The finalists for Deal of the Year at the 2026 GeekWire Awards include two major acquisitions, a landmark licensing deal, a big funding round, and a rare IPO — collectively representing billions of dollars in transactions.
This award, presented by Wilson Sonsini, recognizes the transactions that made the biggest impact in tech and innovation in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. The Deal of the Year finalists this year are Kestra Medical Technologies, Omeros, Protect AI, Statsig, and Temporal.
Now in its 18th year, the GeekWire Awards is the premier event recognizing the top leaders, companies and breakthroughs in Pacific Northwest tech, bringing together hundreds of people to celebrate innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit. It takes place May 7 at the Showbox SoDo in Seattle.
Seattle startup Lexion was the Deal of the Year winner last year after being acquired by Docusign for $165 million, a successful exit for the AI-powered contract management company, which got its start in 2018 at the Allen Institute for AI in Seattle.
Continue reading for information on Deal of the Year finalists, who were chosen by a panel of independent judges from community nominations. You can help pick the winner: Cast your ballot here or in the embedded form at the bottom. Voting runs through April 10.
Statsig was acquired by OpenAI for $1.1 billion in an all-stock deal announced in September, in a surprise exit for the Bellevue, Wash.-based product experimentation platform. The deal also landed Statsig CEO Vijaye Raji, a former Facebook engineering leader, in the newly created role of CTO of Applications at OpenAI.
Founded in 2021, Statsig powers A/B testing, feature flagging, and real-time decisioning for major companies. It had raised more than $153 million, including a $100 million Series C round at a $1.1 billion valuation just months before the acquisition, with backing from Sequoia and Madrona. Statsig now forms the nucleus of OpenAI’s new Bellevue engineering office.
Kestra Medical Technologies raised $202 million in its IPO in March 2025, pricing shares above the expected range in a strong debut for the Kirkland, Wash.-based maker of wearable cardiac devices. Shares began trading on the Nasdaq at more than 30% above the IPO price.
Founded in 2014, Kestra makes devices that detect and respond to sudden cardiac arrest. Its IPO marked the end of a long dry stretch with no traditional IPOs for Seattle-area tech companies since 2021.
Omeros Corporation, a Seattle-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, struck a deal worth up to $2.1 billion with pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk for zaltenibart, its clinical-stage drug candidate in development for rare blood and kidney disorders. Announced in October, the agreement gives Novo Nordisk exclusive global rights to develop and commercialize the drug.
Founded in 1994 by orthopedic surgeon Gregory A. Demopulos, who still serves as CEO, Omeros went public in 2009 and recently received FDA approval for its lead drug Yartemlea, the first therapy for a rare post-transplant complication.
Protect AI, a Seattle startup that helps companies secure machine learning systems, agreed to be acquired by cybersecurity giant Palo Alto Networks in a deal announced in April. Terms were not disclosed, but sources familiar with the deal said it was valued north of $500 million.
Founded in 2022 by former engineering leaders at Amazon and Oracle, Protect AI serves Fortune 500 companies across finance, healthcare, and government. Palo Alto Networks said the deal will bolster its ability to secure the new attack surfaces created by AI.
Temporal raised $300 million in a Series D round at a $5 billion valuation in February, doubling its valuation from just months earlier. The Bellevue, Wash.-based company builds open-source software and a cloud service that helps companies run complex workflows reliably — what it calls “durable execution.” The rise of AI agents has amplified demand for its platform, with customers including OpenAI, ADP, and Block.
Founded in 2019 by co-founders Samar Abbas and Maxim Fateev, who previously built an internal orchestration engine at Uber, Temporal has raised $650 million to date, with backing from Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, and Madrona.
Astound Business Solutions is the presenting sponsor of the 2026 GeekWire Awards. Thanks also to gold sponsors Amazon Sustainability, Baird, BECU, JLL, First Tech and Wilson Sonsini, and silver sponsors Prime Team Partners.
The event will feature a VIP reception, sit-down dinner and fun entertainment mixed in. Tickets go fast. A limited number of half-table and full-table sponsorships available. Contact [email protected] to reserve a spot for your team today.
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