The five finalists for Startup CEO of the Year at the GeekWire Awards are leading companies with big ambitions to improve food quality, develop better therapeutics, address mental health needs, and speed up cross-border e-commerce. They are:
Valerie Daggett (above, bottom middle): The University of Washington bioengineering professor is the co-founder and CEO of AltPep, which is developing tests and treatments for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. The 4-year-old company raised $52.9 million in a Series B round last year. AltPep won the Health Innovation of the Year award at last year’s GeekWire Awards.
Carla Grandori (top left): The longtime biotech leader is CEO of SEngine Precision Medicine, a Seattle-based company that spun out of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in 2015 and develops tests that tailor drugs to cancer patients. Grandori previously founded Cure First, another Seattle biotech startup.
Emily Pesce (top right): The former Amazon manager is CEO at Joon Care, a Seattle startup founded in 2019 that provides remote therapy services for teens and young adults. It raised $6 million in December. Pesce is a managing member of venture firm Working Lab Capital and was previously vice president of online learning platform Nerdy.
Rathna Sharad (bottom right): The UPS and Microsoft veteran co-founded FlavorCloud in 2017 to help e-commerce companies ship products around the globe. The startup has been described as the “Stripe for international shipping” and raised $6.3 million in 2021. Sharad previoulsy founded a startup called Runway2street that helped smaller companies sell luxury women’s clothing and accessories internationally.
Katherine Sizov (bottom left): The CEO and co-founder of Strella Biotechnology wants to help reduce food waste with her company’s hardware that detects ethylene, a chemical released by fruit as it ripens. Founded in 2017, Strella won GeekWire’s Elevator Pitch competition in 2022.
Last year’s winner was Prem Kumar, CEO of Humanly, a Seattle-based recruiting software startup.
Submit your vote here or below and keep scrolling for descriptions of each finalist for Startup of the Year, presented by T-Mobile Tech Experience.
The GeekWire Awards recognize the top innovators and companies in Pacific Northwest technology. Finalists in this category and others were selected based on community nominations, along with input from GeekWire Awards judges. Community voting across all categories will continue until April 12, combined with feedback from judges to determine the winner in each category.
We’ll announce the winners live onstage at Showbox SoDo in Seattle on May 9. There are a limited number of table sponsorships available to attend the event — and early bird pricing ends March 31 — so get your seats today.
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Special thanks to Astound Business Solutions, the presenting sponsor of the 2024 GeekWire Awards.
