Several new companies joined the GeekWire 200 while a handful “graduated” in the latest update to our index that ranks the Pacific Northwest’s top privately-held startups.

The ranking is derived from our broader list of more than 1,100 tech startups with headquarters in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, and British Columbia.

The rankings are generated using a weighted algorithm that accounts for social media followings, approximate employee counts (via LinkedIn) and inbound web links.

A startup “graduates” from the list if it gets acquired or goes public. Exit value tumbled across the board last year amid rising interest rates and declines in public tech stock valuations. But some analysts are predicting recovery in the latter half of 2023.

Read on for takeaways from the latest rankings. 

Newcomers

  • Group14 Technologies (No. 155) manufactures a silicon-carbon composite material and raised more than $614 million from investors in 2022. Go inside its new manufacturing center.
  • Marvelous (No. 169) offers an e-learning platform that helps people sell online courses and coaching programs.
  • Factal (No. 186) monitors breaking news to help companies assess risks to their business. Read more.
  • IPinfo (No. 189) provides a dataset of IP address data to enterprises and cybersecurity experts. Read more.
  • Defiant (No. 190) sells cybersecurity plugins for sites built on WordPress. Read more.
  • Pandion (No.192) offers an end-to-end delivery solution for e-commerce companies. Read more.
  • Arzeda (No. 193) generates new enzymes for industrial, agricultural and other applications. Read more.
The top ten GeekWire 200 startups in Q4 2022 versus the current rankings.

Biggest movers

  • Jobscan (No. 126) rose 45 spots. The startup helps job seekers by optimizing their resumes to fit the positions they are pursuing. Read more.
  • Picnic (No. 133) rose 39 spots. The food automation company sells a pizza-making robot. Read more.
  • Carbon Robotics (No. 150) rose 29 spots. The startup sells agriculture hardware that uses AI to locate and zap weeds. Read more.
  • LiveStories (No. 122) moved up 27 spots. The startup helps governments find, analyze and publish civic-related data. Read more.
  • Crelate (No. 110) moved up 23 spots. The startup sells software to recruiting and staffing agencies. Read more.

Graduates

  • Zapproved, a Portland, Ore.-based legal tech startup, was acquired by Exterro, another legal tech firm based in Portland. Zapproved previously ranked No. 93 on the list.
  • Lockstep, a Seattle startup that sells software used to automate the accounting of B2B purchases and payments, was acquired by The Sage Group in August, a British multinational enterprise software company. Lockstep previously ranked No. 124.
  • First Mode merged with Anglo American as part of a $1.5 billion transaction. The Seattle company, which created the hydrogen-fueled hybrid power plant for Anglo American’s nuGen mining truck, ranked No. 53.

Other notes

  • There was one new entrant in the top 10: Contract lifecycle management startup SirionLabs knocked off real estate lender Flyhomes.
  • Seven companies in the top 10 announced workforce reductions amid widespread job cuts across the tech industry.
  • Several startups recently unveiled generative AI tools, including Outreach (No. 3), Glowforge (No. 30), and Lexion (No. 194).
  • RealWear (No. 60) will soon graduate from the list. The Vancouver, Wash.-based company this week announced a SPAC merger with Seattle-based Cascadia Capital.

Editor’s note: This story was updated to reflect that Klue acquired DoubleCheck Research.

See our Recent Fundings list for the latest Pacific Northwest startup deals and subscribe to GeekWire Startups for a weekly roundup of news, analysis and insights from the region’s startup ecosystem, delivered Friday.

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