SEATTLE —April 8, 2025 —Life Science Washington Institute (LSWI), in partnership with the Washington State Department of Commerce, announced the completion of the second and final year of the SBIR/STTR Matching Fund and Washington Competes awards. Funded through the redeployment of returned Life Sciences Discovery Fund dollars, this initiative awarded $500,000 to 20 early-stage companies across Washington state. The SBIR/STTR Matching Fund and the Washington Competes grant honorees represent promising early-stage startups in Washington state that are focused on developing innovative healthcare solutions that improve lives.
“We’re excited to support this robust group of startups from across the state and grateful to the work they are doing to bring life-changing innovations to market,” said Marc Cummings, Interim Executive Director, Life Science Washington Institute. “This year, we saw a significant uptick in applicants, highlighting the powerful impact of Commerce’s support. Life Science Washington Institute offers additional technical support and resources to all applicants and awardees as they navigate these critical stages of growth.”
These $25,000 grants, along with technical support from LSWI, are propelling Washington-based life science startups’ growth and, ultimately, will transform patient lives with new treatments, medical devices, and more rapid, accessible diagnostics tests. Last year, these programs empowered awardees with the necessary resources to significantly scale their companies and expand Washington state’s capacity to cultivate its rich pool of homegrown life science talent.
Among 2023’s SBIR/STRR Matching Fund Awardees was GMJ Technologies, Inc., the developer of CeMAX UVTM, a capillary electrophoresis separation system to address challenges in protein characterization and reduce cost of development for customers. The grant allowed the company to achieve critical milestones resulting in an additional $2.8M in SBIR funding. Last year’s Washington Competes Awardees included Plurexa, which leveraged the grant to test a new therapeutic approach for the treatment of polycystic kidney disease. Plurexa utilized computational models, biochemical assays, and human mini-kidneys to demonstrate a new lead compound with the ability to contract tubular structures and prevent cyst formation.
2025 SBIR/STTR Matching Fund Awardees
The $25,000 SBIR/STTR Matching Fund Grant, awarded to companies with a Phase 1 SBIR/STTR grant from the National Institutes of Health, supports awardees’ with resources not provided by the federal government.
Companies funded include Orthocare Innovations, which is focused on creating prosthetics and orthotics to restore mobility, improve outcomes, and enhance patient quality of life. “With all of the challenges facing startups, the Matching Funds Grant program has been an incredible boost. Learning what we have from our SBIR Phase I grant, the Matching Fund Grant will allow us to further perfect and do more clinical validation of our technology,” said Dr. Adam Arabian, chief technology officer of Orthocare Innovations. “We are very grateful for the support and believe that the additional funds will greatly improve future funding for commercialization.”
Full list of SBIR/STTR Matching Fund Awardees:
- HaRT3S (Cheney)
- Dotquant LLC (Seattle)
- Kinea Bio, Inc. (Edmonds*)
- MetaboliteDx Corp. (Redmond)
- Mpathic-Empathy Rocks, Inc (Bellevue)
- Orthocare Innovations (Edmonds)
- Photon Biosciences, LLC. (Spokane)
- Precision Quantomics (Spokane)
- Precision Sensing SPC (Edmonds)
- TopoGene Inc. (Seattle)
* Headquarters at time of award selection
Washington Competes Awardees
To select the Washington Competes Awardees, a scientific review was conducted by an esteemed panel of North American investors and life sciences operators, followed by a community review.
Awardee Opticyte is developing a more robust pulse oximetry tool to detect when a patient’s health status is changing. “Funding is challenging and this grant allows Opticyte to refine our device to gather real-time measurements that are accurate for all skin types,” said Lori Arakaki Co-Founder and CEO.
Full Awardee list of WA Competes Awardees:
- A.I. Analysis, Inc. (Bellevue)
- FenoLogica Biosciences, Inc. (Seattle)
- GMJ Technologies Inc (Everett)
- Polybiomics Inc. (Kirkland)
- Equicare Solutions LLC (Seattle)
- LifeLensAR (Seattle)
- Managed Health Connections (Spokane)
- Nimble Surgical (Seattle)
- Opticyte, Inc. (Seattle)
- Piccolo Biosystems, Inc. (Seattle)
LSWI Commercialization Support
All awardees will join the LSWI Commercialization Support Program, which ensures life science entrepreneurs and early-stage companies have access to the mentoring and resources required to start, grow, and flourish in Washington state. By providing access to resources such as a nationwide partnering network, specialized consultants, mentors, grant writing workshops, and networking events, companies have a comprehensive guide to ensure success, work with other emerging companies, and secure funding opportunities. WA Completes Applicants were also offered a tailored gap analysis from Life Science Washington Institute’s expert reviewer panel, providing strategic insights to advance their company.
