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Exclusive: Statsig raises $100 million at $1.1 billion valuation after abandoned Datadog acquisition attempt.

GeekWire’s startup coverage documents the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial scene. Sign up for our weekly startup newsletter , and check out the GeekWire funding tracker and venture capital directory .Stastig CEO Vijaye Raji (left) and Acquired podcast co-host Ben Gilbert speak on stage at the Seattle Startup Summit on Friday. (GeekWire Photo / Taylor Soper)It was a typical drizzly and grey morning in Seattle as hundreds of software developers gathered for a startup conference to share best practices and learn about new AI tools.“You’re not out there on the beach in the sun playing volleyball,” said Vijaye Raji, a longtime Seattle tech leader and CEO of Statsig.“It’s a great day to be productive,” quipped Ben Gilbert, another Seattle startup vet and co-host of popular business podcast Acquired.Weather aside, Raji and Gilbert spoke on stage Friday at the inaugural Seattle Startup Summit about the strength of the city’s tech ecosystem amid the AI boom — and opportunities for more startup creation.Cloud computing giants Amazon and Microsoft — two of the four largest companies in the world — are based in the Seattle region, as well as a bevy of leading AI-focused research organizations and a top computer science school at the University of Washington.Raji said he sees the creation of profound AI applications coming from sectors such as disease research and biotech.Seattle is also the home of Fred Hutch, the UW’s Institute for Protein Design, and many other groups developing cutting-edge science and medicine.“If you think about Seattle, it’s uniquely positioned to bring all of those together,” said Raji, who previously led operations for Meta’s Seattle hub — one of more than 100 satellite engineering offices in the region.Seattle has almost a quarter of America’s AI engineers, according to some estimates. And it’s consistently ranked among the top global cities when it comes to tech talent.Raji called it a “quiet talent” that may be under-appreciated.“It’s kind of good for us, because we’re constantly hiring, and I think the Seattle talent is really good,” said Raji, whose company is ranked No. 9 on the GeekWire 200, our list of top Pacific Northwest startups.Yet the startup activity in Seattle still pales in comparison to Silicon Valley, or even other places like Los Angeles and New York, as measured by companies created and money raised from venture capitalists.The delta between tech expertise and startup creation is a weird phenomenon, said Gilbert, who helped launch Seattle startup studio Pioneer Square Labs. He suggested there could be more celebration of people leaving big tech companies to make the startup leap.Instead of applauding a 10-year anniversary at Microsoft, for example, perhaps the reaction should be instead to ask “when are you going to do something interesting,” said Gilbert, a former Microsoft program manager.And given the speed and efficiency at which startups can get off the ground and grow in the age of AI, there could be even more opportunity for talented tech workers to jump into entrepreneurship.“This is the coolest time ever to have a singular vision, because there are certain companies where you don’t need a large team to execute and create something really valuable,” Gilbert said.Other tidbits from the conversation:Raji on getting customer feedback: “One of the things that I always believe in: the faster you can get out of the vacuum and build based on feedback, you will build a product that people want

GeekWire’s startup coverage documents the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial scene. Sign up for our weekly startup newsletter , and check out the GeekWire funding tracker and venture capital directory .The path from successful startup to big deal in the tech industry can be foreshadowed with one key prize at the GeekWire Awards: Next Tech Titan.Five startups will be vying for the title in this category — which is presented by Baird — at our annual event next month. They are: Echodyne, Pulumi, Read AI, Statsig and Truveta.The GeekWire Awards recognize the top innovators and companies in Pacific Northwest technology. Finalists in this category and others were selected based on community nominations, along with input from GeekWire Awards judges. Community voting across all categories will continue until March 23, combined with feedback from judges to determine the winner in each category.We'll announce the winners on April 30 at the GeekWire Awards, presented by Astound Business Solutions. There are a limited number of half-table and full-table sponsorships available to attend the event