Tech startup investments continued to retreat in 2023 as venture capitalists tightened their belts and companies trimmed costs amid uncertainty about the broader economy.
Total funding to Pacific Northwest startups fell nearly 60% year-over-year in 2023, according to GeekWire’s funding list. And not a single unicorn was crowned this year — after nine reached the $1 billion valuation threshold in 2021.
But there were still a handful of startups across the region that raised sizable funding rounds to fuel growth in the months and years ahead.
Biotech, health tech, and aerospace companies reeled in some of the biggest chunks of cash. Enterprise software startups, a core strength of Seattle’s tech ecosystem, and also landed money.
Here’s a look at the top funding rounds of 2023.
The Seattle biotech firm, founded 2011, is developing inhalation therapies for rare pulmonary diseases. It raised a $175 million Series C round in September. Read more.
The Bill Gates-backed company develops millimeter-wave 5G network infrastructure products. Gates Frontier and Tracker Capital led a $102 million Series D round in August. Read more.
The Kent, Wash.-based company, founded by Blue Origin vets in 2019, is on a quest to create reusable rockets. Industrious Ventures led a $100 million Series B round in October. Read more.
The Seattle-area health tech startup, led by Naveen Jain, closed a $86.5 million Series C round in August co-led by Khosla Ventures and Bold Capital. It also announced a deal with CVS to sell its gut microbiome test in 200 CVS locations across the U.S. Read more.
The 10-year-old Vancouver, B.C.-based biotech company inked a partnership worth potentially more than $2.6 billion with Danish biopharma giant Novo Nordisk to develop “bioprinted” tissue therapeutics. The deal included $75 million in upfront payments, research funding and a convertible note investment. Read more.
The Seattle startup, founded in 2019 by former Uber engineers, raised $75 million in February, pushing total funding past $200 million. Its software helps companies write and run cloud applications. Read more.
The 7-year-old Seattle startup, which spun out of Providence, offers a healthcare patient demand and access platform. Iconiq Growth led a $75 million Series C round in June. Read more.
The longtime Seattle-area transportation analytics provider raised $70 million in a credit facility from investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital and Morgan Stanley Tactical Value in August. It previously raised a $55 million equity round in 2014 from the Porsche family. Read more.
The 2-year-old startup based in Kirkland, Wash., aims to help customers secure their “software supply chain,” a term used to describe a company’s software production line. Spark Capital led a $61 million Series B round last month. Read more.
The 8-year-old Seattle startup offers a mobile car repair service. It raised $40 million in debt and $14.2 million equity in August. Read more.
The University of Washington spinout is developing tests and treatments for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Senator Investment Group led a $52.9 million Series B funding round in June. Read more.
The Seattle software startup, founded last year, bills itself as a “collaborative serverless analytics platform.” Felicis led a $52.5 million Series B round in September at a valuation north of $400 million. Read more.
The Seattle biotech startup, another UW spinout, develops single cell sequencing products used by more than 1,000 labs worldwide. It raised $50 million as part of a Series C equity round led by Soleus Capital and a debt facility. Read more.
The Vancouver, B.C.-based business spend software company raised a $50 million Series C round led by Ten Coves Capital in October. Read more.
Founded in 2021, the crypto startup describes itself as a “restaking collective for Ethereum.” Blockchain Capital led a $50 million Series A round in March. Read more.
The Seattle-based makers of a weed-zapping machine powered by artificial intelligence and computer vision technology raised $43 million as part of a Series C round. Total funding for the 5-year-old company is $80 million. Read more.
The UW spinout raised a $43 million Series B round in July following FDA clearance for its surgical navigation platform that allows clinicians to see key structures on a screen in three dimensions in real time. Read more.
The Seattle startup helps developers build underlying cloud computing infrastructure using general purpose languages such as JavaScript and Python. Madrona Venture Group led a $41 million Series C round in October. Read more.
