GeekWire 200 update: Top Pacific Northwest tech startups hold their ground atop the list

(GeekWire Photo Illustration / Canva Pro)

Companies such as Big Fish Games, Cheezburger Network, and Tableau Software once sat atop the GeekWire 200, our ranking of the Pacific Northwest’s privately-held tech startups. They’ve since “graduated” from the list after growing big and going through an acquisition or IPO.

Fast forward to today, and startups including Auth0 and Rover are among the top 10. But both of those growing companies will soon graduate, too — Auth0’s acquisition by Okta is set to finalize this year, and Rover is going public via a SPAC.

Which companies will rise to the top and “graduate” from scrappy startup to major tech player next?

Read on for takeaways from this month’s GeekWire 200 rankings, which spotlight rising tech startups using publicly available data to identify the tech companies most popular and trending among key online communities. See the GeekWire Fundings list for recent Pacific NW startup deals and subscribe to GeekWire Startups for a weekly roundup of news, analysis and insights from the region’s startup ecosystem, delivered Friday.

The top 10: Since last month, the top seven companies remain the same. Tanium, a cybersecurity company that moved its HQ from San Francisco to the Seattle area last year, debuted on the GeekWire 200 at No. 7 in December. Since then it has moved up one spot and is currently ranked No. 6.

Also on the move is Outreach, the sales enablement software startup valued at more than $1 billion, which moved up two spots since last month to No. 8.

With Auth0 and Rover set to graduate from the top 10, that leaves openings — companies such as OfferUp (No. 11), Moz (No. 12), PayScale, (No. 13), Puppet (No. 14) and Clio (No. 15) are potential entrants.

Making headlines: Startups up-and-down the list have been in the news recently, announcing major funding rounds, giant deals, and new leadership.

  • Icertis (No. 5), which sells contract management software, closed an $80 million Series F round and pushed its valuation to $2.8 billion. Read the story.
  • Game development startup Rec Room (No. 136) became Seattle’s newest unicorn, raising a $100 million at a $1.25 billion valuation. Read the story.
  • Vancouver, Wash.-based AbSci (No. 146) jumped 38 spots up the list as the biotech startup raised new funding for its “Protein Printing” technology. Read the story.
  • Tagboard (No. 180) signed a new four-year deal with Major League Baseball, which will use Tagboard’s production platform for programming. Read the story.
  • Bend, Ore.-based cannabis retail startup Dutchie (No. 81) raised $200 million and is now valued at $1.7 billion. Read the story.
  • JetClosing (No. 168) closed an $11 million Series B round and announced former Amazon leader Anna Collins as the real estate startup’s new CEO. Read the story.

Breaking into the top 200: The GeekWire 200 is generated each month from GeekWire’s Startup List, a comprehensive directory of the region’s tech startups now with more than 1,700 listings.

These nine startups broke into the top 200 this month making their first-time debut, or in some cases, returned back to the rankings:

  • CTO.ai (No. 93) — Vancouver, B.C.-based startup building a DevOps platform.
  • Fabric (No. 177) — Seattle e-commerce startup creating software for mid-market brands to sell their products online.
  • Chinook Therapeutics (No. 183) — Biotech company developing targeted therapies for kidney diseases.
  • TRED (No. 186) — Peer-to-peer marketplace for used cars, first launched in Seattle and now available in 13 markets.
  • Mason (No. 188) — Seattle startup that sells “mobile infrastructure as a service” tech.
  • Glamhive (No. 192) — Fashion tech platform connecting customers to personal stylists.
  • Social Nature (No. 195) — Canadian online product testing platform for sustainable products.
  • Tatango (No. 197) — Seattle-based provider of text message marketing software.
  • Imperative (No. 198) — Virtual peer-coaching platform for managing remote teams.