Our Seattle Inno Madness competition is here, and eight local companies remain to compete for the coveted title of 2023 Seattle Inno Madness champion.
In the first round, upsets ruled the week. Stack Moxie, a 16 seed, defeated top-ranked Helion and will now face nine-seed Parse Biosciences, which defeated eight-seed Ventrk. Heavily funded two-seed Group14 Technologies lost to 15-seed Strike Graph. Strike Graph will now face 10-seed Artly Coffee, which beat seven-seed USAFacts.
Twelve-seed Oggvo, which defeated five-seed JaxJox, will meet 13-seed Talus Bioscience, which defeated four-seed Boundless. Six-seed Ridwell was the only higher-ranked company to move on, as the company narrowly defeated 11-seed Zócalo Health. Ridwell will face Opala, a 14 seed that defeated three-seed Proprio.
Second-round voting begins now and continues through Thursday, March 23, at 2:40 p.m. Readers can cast one vote per round. We'll open up voting round by round, ultimately crowning an Inno Madness winner in early April.
What is Inno Madness?
Inno Madness is our friendly, bracket-style challenge where readers vote to advance companies based on one question: Who would you invest in? How you answer that question — whether you believe in one mission or product over the other or would prefer to back a more established company versus an early-stage startup — is entirely up to you. The bracket is designed to shine a spotlight on 16 innovative, fast-growing local businesses.
The bracket is assembled based on reader nominations, as well as editorial input from the Seattle Inno team. Seeding was determined by factors like funding, mission, business focus and company size. Meet the participants below and read the contest rules here.
The goal of Inno Madness is to give a snapshot of some of the most promising tech companies in the Seattle area. The bracket is meant to represent the full breadth and diversity of the ecosystem. In the end, think of the bracket as just a fun look into local tech companies you need to know in 2023. You can see a longer list of startups to keep tabs on here.
Let's get into Round 2...
Meet the remaining companies
Ridwell: A recycling startup that picks up and recycles hard-to-recycle items like batteries and plastic bags
Parse Biosciences: A biotech focused on single-cell sequencing technology
Artly Coffee: A barista robot company that uses mechanical arms to make speciality drinks at multiple West Coast locations
Oggvo: A reputation management startup that helps clients use email and text to prompt reviews from customers
Talus Bioscience: A biotech focused on drug development for gene regulators
Opala: A health care data company focused on making data more accessible for providers and payers
Strike Graph: A compliance and cybersecurity company that uses artificial intelligence
Stack Moxie: A startup focused on testing and monitoring for sales and marketing operations
Meet the other companies that competed
Helion: A fusion energy company focused on clean electricity
Group14 Technologies: A battery technology company focused on making batteries smaller, cheaper and longer-lasting
Proprio: A medical imaging company that relies on computer vision and doesn't use radiation
Boundless: A startup that connects immigrant families with attorneys and simplifies complex forms
JaxJox: A home gym startup that offers adjustable weights and a rotating touch screen
USAFacts: A not-for-profit that offers nonpartisan government data
Ventrk: A fitness and physical therapy app company led by former Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin
Zócalo Health: A startup that offers virtual health care appointments in both English and Spanish
