The GeekWire Awards are fast approaching on May 20, but the spirit of our annual startup and technology celebration extends beyond a single ceremony.
It is a true community effort. This year, GeekWire received nearly 200 community nominations and looked at each category anew through the lens of an ongoing pandemic. The nomination, selection and voting process spans more than two months.
Over a two week period in April, readers cast more than 6,000 votes across 12 categories. These community votes will be factored in with feedback from this year’s judging panel composed of 21 tech and business leaders.
Voting is now closed but no matter who takes home a robot trophy on May 20, the finalists in each of these categories are making waves in the region’s tech ecosystem. They have been nominated by their peers and recognized for their innovative work.
Finalists on the rise
Below are where some of these finalists rank and how far they’ve moved up on the GeekWire 200, our ranking of privately-held tech companies based in the Pacific Northwest. See all the finalists and categories here.
Making their exits
Companies that go public or get acquired “graduate” from the GeekWire 200 — that includes all finalists in this year’s Deal of the Year: IPOs/Acquisitions category. Here is where each company ranked prior to their exits:
- Athira Pharma (not ranked)
- Auth0 (No. 4 in March 2021)
- Accolade (No. 7 in June 2020)
- Rover (No. 7 in March 2021)
- Sana Biotechnology (No. 100 in January 2021)
A number of GeekWire Awards finalists are not currently ranked on the GeekWire 200 — not yet, at least. Be sure to check the list for future updates as these companies make their GeekWire 200 debut.
The GeekWire 200 is derived from our broader list of more than 1,600 startups headquartered in Washington, Oregon, Idaho or British Columbia.
Register for free to watch the winners announced live at this year’s virtual GeekWire Awards on May 20.
About the latest GeekWire 200
You may have noticed a lot of movement in the latest GeekWire 200 rankings. In addition to a number of high ranking companies “graduating” from the list, we recently completed a thorough audit of the top 200 companies. This is an ongoing project to update and improve our Startup List and community resources. Questions? Contact Editorial Operations Director Cara Kuhlman at cara@geekwire.com.
