Washington Technology Industry Association Unveils Finalists for Fall First Look Forum in Bellingham

Never-Before-Seen Entrepreneurs Compete for $10,000 at Investor Showcase on November 12

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Washington Technology Industry Association

Nov 04, 2015, 12:00 ET

SEATTLE, Nov. 4, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA), Washington state's unifying voice for the technology community, today announced the top 10 local Washington state startups chosen from a pool of over 60 qualified applicants to compete for a $10,000 grand prize in this year's fall First Look Forum™ in Bellingham. The winner of the forum will be determined by combined votes from the audience and a panel of judges at this invite-only event at Whatcom Community College, Syre Hall on Nov. 12 from 2 to 6:30 p.m. PST.

First Look Forum helps budding entrepreneurs prepare to take on increasingly competitive funding circuits by providing a taste of what it's like to pitch their start-up ideas to a packed audience of industry veterans for the first time. Over the last few weeks, each entrepreneur has been working with a mentor to sharpen business plans and prepare their pitch techniques for an exclusive audience of angel, venture, and investment firms.

"We're committed to addressing the lack of diversity in the tech industry by supporting and fostering programs that provide opportunities for women and underrepresented minorities to thrive in our community," said Michael Schutzler, CEO of the WTIA. "To see half of the startups chosen to compete at this year's First Look Forum with woman founders or managers, as well as the rich diversity in this pool of finalists gives us hope that we're headed in the right direction as an industry."

These are the top 10 startups slated to present their innovations for the very first time at the 2015 WTIA fall First Look Forum:

1.	ACME Farms + Kitchen (Bellingham) – making it simple for families to shop, cook, and eat local. Unique model efficiently moves large amounts of local food and benefits both the small artisan producers and the customer
2.	Ampello (Seattle) – provides speech based device control platform for medical and smart home space
3.	Arkit (Vancouver, BC) – a map-based web app for project collaboration
4.	Awake Labs (Vancouver, BC) – developing Reveal, a wearable device to measure anxiety for children with autism to predict and prevent behavior meltdowns from happening
5.	eSecondOpinion (Seattle) – credible online alternatives to Western medicine; like WebMD, but with personal coaches and advocates
6.	GiveSafe (Seattle) – for 200M city goers that will pass by 2M homeless in the US this year, GiveSafe has created a way to give in seconds without carrying a dollar on hand
7.	JumpStartCSR (Seattle) – a hardware-enabled SaaS integrating Health-Wellness-Fitness (HWF) through artificial intelligence, wearables, and groupware
8.	Pedal Anywhere (Seattle) – brings magic to bike rental. Reserve a bike and they come to you
9.	Subcurrent (Issaquah) – a software bot that removes the pain in collecting and exchanging feedback in key enterprise processes
10.	Syzen Analytics, Inc. (Bellevue) – provides Product Demand insights for Consumer Product Goods (CPG) manufacturers

Previous First Look Forum $10,000 grand prize winners who've continued to see strong growth include Anna Steffeney of LeaveLogic, and Matt Rose of APANA™ (formerly Kirkland Analytics).

WTIA brings together community partners and sponsors from across the industry to present this one-of-a-kind startup forum. Partners and sponsors of this year's fall event include Davis Wright Tremaine, Deloitte LLP, and the NW Innovation Resource Center.

First Look Forum is an invite-only event open to accredited investors and entrepreneurs. To learn more about this and other WTIA events, visit: http://washingtontechnology.org/firstlookforum/.

About Washington Technology Industry Association

Founded in 1984, the WTIA is the unifying voice for 8500 technology companies and 250,000 tech professionals in Washington. We inform and motivate industry, education, and government leaders to help attract and develop the talent and capital required to make our region the leading technology community in the world. For more information visit: http://www.washingtontechnology.org.

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SOURCE Washington Technology Industry Association