Inside the first-ever Bloomberg Green Festival in Seattle

Inside the Bloomberg Green Festival: The first-time event held in Seattle this week gathered tech investors, government officials, startup founders, and more to talk about climate —?and potential impact from the upcoming presidential election. Read more .

• Speaking at the event, TPG executive chair Jim Coulter shared optimism for innovation and investing in the climate sector. “We’re about to undertake a $120 trillion re-industrialization of the world,” he said. Read more .?

SPONSOR MESSAGE: Washington state’s second-largest city is the hub of an ambitious regional tech community seeking to leverage new realities to achieve its longstanding goals. Read more.

Mozilla's chief product officer is also a plaintiff against the Firefox maker. Seattle tech industry veteran Steve Teixeira filed suit against Mozilla for alleged discrimination after he took medical leave for cancer treatment. Mozilla denies the claims and says it plans to "vigorously defend" against the lawsuit. Read more.

Germ-zapping startup raises cash: Haystack Robotics sells autonomous robots that navigate rooms and destroy bacteria in hospitals and hotels. Read more .

• Related: The top funding deals for Pacific Northwest startups in Q2

We caught up with Aina Abiodun ( Aina A. ), president and executive director of VertueLab, a non-profit that is raising a new fund to invest in North American climate companies. Abiodun, based in Seattle, took the helm of VertueLab more than a year ago, bringing a wide-ranging resume to her new gig. Read more .

Hot Links:

• Seattle-area startup mpathic received a National Institutes of Health grant for its project aimed at addressing racial bias in AI-powered mental health care. (mpathic )
• Comments by the CEO of “The Atlantic” about the magazine's deal with OpenAI are creating new speculation about the tech company launching its own AI-powered search product in potential competition with its partner Microsoft. (The Verge )
• Amazon’s AI-powered shopping chatbot, dubbed Rufus, has been rolled out to all users of the company’s mobile app in the U.S. as of today. (TechCrunch )
• Spokane (Wash.) Public Schools will ban the use of cell phones in classrooms next year, joining a growing list of districts implementing strict new rules. (The Spokesman-Review )

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