward method of tracking how long you’re spending on a task, and offering some sort of incentive to keep going for the allotted amount of time. Sometimes you get a few extra features as well, like the ability to block access to other apps.
In the interest of trying to write this specific article without switching between browser tabs and apps every two minutes, I gave three of the best focus tools a try. Here’s how they stack up.
Focus Friend
The vibe of Focus Friend is very much a warm and cozy one. When you first set up the app, you get your own personal bean, which you can give a name to. Once you’re through the intro screens, your bean will start knitting—and anytime you pick up your phone after that, the knitting stops.
The idea is that if you stick to the block of time you’ve set, your bean can come up with a variety of knitted creations, which can then be traded for different decorations for your bean’s living space. As you might expect, you can pay for decorations too, and a Pro subscription ($2 a month) means your bean is able to get more creative with its knitting.
It’s up to you how long your focus sessions are, and you have the option of playing some relaxing music, blocking access to other apps, or keeping the screen on while you work or study—and while your bean gets busy doing some knitting. It’s all quite whimsical and easy to set up. You don’t even need to register a user account.
How effective you find Focus Friend really depends on how taken you are by your bean and its knitting projects. At its core the app is really just a stopwatch, though the option to actually block other apps is useful. For me, the extra dollop of cutesy companionship does make a difference, and helps sticking to a task.
Focus Friend for Android and iOS (free or from $2 a month)
Forest
The trick that Forest uses to keep you focused is growing virtual trees inside the app. The longer you stay engaged and able to avoid distractions, the more trees you get—until you have your very own forest on your phone. The app developers have partnered with the nonprofit Trees for the Future to grow millions of actual trees out in the real world too.
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