Although the University of Washington and King County were in Phase 1 of Washington State’s Safe Start plan, over 60 local investors gathered on June 2nd via Zoom to hear 10 UW spinoffs pitch their startups during the eighth biannual CoMotion DubPitch.
Presenting companies came from the life sciences, hardware, clean energy, and IT & software sectors and pitched a range of innovations to address a variety of challenges. These included:
- a handheld device that can be used to detect infectious virus particles in the air
- low-cost fusion energy
- an AI-based engine for developing next-gen medicine
- digital pathology
- x-ray vision for ecommerce
- an intelligent on-scene response platform for first responders
- data visualization through virtual reality
- a safe, rapid Fecal Microbiota Transplant solution
- urology infection prevention
- scalable cellphone and spectrum usage
Over a two-day period prior to the event, a group of 20 mentors from the UW CoMotion Mentor Guild assembled to listen to the teams pitch and offered suggestions, asked questions, and made sure their pitches were in great shape. Many of the teams also participated in and received funding from CoMotion and other UW innovation programs. Among these are the CoMotion Innovation Gap Fund, Commercialization Fellows Program, I-Corps, Foster School of Business Entrepreneurship Competitions, and the Jones & Foster Accelerator program. In addition, a few teams have participated in previous CoMotion DubPitch events, while a member of the Aerospec team has the prestigious honor of receiving the newly announced CoMotion Director’s Award.
Our next CoMotion DubPitch will be held in fall 2020. Investors interested in attending may contact us here.
Participating startups:
Life Sciences
Microbiology laboratory test in scientist hand on background
A scalable, safe, rapid Fecal Microbiota Transplant (FMT) solution. Transforms a laborious, centralized lab-based FMT to a Point of Care medical device for providers and patients.
UroTek Sciences
Next level of infection prevention in urology. The innovative materials prevent microbes from living on the surfaces of urological devices.
Curi Bio
Integrates human stem cells, tissue-specific systems, and AI-based data analysis into a single platform, generating accurate data quickly, saving time. Curi Bio is the engine for developing the next generation of medicines.
Lightspeed Microscopy
This platform brings a digital revolution to 100-year-old pathology technology with tissue prep and preservation and open-top light-sheet (OTLS) imaging and analysis, which generates big data while providing workflow efficiency. Lightspeed’s unique open-top light-sheet microscope design enables fast, non-destructive, 3D microscopy of large and/or multiple tissue specimens. Bringing the digital revolution to pathology.
Hardware
ThruWave
Enables ‘x-ray’ vision in ecommerce and retail operations. Their human-safe mmWave sensor plus analytics reduces operational costs by enabling customers to see through packaging to the items inside. Provides state-of-the-art millimeter-wave (mmW) 3Dimagers for markets such as quality control, security, robotics and construction.
Scalable cellphone and spectrum usage analytics for mobile carriers, government and academia. OneRadio creates, develops and markets wide-band receiver technology for radio frequency (RF) applications that demand the highest level of sensitivity and bandwidth. They provide unprecedented visibility and access into the entire RF spectrum through their innovative technologies that benefit aerospace, defense, intelligence communities, telcos, and other enterprises.
Offering an intelligent on-scene response platform to first responders that delivers unprecedented operational visibility, augments Incident Commander decision making, and captures real-time data to characterize risk. Their Firefly platform integrates indoor location tracking, environmental sensing, and real-time analytics to increase situational awareness, operational visibility, and keep firefighters safe in the line of duty. Read more about Namatad CEO and UW Tacoma Assistant Professor Matt Tolentino.
Clean Energy
Renewable energy concept Earth Day or environment protection Hands protect forests that grow on the ground and help save the world.
A wearable, hyper-local, real-time particle counter that uses a data-driven intervention strategy to detect particulate matter in medical and industrial spaces, forest fires, traffic and other environments. Understanding what you breathe.
Produces low-cost, on-demand, carbon-free power generation to fulfill varied customer needs, using a breakthrough technology that allows a more compact, low-cost reactor design point than previously possible. CTFusion is the cheapest, most reliable form of fusion energy. Read more about CT Fusion in this post about UW innovators battling climate change.
IT & Software
Hand of man poing on AI interface digital screen
Ulysses is an environment that enables a view of raw data in virtual reality so the user can explore, see trends, correlations and outliers with natural ease. Explore your data in virtual reality. Discover new insights.