BadWill Market, Rover Raises $25M, Juno Relocating & More News

The top Seattle news stories you should be reading today

By Jaclyn Norton March 20, 2015

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Rover Rolls On. Rover.com, the Seattle-based pet-sitting company, just raised $25 million in funding from Palo Alto-based Crossover Ventures, The Puget Sound Business Journal said Thursday. This brings the startup company’s funding to more than $50 million total. In the past year, Rover doubled its employees to 80, increased revenue by 500 percent, and now have more than 40,000 pet-sitters signed up on the website. This Airbnb model for pet watchers is proving effective, as more people use the website to connect with a pet-sitter in their area for their next trip out of town. 

More. Starbucks. As Seattleites, it’s hard to imagine the possibility of Starbucks staking out more locations for coffee shops. But the Seattle-based company announced Thursday this is just the plan. In the next five years, the company will open 30,000 new locations. About 1,600 of these new locations will be in Starbucks’ fastest growing market, China. This is all a part of ceo Howard Schultz‘s plan to reach a $100 billion market cap, putting Starbucks in the same league as McDonalds, Home Depot and Walt Disney, the PSBJ said. 

Will BadWill Bring Good Fortune? Capitol Hill is embracing these first days of spring with the BadWill Market Spring Edition. On Sunday, March 22 from 2-7 p.m., the monthly pop-up is back at East Pine Street bar The Rhino Room to feature jewelry, clothing and more from local artists. The Capitol Hill Blog said to expect vintage floral dresses, flower bouquets, and custom-dyed shorts to help brighten that transition to spring. 

Biotech Scene Booming. Seattle’s massive growth is not limited to a single sector, as the biotech scene reports monumental growth as well. Juno Therapeutics, the South Lake Union-based biotech company has outgrown its more than 23,000-square-foot Westlake Avenue N. office and has plans to relocate. The company, which started with just 10 employees in early 2014, now employs 123 people, according to The Puget Sound Business Journal. Though how much space Juno is looking for remains unannounced, these makers of immunotheraphy treatments for cancer will need a new location that offers both lab and office space. Juno will remain in Seattle.

Lucky Day For Penny. Penny, the 7-month-old Vizsla puppy made national news recently for a 2,400 mile road trip from Royal City, Wash. to Pittsburgh. The puppy wandered from her parents’ 7,000-acre onion farm, and ended up in a much different part of town. This past weekend, Invisible Fence Brand donated a state-of-the-art, GPS-based invisible fencing solution to Penny’s owners, and a $1,500 donation to The Homeward Pet Adoption Center in Woodinville, going towards providing free microchips to families and pets in need. These donations were made to bring awareness to how lost pets can be reunited with their families through microchipping. 

 

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