Buerk Accelerator 2025 Cohort Begins Path to Successful Launch

Six early-stage startups accepted into 2025–26 program ready to grow their businesses through mentorship and milestone-based achievements.

Written by: Charles Trillingham, Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship

Just as the word entrepreneur shares different meanings, so does the word connection. The six student-created startups (detailed below) accepted into the 2025 Buerk Accelerator will each embrace their own definition of those words on their path to launch. They will seek to connect community to experiences and creative work to those in need. They will leverage the power of AI to enhance writing skills and medical education. They will use technological achievements that bring together innovative elements for a safer and more sustainable world. And they won’t do it alone thanks to the newly revamped Accelerator program hosted by the Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship in the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington.

After 15 years of helping nearly 100 student-created companies launch, the Buerk Accelerator (formerly known as the Jones + Foster Accelerator) brings a refreshed approach to incubation. As in the past, committees of entrepreneurs and investors will work directly with each team and guide them on creating and executing a list of milestones over six months. This year, a greater focus will be placed on specific and experiential workshops relevant to each company, as well as a fund to assist with early-stage expenses, and a Demo Day showcase at the conclusion of the program.

“The startups with the best chance to grow over their decisive first six months are the ones who take in the shared lessons and experiences from our wonderful community here in the Seattle area,” said Yuko Oaku, accelerator manager and assistant director at the Buerk Center. “In return, the growth of early-stage startups feeds back into the ecosystem and creates even more opportunity.”

The 2025 cohort will work with dozens of mentors and entrepreneurs this year — including more than who have been helping with the program for at least five years. (Scroll down to learn how you can get involved if you are a founder or new to the community).

The teams also receive support through access to the Buerk Center’s dedicated space at CoMotion Labs’ tech+ incubator at Startup Hall. This location is part of a multi-industry incubator for early-stage startups also in life science, hardware, and climate tech.

The UW Communication leadership consulting program (Comm Lead) also offered expertise in marketing and branding, UX/UI research and design, video and audio storytelling and community outreach to each team for a fourth straight year.

Introducing the 2025–26 Buerk Accelerator Cohort

PreVue.ai | Try the App

PreVue.ai is the “Grammarly for video scripts” — an AI-powered tool that evaluates clarity, tone, structure, and platform fit. It scores and rewrites scripts, then exports directly into editing tools like CapCut or Canva.

UES (PolyForge) | Website | LinkedIn

Universal Extrusion Solutions created a single-step plastic waste recycler named PolyForge that converts shredded plastic and pellets into filament in real time, seamlessly extruding directly into any 3D printer or spooling for later use.

SnapMate | Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

SnapMate is an on-demand marketplace that pairs everyday photographers with customers seeking affordable, high-quality photo shoots anywhere, anytime.

Sutra

Sutra is an AI-learning platform bridging the gap between medical theory and clinical practice preparing healthcare students for real world scenarios.

Touri App | Website | Instagram

Touri is redefining how personal recommendations are saved, shared, and discovered — turning friend-approved spots into your next favorite memories.

Voltair | Website | LinkedIn

Voltair finds wildfire hazards before they spark disasters with persistent and precise flying inspection robots that traverse power lines continuously, enabled by their ability to recharge directly off the power line.

Accelerator Refresh Builds on 15 Years of Success Stories

With more than 60% of graduating startups (of the 97 who have completed the program) in business today, this year’s Accelerator is building on a decade-and-a-half of success stories. However, that work cannot be done at the highest level alone — whether it be in the Accelerator program, or in Buerk Center competitions, workshops, the Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership program, or inside the classroom. Founders, fund managers, investors and those new to the Seattle innovation and startup ecosystem who are inspired to participate philanthropically or by volunteering can begin that process by contacting Buerk Center Director Amy Sallin at asallin@uw.edu.

Support in previous years has helped startups officially launch services to help navigate government websites (RFPGo.ai ’24), be selected to the 2025 NBA Launchpad Cohort, team up with Ticketmaster and Major League Baseball teams (OneCourt ’23), earn a new Phase II SBIR contract and recognition as a Top Innovator in the Tackling Water Pollution Challenge by UpLink, the innovation platform of the World Economic Forum (Aquagga ’20), and have a feature written about them in the Wall Street Journal while securing over $64 million in fundraising (A-Alpha Bio ’17).

Others have earned praise at Davos while winning the UpLink World Economic Forum Zero Water Waste Challenge (Membrion ’16), raised $3M for remote work productivity (LifeAt ’21), and reshaped child care in communities across the United States (BridgeCare ’19). Or they have found themselves on the menus of some of the top restaurants in the Seattle area (NoWhere Foods ’23).

Multiple Accelerator alumni have also been named to the Seattle Inno Under 25 Class by Seattle Inno and the Puget Sound Business Journal, as well as the Forbes 30 Under 30 List, including most recently CathConnect (’22) for its improved catheter medical device and Nanodropper (’19) for reducing wasted medication .

Alumni have also partnered with the NFL and pivoted to masks when the need was high (Strideline ’12), achieved recognition for disrupting the knitting world and fighting for small business apps (Knitrino ’19), established a community dedicated to empowering thousands of young girls (ZGiRLS ’13), made finding scholarships for college easier for more than 13,000 students (Scholarship Junkies ’15), and built a program for elderly residents to make a therapeutic connection to nature through gardening (Eldergrow ’15).

They’ve been featured in podcasts like 100 Diverse Stories (NaturallyContained ’23), sold their companies to bring their product to even more customers around the globe (Perfect Coffee Water ’20), and grew their school tutoring business by leveraging millions of social media users (Kadama ’19).

For more details on the Buerk Accelerator, please visit the Accelerator page at startup.uw.edu, or contact with the Buerk Center at uwbuerk@uw.edu.

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