Amazon.com, Expedia and other Washington tech giants are growing with such increasing speed in the past several months that it’s easy to forget that the region’s scene of smaller companies is booming too.
Companies in the area raised $1.95 billion in investments in 2015, according to data from Pitchbook Data. A study last year found there are 700 startups in Seattle alone. Here is our unscientific list of companies that achieved something great in 2015 and should be watched in 2016.
OfferUp
Location: Bellevue
Funding raised: $90 million
Number of employees: 67
Although the company arguably falls into the “larger” startup category after raising $73 million as announced in November, the buy-sell Craigslist competitor remained nearly silent about its plans until 2015.
Founders Nick Huzar and Arean van Veelen broke that silence in the fall to talk about the massive plans for OfferUp. The biggest goal? Create something so great that no one has to use Craigslist to buy or sell stuff.
The startup said $2.9 billion in transactions were made on the site between January and November.
Next: It needs to execute a plan to capture some of that as revenue.
Glowforge
Location: Seattle
Funding raised: $10.3 million in venture capital, $27.9 million from preorders
Number of employees: 17
It was a big year for the “maker movement,” which celebrates those who create and work with their hands.
Glowforge burst onto the scene in 2015 with a “3-D laser printer” priced for individuals rather than businesses. The printer raised $27.9 million during its monthlong preorder phase, shattering crowdfunding records.
Next: The real test of the Glowforge will come early in 2016 when preorder customers get their hands on the machine.
Chef
Location: Seattle
Funding raised: More than $100 million
Employees: More than 230
The word “startup” is hard to define, but Chef is pushing its way out of the category. The IT automation company raised $40 million in September, bringing its total funding to more than $100 million.
Next: Chef is rumored to be an IPO possibility in the next few years.
Arivale
Location: Seattle
Funding raised: $39 million
Number of employees: 55
Companies that aim to personalize health care have been cropping up for several years.
Lee Hood, a renowned biologist who formed the Institute for Systems Biology, announced in July that Arivale had raised $36 million when it was barely out of the gate.
Arivale looks at members’ general health, then pairs them with a coach to develop a wellness plan.
Next: Arivale opened to the public in July, so reviews should be rolling in soon.
Convoy
Location: Seattle
Funding raised: $2.6 million
Number of employees: 16
Trucking — not a super sexy industry, but it’s a big one, worth about $800 billion and fraught with logistical challenges. Convoy emerged in 2015 with app and online software to connect truck drivers with freight that needs hauling.
The tiny company raised a $2.5 million seed in 2015, and the most impressive part is its investors — everyone from Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff to Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi to Jeff Bezos’ personal investment company got in on the deal.
Next: Convoy is starting with Washington and slowly expanding across location and industries.
Dato
Location: Seattle
Funding raised: $26.75 million
Number of employees: 45
Machine-learning startup Dato inked funding worth $18.5 million in 2015, led by Paul Allen’s Vulcan Capital
The startup is headed by University of Washington professor Carlos Guestrin, who was recruited to the region by Jeff Bezos. Dato helps big companies such as Pandora and Zillow make sense of the massive amount of user data they collect.
Next: More than 50,000 developers use the Dato platform, and the company is working on fea tures to make machine learning easy for companies to implement.
