Accolade stock jumps 40% in Seattle’s first IPO of the year

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Health benefits platform Accolade made its initial public offering Thursday morning, raising $220 million at an initial valuation of $1.2 billion in its debut on the Nasdaq stock market. “We’re changing the way healthcare works in this country,” vowed CEO Raj Singh, the Concur co-founder and longtime Seattle tech entrepreneur, in a prerecorded message for the ceremonial ringing of the opening bell, broadcast in New York’s Times Square (above).

The company splits its headquarters between Seattle and the Philadelphia area. Its IPO is Seattle’s first of the year. Accolade’s shares climbed in early trading, rising more than 40% to $30.90/share as of 10:30 a.m. Pacific time.

New record for Bezos: Amazon’s soaring share price has pushed CEO Jeff Bezos’ net worth to more than $171 billion, a new record for the world’s richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The Seattle tech giant’s share price has climbed more than 50% since the beginning of the year, creating a sharp contrast with much of the rest of the economy. Bezos has simultaneously stepped up his philanthropic giving on a variety of fronts, including a $10 billion Bezos Earth Fund to address climate change.

Remember Trover? The photo-sharing hub for travelers, which began as a Seattle startup in 2011 and was acquired by Expedia in 2016, announced Wednesday that it is shutting down on Aug. 1. Here’s what co-founder Rich Barton had to say when we told him the news.

Quantum mystery: The University of Washington physicist who once ran a crowdfunded experiment on backward causation is now offering a potential solution to one of the longest-running puzzles in quantum mechanics.

Do you know a Seattle tech story our team should be covering? Send us a news tip, or email me directly at todd@geekwire.com. Thanks for reading, and see all of our latest headlines below. — GeekWire editor Todd Bishop.

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