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Puget Sound Business Journal
Seattle-based laundry startup sells business
Seattle-based laundry startup Loopie has sold its business to competitors Rinse, headquartered in San Francisco, and HappyNest, headquartered in Rhode Island.<\p> Loopie is giving its Portland customers to HappyNest and its customers in its other eight cities to Rinse. According to a Rinse spokesperson, no Loopie employees are joining Rinse, and Loopie "is exiting laundry and staying together to focus on a new venture."<\p>
Seattle home prices rising at more than twice the national rate
Home prices continue to rise nationally, and the greater Seattle area is no exception.<\p> According to new data from Seattle-based residential real estate brokerage firm, Redfin, year-over-year listing volumes swelled roughly 50% in some metros. <\p>
What employers need to know about the crushing childcare costs
In the coming weeks, schools around the nation will be out, and many employees will find themselves scrambling for child-care options. <\p> But child-care costs are soaring, thanks to the child-care cliff, a lack of new child-care centers and workforce shortages in the industry, among other factors. <\p>
Sea-Tac expects near-record number of travelers over holiday weekend
If you're flying out of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport this summer, be prepared for traffic and signs of construction. <\p> Officials anticipate 760,000 passengers to pass through the airport during Memorial Day weekend — a near-record total. That demand is expected to continue throughout the summer. <\p>
Cybersecurity startup launches from stealth, looks for Eastside office
Redmond-based cybersecurity startup Averlon launched from stealth Thursday with an $8 million seed round.<\p> Averlon co-founder and CEO Sunil Gottumukkala said the company has about 12 employees and plans to double the size of its team over the next year. He added that roughly half of the employees are based in the Seattle area, but the company also has workers in India and Europe.<\p>
Here's how Amazon plans to spend its abundant cash flow
Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) shareholders likely won't receive dividends or stock buybacks anytime soon.<\p> Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said Wednesday during an annual shareholders meeting that the company would be using its cash pile to invest in both sides of the business, cloud services and retail. The company had its largest free cash flow ever last year after two negative years.<\p>
Seattle council OKs plan to accelerate police hiring
The Seattle City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved legislation to accelerate police hiring, two months after members of the council's Public Safety Committee expressed frustration.<\p> This legislation creates a recruitment and retention program to implement "best practices and innovative new recruitment approaches," mandates a policy that the hiring exam be offered in a way that supports flexibility and accessibility for exam-takers and increases the frequency of contacts with candidates.<\p>
Opinion: Space-based economy is about to take off
The satellite industry is poised for explosive growth in the coming years, and Washington state can be a leader in creating a workforce to meet the demand for skilled technicians. <\p> Washington is home to nearly a dozen companies projected to manufacture more than 75% of the world’s satellites in the near future. Aerospace workers directly contribute to the nearly $4.6 billion in economic activity in the Evergreen state. <\p>
Why this VC investor ditched San Francisco for Seattle
Vivek Ladsariya, new managing director at Pioneer Square Labs, doesn’t buy the Seattle freeze stereotype.<\p> Ladsariya moved from the Bay Area to Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood to take his new job with the Seattle-based startup studio and lead investments with PSL’s venture capital arm, PSL Ventures. According to Ladsariya, the experience here has been great so far.<\p>
Pacific Place sold for just a quarter of its value a decade ago
A pair of sales affidavits that King County posted Wednesday show the value of Pacific Place shopping center has plunged 75% since last decade.<\p> The new owner, Los Angeles-based BH Properties, last week announced it had acquired the vertical shopping and entertainment center but didn't provide the price.<\p>
Amperity CEO Barry Padgett to step down, interim named
Seattle-based customer data company Amperity is looking for a new CEO.<\p> On Wednesday, Barry Padgett confirmed to the Business Journal he is stepping down as CEO to spend more time with family. Chris Jones, the company's chief customer and product officer, is stepping in as interim CEO.<\p>
How First Republic is helping JPMorgan Chase serve the affluent
JPMorgan Chase said Monday that it’s changing how it seeks to do business with affluent clients based on what the bank has learned from buying First Republic Bank.<\p> The New York bank (NYSE: JPM) is eager to provide products and services to affluent clients and sees parts of First Republic’s business model as a way to do that.<\p>
A Covid-era option for bankruptcy filings is about to expire
Small businesses will be left without a useful Covid-era bankruptcy tool when it expires in the coming weeks — a development occurring just as bankruptcies are on the rise.<\p> The program, called Subchapter V, was created to enable businesses with less than $2.75 million in debt to go through the Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization process in a streamlined way. In March 2020, as the pandemic took hold across the country and worldwide, Congress raised that benchmark to $7.5 million, allowing many more businesses to use the Subchapter V option. <\p>
The 'lock-in' effect is hitting homebuyers. It may get worse.
Americans expect high mortgage rates to rise even more in the coming years, a perspective that could further dampen the housing market.<\p> The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s SCE Housing Survey found Americans expect mortgage rates to climb from just under the 7% they are now to 8.7% a year from now and 9.7% in three years — the highest recorded since the agency started asking Americans that question in 2014.<\p>
Apartment market cools with record amount of new supply wrapping up
The national rental-housing market has continued to cool, with differing outcomes based on geography and unit type.<\p> Several markets in the South posted significant year-over-year declines in apartment rental rates as of April, according to a new Realtor.com analysis. Those declines were led by Nashville, Tennessee, and Austin, Texas, the latter of which has seen an 8.3% annual drop in asking rents and an 11.5% drop since peaking September 2022. <\p>
Here's when Tacoma's first Big Chicken restaurant will open
The South Sound’s first Big Chicken is set to open May 28, according to franchise owner Tony Puckett. He plans for it to be the first of many in the region.<\p> The fried chicken sandwich restaurant will be located at 2601 N. Pearl St., in North Tacoma's Westgate North Shopping Center. It's part of a Shaquille O'Neal-backed chain with just a handful of other locations in the Seattle area at present, including inside Climate Pledge Arena.<\p>
Bellevue maker of labor analytics software lands $31M
Bellevue-based labor analytics tool Easy Metrics has landed $31 million from Nexa Equity, a private equity firm based in San Francisco.<\p> The companies announced the funding Tuesday, adding that the money will help with product development and acquisitions. The investment comes after Nexa Equity raised a $330 million fund last year.<\p>
Overlake agrees to affiliation with larger health system
MultiCare Health System and Overlake Medical Center & Clinics signed an affiliation agreement Tuesday, the hospital systems announced.<\p> Overlake and its clinics will become the flagship of Tacoma-based MultiCare’s new North Sound region, which will include King and Snohomish counties. <\p>
Meet the next generation of local legal leaders
Each month the Business Journal spotlights some of the legal industry’s rising stars in the Puget Sound region who are helping the business community thrive. Here they are, including details of their accomplishments.<\p> Sign up here for the Business Journal’s free morning and afternoon daily newsletters to receive the latest Puget Sound-area business news. For more business intelligence, follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, or download our free app.<\p>
WeWork to assume 5 more Seattle-area leases as it restructures
Coworking company WeWork Inc. said Monday it plans to assume five more leases in the Seattle area, bringing its total to 10.<\p> The company had previously assumed four leases between Seattle and Bellevue since filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year. Last month, it also assumed a lease in Bellevue's Summit II tower that it had previously planned to reject, according to a bankruptcy court filing. The space in Summit II had been occupied by Amazon.<\p>
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