2026 Dempsey Startup Awards Celebrate Student Entrepreneurship Across the Cascadia Corridor
A record-breaking $92,500 was awarded to student entrepreneurs at the 29th annual Dempsey Startup Competition, capping off a historic year defined by an unprecedented pool of applicants, deep regional influence, and a spectacular spectrum of innovative ideas.
Written by Yanxi Liu, Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship
As the golden hour glow set over the Seattle waterfront, it cast a brilliant light on the region’s most promising student innovators, creators, and changemakers gathered for the Dempsey Startup Awards Dinner and Celebration. The pure joy and excitement of the evening peaked under the camera flashes as BioBead was announced as this year’s Grand Prize winner, with the team holding up their big check with big smiles.
$25,000 BECU Grand Prize — BioBead (University of Washington)
The BioBead team, a duo of a Ph.D. student in civil and environmental engineering and an MBA student, honors the legacy of generations who dreamed of maximizing food abundance and crop quality. By implementing a novel soil probiotic paired with biodegradable technology, BioBead restores soil health to benefit every crop and every meal we eat.
The BioBead team is initiating conversations for partnerships with local growers and farms, demonstrating how their biotechnology can directly optimize lettuce production. Their ability to collaborate with both upstream and downstream enterprises allows them to leverage academic research, accelerate scientific discovery, and drive real-world commercial practice.
Reflecting their strong market positioning, BioBead also won the $2,500 Voyager Capital Best Business to Business Idea Prize, which recognizes a venture that offers an innovative B2B product or platform. The founder shared that the Dempsey Startup community provided a vital network of like-minded individuals, noting that their in-depth feedback gave her the support needed to pursue a long-term vision. She added that this profound sense of belonging and peer support gave her the confidence to leap into entrepreneurship, and that this award will drastically speed up their timeline.
$15,000 WRF Capital Second Place Prize — CPRight (University of Washington)
Addressing the frequent failure to deliver prompt, high-quality CPR, CPRight created a smart feedback patch that provides real-time data on compression depth and pace during cardiac emergencies. The UW team of neuroscience, medicine, computer science, and electrical and computer engineering students along with a medical student from Western University of Health Sciences in Oregon has seen steady momentum this year, having previously won the Grand Prize at the Hollomon Health Innovation Challenge a few months prior.
The team originally started their journey in 2025 with the development of a female anatomical dummy to train CPR users to better assist women. As they discovered that effective CPR instruction needs to transcend gender gaps, they pushed forward to address broader cardiac care disparities, creating an accessible, low-cost device that yields a 2–3x higher rate of correct CPR execution. The team also won the $2,500 Chris & Barbara Petersen Best Health & Wellness Impact Prize, recognizing its significant potential to prevent, diagnose, or treat human health disorders.
$10,000 iSpot.tv Third Place Prize — Kinnex Health (University of Idaho)
What makes the Dempsey Startup Competition so influential is not just its cross-disciplinary nature, but its regional reach. Judges awarded third place to Kinnex Health from the University of Idaho. This team combining applied mathematics, data science, finance, computer science, and medical sciences aims to close the visibility gap in orthopedic recovery. Using a wearable sensor system, Kinnex Health transmits continuous, objective joint-movement data directly to physical therapists, clinicians, and professional athletes. They also took home the $2,500 Amazon Best Consumer Product Idea Prize, highlighting their ability to offer a compelling new consumer product in a well-defined market.
$7,500 Friends of the Dempsey Startup Fourth Place Prize — Alarmable (University of Washington)
Team Alarmable won fourth place by designing a fashionable bracelet with functional alarms as wearable charms for personal safety, filling a massive gap left by modern personal safety tools which are often passive, bulky, and difficult to access. The UW team of computer engineering, computer science, finance, information systems, and entrepreneurship students built an active, one-touch response mechanism. Under their motto, “Always on you, always out for you,” the customizable charm bracelet ensures personal safety is always within arm’s reach.
Additional Prizes Awarded to Dempsey Startup Investment Round Teams
Eight additional Big Picture and Best Idea prizes were also awarded to teams who competed in the Investment Round after advancing from a record pool of 186 participants in the competition’s 29th year.
Judges selected team Osanwe Link for the $5,000 Wilson Sonsini Social Impact Prize, which recognizes a venture that “not only demonstrates the capacity to deliver financial performance but also shows how it makes a positive contribution to society.” The UW team of technology management MBA and business administration students created an AI-powered communication platform that helps nonverbal and speech-disabled individuals be understood in real-world settings. Being understood and being able to communicate is what the team holds deep.
The $5,000 Kathryn Gardow & David Bradlee Climate Solutions Big Picture Prize was awarded to LEAF, which recognizes outstanding innovation in climate mitigation and sustainability. The UW team of environmental and forest sciences, PhD plant ecophysiology, and MBA students addresses seedling mortality through a marketplace platform connecting the reforestation supply chain, offering a Plant Resilience Certification based on eco-physiological testing and data tools.
The $5,000 Glympse Emerging Technology Big Picture Prize went to Adam Biotech, which recognizes solutions leveraging artificial intelligence, machine learning, advanced analytics, automation, or digital twins, including solutions that could transform global manufacturing and supply chains. The UW team of engineering and computer science students is ready to bring a real-time sensor attachment to bioprinters to catch print failures as they happen, accelerating the path to patient treatments.
Clubless Collective won the $2,500 Smukowski Family Best Sustainable Business Prize, which is awarded to a venture that has incorporated best practices toward resource reduction while bolstering profitability and cost containment. The team of UW MBA students created an operating system for events, giving DJs, hosts, and independent creators the tools, licensing, and infrastructure to produce their own experiences and keep their revenue.
