Our Seattle Inno Madness competition is here, and we have 16 local startups vying for the coveted title of 2024 Inno Madness champion.
Inno Madness is our friendly, bracket-style challenge where readers vote to advance companies based on one question: Who would you invest in? Whether you believe in one mission or product slightly over the other or would prefer to back a more established company versus an early-stage startup, how you answer that question 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 through a mixture of funding, size and a bit of whimsy. Meet the participants below and read the contest rules here.
The goal of Inno Madness is to give a snapshot of some of the promising tech companies in the Seattle area. It is by no means a complete list of the region's best startups, which is a testament to the size of the local tech scene. It's also not just a list of the 16 most-funded startups in the Puget Sound region.
Instead, the bracket is meant to represent the full breadth and diversity of the ecosystem. In the end, think of the bracket as a fun look into local tech companies you need to know in 2024. The competing companies are listed below with a short description. For additional reading on startups worth watching this year, see this list.
First-round voting begins now and continues through April 3 at noon. Readers can cast one vote per round. We'll open up voting round by round, ultimately crowning a winner in late April.
Let's get into Round 1 ...
Meet the contestants
Icertis: Contract management company that helps clients manage contracts with employees, customers and suppliers
TerraPower: Nuclear power company co-founded by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates that is working on a thermal energy storage demonstration project
Swiftly: Startup that helps grocers and other retailers offer loyalty programs, digital coupons and mobile checkout
ProfoundBio: Biotech company developing a treatment aimed at ovarian and endometrial cancer
Umoja Biopharma: Company developing immunotherapies to help patients fight cancer with the body's natural defenses
Rhythms: Work software company designed to help teams handle their work cadences
Parse Biosciences: Startup that offers single-cell sequencing technology to allow researchers to better understand the biology of an individual cell
Opala: Health care data company focused on making data more accessible for providers and payers
Zensa: Tech consulting firm that helps its clients with cloud services
Electric Era: Electric vehicle charging startup that makes EV charging stations for use at gas stations, convenience stores and other retailers
Stack Moxie: Marketing tech company that helps clients find outages and bugs before they become major problems
Oleria: Cybersecurity company that makes security clearances within organizations more dynamic
WellSaid Labs: Voice-technology startup that allows clients to convert text to speech in one click
Interlune: Space resources startup that aims to extract helium-3 from the moon and bring it back to Earth
Cimba.ai: Artificial intelligence startup that helps clients make better use of company data
Blueprint: Data intelligence company that helps clients make supply chain and customer decisions in real time
