This week on the GeekWire Podcast: Amazon and Microsoft are racing to define the next era of consumer AI, on multiple fronts. We discuss Amazon’s attempt to upgrade Alexa into a true generative AI home chatbot — complete with a new web portal and updated Alexa app — while Microsoft tries to win over retailers with a new Copilot Checkout feature.
Plus, we explore Google’s upcoming “AI Inbox” for Gmail, which promises to act like an executive assistant for your email. We talk about our smart bird feeder experiment that resulted in “fuzzy birds,” due to improper focal length. And we share our initial experience with AI automation on the Windows PC desktop using Vy from Seattle startup Vercept.
Finally, we offer a Netflix recommendation, Cover-Up, the documentary about legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh. We couldn’t help but wonder: what would uncover if he could digitize all those notes and put them through an AI model?
Seattle cryptocurrency company Coinme said it reached an agreement with Washington state regulators to pause the temporary cease-and-desist order issued against it last month, clearing the way for the company to resume operations in the state.
The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions had ordered Coinme to stop transmitting money for customers, alleging the startup improperly claimed as its own income more than $8 million owed to consumers from unredeemed crypto vouchers.
Coinme said the order was stayed after it provided detailed financial records and operational information to regulators that clarified key details about its business practices. As a result, the company said, it will be able to “continue serving customers in Washington State while addressing any remaining concerns.”
The state agency had been seeking to revoke Coinme’s money transmitter license, impose a $300,000 fine, and ban CEO Neil Bergquist from the industry for 10 years.
The agreement, laid out in a Dec. 23 consent order, requires Coinme to segregate Washington customer assets into dedicated accounts within 14 days, and move cash or cash equivalents tied to outstanding Washington kiosk transactions into a segregated account within 30 days.
The order also requires the company to provide monthly compliance updates to regulators. The underlying charges remain unresolved and could still be litigated, according to the order.
“Our commitment to customer protection and regulatory compliance remains our top priority,” Bergquist said in a statement, noting that Coinme has had a collaborative relationship with the agency dating back to the company’s founding in 2014.
Coinme operates what it calls the nation’s largest cash-to-crypto network through partnerships with MoneyGram and Coinstar. The company had called the original charges an accounting dispute over a discontinued voucher product.
Clockwise from top left: Amera CEO Deep Kapur; Clara CEO Melinda Yormick; Oikyo CEO Saptak Sen; and Specbook AI CEO Gordon Hempton.
Founders in the Seattle area are busy building software for health insurance, AI model tuning, construction processes, and hospital operations.
Our latest Startup Radar spotlights four early stage tech startups in the region: Amera, Clara, Oiyko, and Specbook AI.
Read on for brief descriptions of each company — along with pitch assessments from “Mean VC,” a GPT-powered critic offering a mix of encouragement and constructive criticism.
Check out past Startup Radar posts here, and email me at taylor@geekwire.com to flag other companies and startup news.
The business: Targeting health insurance payers with software that automates the claims processing workflow. Its product converts medical claim documents into structured data, replacing manual entry and supporting newer payment models. Amera is generating revenue, working with multiple plan administrators, and participating in the Fall 2025 cohort at Y Combinator.
Leadership: CEO Deep Kapur previously worked at Microsoft, Protocol Labs, and most recently Rupa Health. Co-founder Louise Tanski was also at Rupa Health and co-founded QueryStax (acquired by Moonshot Brands).
Mean VC: “You’re solving a real pain point in healthcare admin, and early revenue plus YC traction suggest you’re on the right track. The key will be proving your structured data actually drives measurable cost or accuracy improvements — not just faster paperwork.”
The business: A self-described “AI-powered operating room orchestration” platform for hospitals. Clara aims to be like Apple’s “Find My” app, but for patient care, helping hospital staff quickly locate equipment and people. The company has raised around $375,000 and is working with a lab at the University of Washington on a non-clinical pilot.
Leadership: CEO Melinda Yormick has more than a decade of operating room experience as a registered nurse and nurse manager. She was named a 2025 “Up and Comer” at the PSBJ Healthcare Leadership Awards. Co-founder Aaron Cooke was previously a senior software engineer at Viome and Julep.
Mean VC: “The problem is clear to anyone who’s worked in a hospital, and your background gives you credibility where it counts. But unless you can tie this to patient outcomes or hard ROI, hospital budgets may treat it as a luxury.”
The business: Helps companies fine-tune AI models using their own data, enabling employees to add business-specific context. The company is participating in WTIA’s startup accelerator.
Leadership: Co-founders Saptak Sen and Suchi Mohan first met at Microsoft in India in 2001. Sen, the CEO at Oiyko, was most recently a vice president at Tetrate and head of container integrations at AWS. Mohan was a senior technical program manager at Microsoft for more than four years.
Mean VC: “Fine-tuning with business context is a sharp idea, especially as enterprises grow wary of generic AI outputs. Still, you’ll need to show how you differ from the wave of enterprise LLM tooling coming from giants and better-funded peers.”
The business: Builds AI agents for industrial and civic projects that can quickly analyze data and perform tasks such as design reviews and reviewing construction submittals. Specbook AI is working with large construction companies and municipalities. Contracted revenue is in the six figures.
Leadership: Co-founders Gordon Hempton and Wes Hather co-founded Outreach, the Seattle-based sales software company. More recently they launched two startups: B2B sales software company FullContext and virtual work platform Spot.
Mean VC: “Digitizing construction reviews and civic workflows is overdue, and six-figure contracts suggest you’re solving a real pain. To scale, you’ll need to prove your product can handle diverse requirements without slipping into custom consulting.”
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