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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →The 2024 GeekWire Awards’ Deal of the Year category paired four Pacific Northwest startup fundraises with an announced acquisition: Recurrent, Rhythms, Oleria, Treasury4 and University of Washington spinout Icosavax. GeekWire reported funding rounds of $16 million to $33.1 million and an AstraZeneca offer for Icosavax worth up to $1.1 billion. Those figures describe different kinds of transactions, not directly comparable payouts.
What the 2024 Deal of the Year vote covered
GeekWire’s March 27, 2024 article named five finalists for the 2024 GeekWire Awards’ Deal of the Year category. The category recognized transactions described as having significant impact on emerging Pacific Northwest companies. Four finalists had raised funding; the fifth was Icosavax, for which AstraZeneca had announced an acquisition.
The finalists were selected from community nominations with input from GeekWire Awards judges. The article said community voting would remain open through April 12, with judge feedback also contributing to the winner, and that the winner would be announced at Showbox SoDo on May 9. The article does not report who won. GeekWire’s March 27, 2024 finalist announcement is the source for the vote details and the transaction descriptions below.
The five finalists and their reported deals
| Finalist | Deal reported by GeekWire | Business described in the article |
|---|---|---|
| Recurrent | $16 million Series A in January 2024 | Seattle-based Pioneer Square Labs spinout, launched in 2020, providing information and analytics about used electric-vehicle batteries to shoppers and dealerships. |
| Rhythms | $26 million seed round in December 2023 | Workplace analytics platform that connects to company systems and uses AI, including large language models, to analyze patterns in meetings and other work processes. |
| Oleria | $33.1 million Series A in December 2023 | Seattle startup helping companies manage employee access to applications and data, with software intended to help prevent and respond to security breaches. |
| Icosavax | AstraZeneca announced an acquisition in December 2023 for up to $1.1 billion | University of Washington Institute for Protein Design spinout founded in 2017, developing vaccines that resemble naturally occurring viruses; its lead product targeted respiratory viruses. |
| Treasury4 | $20 million raised in September 2023 | Spokane-based company serving enterprises and public-sector professionals with financial and treasury process tools, including data analytics for planning and risk management. |
The months are dated relative to GeekWire’s March 2024 article: September and December refer to 2023, while January refers to 2024. The article does not specify a year in each transaction sentence; the years shown here follow that publication context.
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How to compare the deal sizes
The four reported fundraising amounts range from $16 million to $33.1 million. Icosavax’s figure is different: “up to $1.1 billion” describes the announced acquisition’s maximum stated value, not a completed funding round or an amount established as paid. A funding round and a contingent acquisition value are different transaction structures, so ranking all five by the headline dollar amount would obscure what the figures mean.
On deal type alone, the category contained four financing rounds and one proposed acquisition. On business focus, the finalists covered used-EV battery analytics, workplace analytics, employee access management, vaccine development and treasury analytics. GeekWire’s article also cited Sony’s previous-year Bungie acquisition at $3.6 billion as background, but that was not one of the five 2024 finalists.
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What the article establishes—and what it does not
GeekWire’s announcement establishes which transactions it selected as finalists and how it described the companies and deals at that time. It reports that AstraZeneca announced the Icosavax acquisition for up to $1.1 billion; this article alone does not establish whether the transaction later closed or its final terms. It also does not establish the companies’ present-day products or status, or the award’s eventual winner. The voting dates and event details above concern the 2024 awards and are historical, not current opportunities to vote.
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