‘Uber for ocean intelligence’ startup wins Bellingham Angel Investors pitch competition

Astraeus Ocean Systems, an ocean data startup that plans to field a fleet of autonomous boats to gather and analyze information on environmental conditions, won the Bellingham Angel Investors’ Startup Pitch Competition. 

The contest — awarding a total of $10,000 in prize money — was anticipated by its organizers to likely be the first annual pitch event highlighting entrepreneurs in Northwest Washington state. Another objective: spur the visibility and effectiveness of a startup ecosystem in the region tucked between higher-profile activity in Seattle to the south and Vancouver, B.C., to the north.

A total of a dozen entrepreneurs pitched their business concepts in front of a panel of judges and an audience of about 50 people on Saturday, Nov. 2 at Whatcom Community College in Bellingham. The 12 finalists were selected from applicants that were required to have founders in Whatcom or Skagit counties.

“The support and enthusiasm has exceeded our expectations, as we had nearly 50 teams apply,” said Gene Kishinevsky, BAI board member and a competition judge. 

An Uber for ocean data

Bellingham-based Astraeus, which took first place honors as well as tied for the “audience favorite” award, is an early-stage startup founded in 2022. 

CEO Alex Parker said current ocean observing systems can’t keep up with changes and the demand for good data. He envisioned a globally distributed fleet of solar-powered autonomous surface vessels (ASVs), available 24/7, that can be rapidly dispatched as needed to gather and share sensor data. All, he said, at a lower cost than current ocean data collection methods.

“Think Uber for ocean intelligence,” Parker said.

Parker said Astraeus has already built three ASVs in house and will be conducting trials in Puget Sound this year, with the hope of starting its first paid pilots in early 2025. 

As to the $6,000 first prize and $1,000 audience favorite money (the latter, he said, to be split with another finalist that tied Astraeus in last-minute voting)?

“There’s an instrument that we’ve been wanting to outfit one of our vessels with so that we can conduct searches for derelict fishing gear in Puget Sound,” he said. “The device we’re wanting to buy is just under $7,000. So we’ll get to throw it on and get to the water a little bit faster, start our pilot project a little bit sooner.”

From mental health to poker table tech

Like Astraeus, the other 11 finalists were from Whatcom County with all but one (Lynden’s Synapse Software) based in Bellingham. Ten of the 12 startups were tech related. And — perhaps to no one’s surprise — “AI” was frequently heard in pitches. Other winners:

• Tiny Steps, Big Leaps made the case for a child care and learning center that hopes to open in March 2025 with an emphasis on the underserved birth through age 3 group. It took the $3,000 second-place prize.
• Geo Garden Club showed an app to help “serious gardeners” understand what plants to grow, and when to grow them, with a crowdsourced hyperlocal database focused on food. It shared the Audience Favorite prize with Astraeus.

The remaining finalists:

• Synapse Software previewed Slingshot, a no-code business process automation platform for small and mid-sized businesses that don’t have a “small army” of developers.
• CalmVista presented plans for a multiple-platform app providing “a VR solution to your anxiety” inside worlds containing calming environments.
• BiddyBot detailed its AI-based “conversation platform” to intelligently match home improvement contractors and customers with a planned 2025 alpha launch.
• A-Team ABA described its mental health services, including applied behavior analysis and a therapeutically applied role-playing game, for those with autism and other developmental disabilities. 
• SelfReflect demoed its pre-launch app promising fast and affordable all-in-one motion tracking for VTubers (online personalities who use animated avatars). 
• Catch-Me discussed its mental health and wellness app for youth that therapists and individuals can use to augment treatment.
• Automated Poker Tables promoted its advanced poker tables with machinery that reduces the time between hands dealt to increase casino revenue, dealer tips and player satisfaction. 
• Build Unclouded outlined project management software for owners of small and medium-sized commercial buildings for improved workflow and communication with contractors. 
• PIOs Fire and Life Safety Education pitched a service business designed to provide communications services for volunteer and tribal nation fire departments, improving digital outreach on protection from wildfires.

Raising area activity and awareness

Bellingham Angel Investors, the group behind the competition, was founded in 2005. It said that in active years, its investments are in the $2 million to $5 million range. BAI accepts pitch applications for angel investment monthly and does both local (Pacific Northwest/British Columbia) and — since the beginning of the pandemic — national investments.

BAI’s Kishinevsky said the competition was “the first step in stimulating the local entrepreneurial community.” Finalists didn’t just get to spend 12 minutes each on stage presenting their companies and answering judges’ questions. As part of the event, startups also had the opportunity to take part in coaching and workshop sessions in advance.

The competition also helped bring entrepreneurs together with other startup players, a longer-term objective of BAI.

“I think that what we’re learning is that we have to be more engaged with the startup community at an earlier stage,” said Jim Thompson, a BAI leader and original member. “And that’s what this exercise is about today.”

It’s a regional startup landscape that includes some enterprise software and consumer apps, but also a growing contingent of companies with agriculture, maritime, energy and clean/green technology applications in part owing to the resources in Northwest Washington state.  

Rhys Faler, one of the competition judges, is the current driving force behind Innovate Bellingham, an initiative that in recent months has become more active in hosting or promoting regular networking socials, meetups and coffees for innovators in the region. Faler is also organizing a Bellingham Startup Weekend in January which he thinks could fit well into what may be an annual cadence for the pitch competition.

Faler said that the wide variety of entrepreneurs represented on stage made competition judging “fairly difficult.” But he said the judges had agreed to evaluate the finalists simply on “how good of a business idea this is.”

“I think that’s shown through with the top two teams who won checks, something that’s big and scalable and then something that’s very local and just a great business idea that we need in our community,” Faler said.

Ultimately, BAI’s Thompson hoped some startups will take the next step.

“I hope that we find at least a couple of companies that are worthy of being considered for an angel investment,” he said. “And I hope all 12 of them succeed in some way. As an angel investor, I always want that.”