TechFlash: Seattle's Technology News

IP Street Co-founder and CEO Lewis Lee

In the tech world, 2011 might be remembered as the year of intellectual property. Numerous cases have shown how valuable patents can be, but one Spokane-based startup is looking to bring clarity to IP.

IP Street was launched in August by three co-founders: Spokane attorney Lewis Lee, former Red Lion Hotels CEO Art Coffey and former U.S. Rep. Rick White.

“We saw this large asset class that nobody was talking about and we all had different ideas,” Lee said. “We came at it from three different angles, started talking about it and formed the company.”

Lockerz founder Kathy Savitt accepts her "Flashie" at the third annual TechFlash Newsmaker Awards at EMP Dec. 1. (Photo by Stephen Brashear)

Kathy Savitt, a former Amazon.com public-relations executive who started her own company and raised $36 million this year, narrowly beat her former boss, Jeff Bezos, to win TechFlash Newsmaker of the Year for 2011.

Lockerz, a Seattle startup backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Liberty Media, is a members-only network of “trendsetters and tastemakers who like to shop, play and connect on the Web.” The company has more than 45 million monthly unique visitors worldwide.

Zipline Games had a big year, raising new funds, launching its development platform and releasing its first mobile games on the on iOS, Android and Google Chrome platforms.

Zipline won game development of the year, according to voting by readers of TechFlash as part of our 2011 TechFlash Newsmaker Awards, or Flashies.

In December, Zipline Games released its first game on iOS, Android and Google Chrome.

Nick Hanauer, a tech investor who has placed his money in several in early-stage startups, was part of a $3.1 million funding round for Qliance Medical.

Previous investors New Atlantic Ventures and Second Avenue Partners participated in the round. Qliance is still seeking another $6.9 million.

A spokesperson for Qliance said the investments will fund further growth and expansion. Qliance has also reportedly eyed expansion into California. By the end of next year, Qliance plans to have opened a total of about eight clinics, adding to existing clinics in Seattle, Kent, Mercer Island and Tacoma.

Washington State Department of Transportation image

Dreading the upcoming tolls to cross the State Route 520 bridge? One startup has a solution for that.

SeaBalt Solutions is releasing the Toll Avoider app in preparation for tolls on the 520 bridge, set to begin on Thursday. A user can enter his or her location into the app, and three routes will be offered, including the 520 bridge.

For some, saving time by using the bridge outweighs the cost and hassle of finding another route. Peak tolls for drivers without a transponder can run as high as $5 per crossing.

Traffic planners are expecting increased traffic on State Route 522 through Bothell, Kenmore and Lake City and the Interstate 90 bridge, so those options may become less attractive. The Seattle Times is reporting that tolls will be in place for at least 40 years.

Google’s new push into online travel arrangements is roiling the industry, with competitors saying the company is abusing its power in Internet search.

Beginning this month Google has been putting its new flight-search service above search results that would pull up competing services such as Expedia, Orbitz and Priceline.com, according to The Wall Street Journal.

ChoozOn, a company founded by three former Yahoo executives, launched a site in April that aggregates personalized, targeted deals based on your favorite brands, shopping habits and loyalty programs.

The Bellevue-based deals website targets consumers overwhelmed by the multitude of daily deal sites, rewards cards and online sales.

Avalara, which makes sales tax software, raised $21million in venture capital in 2011.

The funding was voted the best venture capital deal of the year by readers of TechFlash as part of our 2011 TechFlash Newsmaker Awards, or Flashies.

Nintendo image

Redmond-based Nintendo of America is enjoying a strong holiday selling season, with its 3DS portable hand-held having its best single month for sales and its Wii selling more units on Black Friday than ever before.

The Wall Street Journal’s All Things D talked with Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime, who said he’s not a big fan of social gaming companies like Zynga and that the company’s upcoming Wii U will be targeted to consumers with higher disposable incomes than current Wii customers.

Maria Cantwell

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) is throwing her support behind a proposed law that would crack down on the piracy of movies and songs on the internet.