The $2,500 eBay Best Marketplace Idea Prize was awarded to Kindred. The team created an AI-powered therapist-matching platform that provides a personalized, conversational experience, surfacing therapists that fit with patient descriptions. The Best Marketplace Idea Prize targets teams that create a commerce or payments platform for communities of buyers, sellers, or businesses.
Team Emerald Dynamics won the $2,500 Perkins Coie Best Innovation/Technology Prize. The UW team of applied physics, aeronautical & astronautical engineering, and mechanical engineering aims to build a multi-waveform airborne communications gateway in a wider airborne mesh network using the first dual-use, human-portable drone capable of intelligence gathering, surveillance, and reconnaissance. This fits the focus of this prize, which honors a venture that has a new application for current technology, a disruptive technology, or an idea that represents a substantial improvement in a product or process.
Team UWEMS won the $2,500 Saara Romu Community Impact Prize, which recognizes a venture that has a direct impact on the lives of women or other underserved communities. The team of bioengineering, biology, and linguistics students built a non-profit EMS agency that improves campus emergency response through rapid on‑scene care, educational programming, and standby EMT coverage.
GridGuard from the University of British Columbia won the $2,500 DLA Piper Best Idea with Global Reach Prize. The cross-disciplinary team of 8 students spanning commerce and engineering created an automated electric fault diagnosis and reporting software for power utilities that cuts the daily workflow of engineers by 40%.
As one competition judge noted, it is always remarkable to watch the student teams evolve throughout the seven weeks of the competition. Some teams recruited business students mid-way through to build out a more robust go-to-market strategy, while others completely rethought how they positioned their product to the public. This year, with AI supercharging applications across industries, students were more prepared than ever to offer highly sophisticated solutions grounded in the real-world.
The competition provides immense visibility and direct access to top-tier investors, accelerating each team’s ability to reach early milestones and secure crucial industry connections regardless of their current business stage. While some entered with a raw prototype, others competed with functional MVPs (Minimum Viable Products), and several have already achieved early commercial success.
College of Engineering Alumni Honored with UW Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year Award
Once student founders scooping the Dempsey Startup and Health Innovation Challenge grand prizes and seed funds through the Buerk Accelerator program, David Younger (Ph.D. Bioengineering, ’17) and Randolph Lopez (Ph.D. Bioengineering, ’18), co-founders of A-Alpha Bio, were honored with the fifth annual UW Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
“It’s truly a full circle moment,” said David. “We were once in your shoes competing in this same competition, and if you can get through this experience and everything you learn from it, you can absolutely build a company.”
Founded through UW’s Institute for Protein Design, A-Alpha Bio harnesses synthetic biology and machine learning to measure, predict, and engineer protein-protein interactions. Since their early Buerk Center engagement, the company has continued to grow, raising over $50 million while remaining grounded in collaboration, innovation, and community impact.
Beyond building a successful company, David and Randolph continue giving back to the UW entrepreneurial ecosystem that helped shape their careers through mentorship, outreach, and supporting future talent. Their journey inspired student entrepreneurs in the room to keep pushing through crucible moments of challenge, uncertainty, and growth.
The UW Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year Award was created to recognize UW alumni that have worked hard to create, innovate, and contribute in a meaningful way to the Seattle entrepreneurial ecosystem. This year’s award was presented by the first-ever winner, Amber Ratcliffe (MBA ’03), who won the business plan competition in 2003 with a biotech company that she co-founded, NanoString Technologies.
The Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship wishes to thank the 33 sponsors who helped make this year’s competition possible, alongside UW alumnus Neal Dempsey. Beginning in 2019, his generous support allowed the competition to expand its eligibility to student teams across Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, and British Columbia, stimulating more student-created startups than ever before.
The 2026 Dempsey Startup Competition set a record for participation for the fourth consecutive year, with 186 applications representing more than 30 academic disciplines. Since its inception in 1998, the competition has engaged more than 7,900 students who have submitted over 2,547 business plans. Over the past 29 years, student teams have earned cumulative prize money totaling just over $2.1 million, pulling from 43 colleges and universities around Washington state and the wider Cascadia region.
For community members and founders inspired to participate or give back, there are opportunities for you with the 2027 Dempsey Startup Competition, the Health Innovation Challenge, and the Buerk Center’s academic year programming. To begin that process, contact Buerk Center director Amy Sallin at email:asallin@uw.edu.
Complete List of 2026 Dempsey Startup Prize Winners
$25,000 BECU Grand Prize — BioBead (UW)
$15,000 WRF Capital Second Place Prize — CPRight (UW & WesternU in Oregon)
$10,000 iSpot.tv Third Place Prize — Kinnex Health (UIdaho)
$7,500 Friends of the Dempsey Startup Fourth Place Prize — Alarmable (UW)
$5,000 Wilson Sonsini Social Impact Big Picture Prize — Osanwe Link (UW)
$5,000 Kathryn Gardow & David Bradlee Climate Solutions Big Picture Prize — LEAF (UW)
$5,000 Glympse Emerging Tech Big Picture Prize — Adam Biotech (UW)
$2,500 Smukowski Family Best Sustainable Business Prize — Clubless Collective (UW)
$2,500 eBay Best Marketplace Idea Prize — Kindred (UW)
$2,500 Perkins Coie Best Innovation/Technology Idea Prize — Emerald Dynamics (UW)
$2,500 Saara Romu Community Impact Prize — UWEMS (UW)
$2,500 Voyager Capital Best Business to Business Idea Prize — BioBead (UW)
$2,500 Amazon Best Consumer Product Idea Prize — Kinnex Health (UIdaho)
$2,500 DLA Piper Best Idea with Global Reach Prize — GridGuard (UBC)
$ 2,500 Chris and Barbara Petersen Best Health & Wellness Impact Idea prize — CPRright (UW & WesternU in Oregon)