About Life Science Washington Institute
Life Science Washington Institute (LSWI), “Where Entrepreneurs Come First,” is an essential part of Washington state’s energetic and connected life science ecosystem, and it works to ensure life science entrepreneurs and companies have access to the right resources at the right time as they are founded, grown, and expand. LSWI’s Washington Innovation Network (WIN) Mentoring Program gives promising early-stage Washington life science and global health ventures world class advice and assistance. Since its inception in 2014, 48 graduates of the WIN Mentoring Program have collectively raised over $3.2B. For more information, visit https://www.lswinstitute.org/.
About Life Science Washington
Life Science Washington connects its 500+ members to each other and to funding, talent, partners and essential business services and elevates the industry by promoting policies that strengthen the environment for ground-breaking research and product development that improves and saves lives. For more information, visit https://lifesciencewa.org/.
About Washington State Department of Commerce
Commerce works with local governments, businesses, community-based organizations and tribes to strengthen communities. The department’s portfolio of more than 100 programs and effective public and private partnerships promote sustainable community and economic development to help all Washingtonians thrive. For more information, visit http://www.commerce.wa.gov. For information on locating or expanding a business in Washington, visit choosewashingtonstate.com. Subscribe to Commerce press releases by email. You may unsubscribe at any time.
Full list of SBIR/STTR Matching Fund Awardees:
- HaRT3S
- https://hart3s.com/
- HaRT3s work with counselors and clinicians, clinical practices, health care systems, state and community-based agencies to embrace and enact evidence-based, community-codeveloped ways to reduce substance-related harm and improve quality of life for people who use substances, their families and their communities.
- Dotquant LLC
- https://www.dotquant-tech.com/
- Dotquant specializes in developing RNA-based treatments for cancer, neurological disorders, and infectious diseases.
- Kinea Bio, Inc.
- https://kineabio.com/
- Kinea Bio, Inc. is a gene therapy company specializing in neuromuscular diseases for patient populations with no currently available treatments. We will be generating crucial data that is required by the FDA to submit an application for an Investigative New Drug (IND) to then allow for a drug to go on to be safely tested in human patients in clinical trials. While the project focuses on dysferlinopathies, the data produced will accelerate other discoveries.
- MetaboliteDx Corp.
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/sujatha-srinivasan-phd-23b1b79/
- MetaboliteDX is focused on developing an easy-to-use point-of-care (POC) test for the common condition, bacterial vaginosis (BV) that can eventually be used in home settings. BV is a common reason for women to seek medical care for vaginal symptoms, and misdiagnosis can lead to inadequate treatment. Having a home test can be transformational as it will enable women to test in the privacy of their homes and seek access to care via telehealth options.
- Mpathic-Empathy Rocks, Inc
- https://mpathic.ai/
- Mpathic (Empathy Rocks, Inc.d.b.a.) leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to provide real-time coaching on culturally responsive care and therefore better quality of interactions between health providers and patients.
- Orthocare Innovations
- https://orthocareinnovations.com/
- Orthocare Innovations serves individuals with physical disabilities and their care providers by creating prosthetics and orthotics that restore mobility, improve outcomes, and enhance patient are with precision and clinical efficiency. This grant will allow us to refine our advanced prosthetic ankle design so it can be tested by persons with leg amputations.
- Photon Biosciences, LLC.
- https://photonbiosciences.com/
- Photon Biosciences, LLC. will leverage this award to add additional capabilities to our probe to measure intrinsic protein fluorescence under Ultraviolet. This allows us to reduce costs and increase data collection efficiency as we only need to send the best targets to the synchrotron. We are happy that our equipment can also allow other researchers in the region to benefit.
- Precision Quantomics
- https://precisionquantomics.com/
- By leveraging state-of-the-art proteomic technologies, Precision Quantomics provides comprehensive testing services, products, data, and insights that are critical for quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP) modeling and enables more accurate and inclusive drug testing strategies. This type of physiological data is used to predict drug safety and efficacy across all population groups.
