Tech News

Arizona’s Parchment acquires Ireland-based Digitary as part of a global expansion strategy

Parchment, a Scottsdale-based digital credential service, has announced its acquisition of Digitary, also a digital credential service, which is used in hundreds of higher education institutions around the world.  Parchment and Digitary are both edtech companies designed to allow students, academic institutions and employers to request, verify and share credentials, like academic transcripts, safely and … Read more

It’s SHARK WEEK: Watch for UArizona professor’s invention to be underwater with the hammerheads

invention

Does any entrepreneur ever expect their invention to be … shark bait? Probably not … unless the whole purpose of it is to get up close and personal with sharks in their natural habitat. On Sunday, a University of Arizona professor will be watching his Ocean Space Habitat underwater with some hammerheads on “The Great … Read more

Arizona’s biotech community opposes waiving intellectual property rights of Covid-19 vaccines. Here’s what you need to know

intellectual property

Over the last couple months, you may have heard talk about waiving intellectual property protections of Covid-19 vaccines, in order to allow the manufacturing of these vaccines in other countries.  This is a complex issue, so let’s break it down. What is a TRIPS waiver and what would it do? The World Trade Organization (WTO) … Read more

Mesa startup Desert Valley Tech awarded NSF SBIR grant for mobile blood banking system

SBIR grant

Mesa-based Desert Valley Tech was awarded a competitive National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to fund research and development of a smart container for use in cold blood storage and transport in extreme environments. The company, founded in 2018, began after a chance meeting between co-founders Travis Witzke and Burt Skiba. … Read more

Phoenix-based incubator accepting applications for impact accelerator program

incubator

Phoenix startup incubator Seed Spot is accepting 15 companies looking to scale in this year’s Impact Accelerator program. This year, the program will be completely virtual and open to entrepreneurs from around the world.  The six-week program offers a curriculum that focuses on topics including pitching, financial projections, customer acquisition and team development. Seed Spot … Read more

Lucid Motors’ Air on track for second half start of production

Lucid Motors

Lucid Motors, the Newark, California-based company that operates a factory in Casa Grande, is on schedule to begin production and deliveries of its debut EVs, like Lucid Air, this year.  Bloomberg reported that Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson told investors on a call Tuesday that “testing and validation of Lucid Air is progressing well” and the … Read more

Struggling with hiring and people management? Kate Rogers Sieker has you covered

hiring and people

Entrepreneurs don’t know everything. The first step is admitting it. All founders have strengths and weaknesses. Some people are really great at marketing the heck out of their product and others might have a knack for innovating and thinking outside of the box. Kate Rogers Sieker’s talent — and greatest passion — is bringing people … Read more

Fundraising platform Virtuous closes $18M Series B raise to support major growth and hire locally

Virtuous, a fundraising platform for nonprofits, has closed an $18 million Series B raise, which will be used to further support the company’s goal to hire locally and expand the team nationally.  The money will also help support the company’s fast growth trajectory and improve product offerings. The raise was led by Fulcrum Equity Partners, … Read more

Global IT consulting company TCS to invest $300M, adding jobs and expanding STEM education in Arizona

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions company headquartered in India, has announced plans to invest more than $300 million in Arizona by 2026 and hire more than 220 employees here by 2023. The company will also expand the reach of its STEM and Computer Science education programs in … Read more

Future of Tech Commission holds Arizona town hall on internet equity, access

future of tech commission

A public discussion hosted by the Future of Tech Commission last week focused on one of the biggest issues facing Arizona right now: internet equity. The Covid-19 pandemic shined a thousand lights on digital equity and access. Rural schools, especially, faced major challenges while attempting to teach online during the pandemic.  Connect Arizona reports that … Read more