Cantwell is joining fellow senators, including Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) in backing the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act (OPEN).

In supporting the bill, Cantwell has criticized a different anti-piracy bill aimed mostly at foreign websites. That bill, the Protect IP Act, seeks to protect intellectual property and shut down rogue websites. But critics say the Protect IP Act in the Senate takes a heavy-handed approach by threatening to shut down too many websites and violate free-speech and free-commerce protections.

The House is considering a similar bill, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).

Cantwell, an early employee of Seattle tech company RealNetworks, said the OPEN Act would accomplish the same goals as the Protect IP Act, without “catastrophic effects to the Internet.”

On the second day of public trading, social game developer Zynga’s stock continues to slip.

The stock was selling below $9 early Monday, down about 6 percent from its Friday debut.

That puts the company’s market cap at $6.3 billion.

On Friday, when Zynga launched its IPO, the stock closed at $9.50 a share, down 5 percent from its launch price of $10. Zynga set an offering price of $10 a share.

The lukewarm reception on Wall Street was interpreted as investors not totally sold on a company that may be overly dependent on Facebook, where 94 percent of its revenue is generated from social games like Farmville.

The Zillow Mortgage Marketplace is up and running on AOL, as the online real estate site expands its online reach to keep up with competitors such as Century 21 and Curbed.

In October, Zillow.com announced it was partnering with AOL to bring its suite of mortgage tools to AOL Real Estate and DailyFinance.

AOL joins a host of other web and real estate companies with ties to Zillow, including Yahoo, Curbed and Century 21. Zillow has worked with Yahoo since 2006 and recently formed a new ad pact, which allows Zillow’s sales force to sell ads across both sites.

BUSINESS JOURNAL PHOTO | Marcus R. Donner

Stratolaunch Systems board members Mike Griffin, former NASA administrator, and Burt Rutan, areospace designer, shake hands with Paul Allen at a press conference for Stratolaunch Systems. A model of the carrier aircraft with multi-stage rocket booster and human space capsule is in the foreground.

When your development company is called Vulcan -- like the ET humanoid species from Star Trek -- it’s a pretty good sign that you are fascinated with the possibilities of space travel.

So it came as no surprise this week to learn that Paul Allen is launching a new company called Stratolaunch Systems to develop the world’s largest aircraft to shoot rockets into space.

The airplane being designed by Stratolaunch would use two 747 jet bodies and six 747 jets. Allen’s ambitious plan -- working with aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan -- calls for a spaceship to be ready for launch within five years to take payloads and eventually humans into space.

And Allen, of course, is still dreaming of a chance to go into space.

“When I was growing up, America’s space program was a symbol of aspiration,” Allen said. “Like many children of that era, I dreamt of becoming an astronaut.”

Social game developer Zynga went public on Friday, but its stock did not soar through the roof, which left analysts speculating what went wrong.

Google Finance image

Alec Baldwin may have a strange, crazy passion for Zynga’s “Words With Friends” game. But investors, not so much.

Zynga’s stock bounced up and down a bit on the inaugural day of trading on Nasdaq on Friday. At one point the stock was at $11.50, before dipping to a low of $9.

The stock closed at $9.50 a share, down 5 percent from its launch price of $10. Stock was selling at $9.43 in after-hours trading.

Zynga set an offering price of $10 a share for 11 percent of the company -- about 100 million shares -- in an attempt to raise $100 million.

When all of its shares are factored in, Zynga is currently worth about $6.6 billion, far less than the $20 billion the company had expected earlier this year.

James Sun

Pirq, the new Seattle startup from former “Apprentice” star James Sun, has raised $1.95 million in funding from Kirkland-based venture capital firm Rally Capital.

Pirq offers apps that let consumers find restaurant deals and Sun said his company will use the funding to expand its base of restaurants and to roll out a new app version potentially with a mobile payment option.

Rally’s managing director is local wireless vet Dennis Weibling, former CEO of Nextel Communications Inc. Weibling is joining Pirq’s board, along with Rally’s John Duncan.