- Precision Sensing SPC
- Precision Sensing, SPC makes a wearable device, the “PRRT Vest”, that enables personalized treatments for cancer patients and extends patient lifespan and quality of life. Over the next year, we will be expanding our on-going clinical trial with the goal of getting our treatment into the hands of patients and their doctors.
- TopoGene Inc.
- https://www.topogene.com/
- TopoGene is developing submicron-resolution DNA arrays for applications in spatial and synthetic biology. TopoGene’s Pixel-seq DNA array increases resolution and reduces costs enhancing spatial onomics tool.
Full list of WA Competes Awardees:
- A.I. Analysis, Inc.
- https://www.aianalysis.com/
- A.I. Analysis, Inc. uses artificial intelligence to make it simpler for radiologists to find subtle disease changes earlier in the disease course, and to characterize those changes quantitatively, which should lead to better patient outcomes. This grant will help us to accelerate the development of our ‘Change Detector’ project, making it easier for us to secure additional funding so that we can get the technology into the hands of radiologists, fulfilling its intended purpose of helping patients.
- Equicare Solutions LLC
- By providing early detection of IV complications, IV-Safe will significantly reduce the burden on healthcare staff and enhance care for underserved and at-risk populations in Washington state. This grant’s funding will specifically help in advancing our FDA regulatory pathway to take IV-Safe into the market.
- FenoLogica Biosciences, Inc.
- https://www.fenologica.com/
- FenoLogica Biosciences provides cutting-edge instrumentation and analytical software tools that drive ambitious next-generation microbial cell engineering and optimization, accelerating innovation in biopharma and industrial biosciences. Our technology empowers customers to fast-track the development of new life-saving medicines and solutions.
- GMJ Technologies, Inc.
- https://gmjtechs.com/
- GMJ Technologies, Inc. (GMJ) creates transformative solutions for biologic testing and proteomics with novel technologies based on next-generation capillary electrophoresis (CE) with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). Recent advances in protein-based biologics such as monoclonal antibody, antibody-drug conjugates, CAR T-Cell, gene editing, mRNA vaccines are enabling breakthrough treatments for multiple human diseases. GMJ’s products enable biomanufacturers to expedite the discovery, manufacturing, and quality control of novel therapeutics for patients.
- LifeLensAR
- https://360sis.wixstudio.io/lifelensar
- LifeLensAR is developing an innovative Augmented Reality (AR) Patient Care Assistant to revolutionize nursing care in healthcare environments. By leveraging AR technology, artificial intelligence, and advanced speech recognition we can address critical challenges faced by health care professionals, especially in intensive care units and other high-stress medical settings to improve patient care coordination and safety.
- Managed Health Connections
- https://managedhealthconnections.com/
- Managed Health Connections provides digital therapeutic interventions for individuals with substance use disorders to predict risk factors affecting substance use. Target audiences are individuals with Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) and Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) to reduce maternal mortality due to overdose and support affected infants.
- Nimble Surgical
- https://www.nimblesurgical.com/
- Nimble Surgical is developing the next generation of catheters to simplify complex cardiovascular interventions. This reduces procedural uncertainty that will shorten the operational time and expand patient access. Nimble Surgical will gather the necessary FDA data for moving closer to commercialization.
- Opticyte, Inc.
- https://www.opticyte.com/
- Opticyte’s VitalO2 will improve accuracy to identify low oxygen levels in vital organs, enabling early recognition of sepsis. This grant will assist on our FDA review.
- Piccolo Biosystems, Inc.
- https://piccolobiosystems.com/
- Piccolo Biosystems, Inc. is developing personalized therapeutics for cancers, autoimmune and CNS diseases, leveraging Piccolo’s novel technology PicoTLC. There were ~570 annual deaths in WA State from multiple myeloma during the period of 2014-2024, up 50% from the decade previous. These funds will enable Piccolo’s clinical proof of concept investigation for personalized multiple myeloma therapy.
- Polybiomics Inc.
- https://www.polybiomics.com/
- Polybiomics does comprehensive live cell analysis which is then augmented by AI-powered, actionable insights. By accelerating the development of effective therapies and reducing the number of scientific instruments required, this will streamline costs, while increasing accuracy and shortening time for introduction of life saving treatments.