A panel of judges made up of top local VC and Angel Investors declared Kirkland Analytics the $10,000 grand prize winner at WTIA’s Fall First Look Forum, held in Bellingham on Wednesday night. Kirkland Analytics, based out of Spokane, is a plug-and-play, real-time water management system that allows companies to save over 20 percent on water use and manage water like inventory.

In addition to being a presentation showcase, First Look Forum is also an in-depth coaching program. We match each company with mentors to prepare them to pitch to angel investors or VC firms. “Before meeting with mentors our product was a mile wide and inch deep,” said Matt Rose, VP Engineering and Co-founder at Kirkland Analytics. “With their guidance we were able to pivot Kirkland Analytics to a laser focus.”

In the top five, Kirkland Analytics was joined by VanAir Design, MetricStory, Proactive Immune Sciences Corporation, and ReactMobile. Here’s a look at the top 12 companies that joined us to present in Bellingham:

1. Anera (Vancouver BC) – securely manages telecom service provider’s virtualized wireless core network (SDN / NFV) with hybrid and cloud deployments, which results in an OpEx business model.
2. Fun-Da.co (Portland) – created a mobile media engine that connects parents to what their children are playing and watching to create enriching stories and toys that truly engage and educate children.
3. Kirkland Analytics (Spokane) – is a plug-and-play, real-time water management system that allows companies like Costco to save over 20 percent on water use and manage water like inventory.
4. MetricStory (Seattle) – MetricStory turns numbers and graphs from Google Analytics into an easily read narrative report, and allows people to understand how their web businesses are performing.
5. Proactive Immune Sciences Corp (Vancouver BC) – offers healthy individuals the opportunity to bank their immune cells, giving them a chance to improve their outcomes should they contract cancer or other immune related diseases.
6. PurpleWall (Seattle) – is an online platform enabling residents to have their dream room remotely decorated by an interior designer who complements their style and budget.
7. React Mobile (Seattle) – transforms the way people call for help in an emergency by providing security and peace of mind at user’s fingertips when it matters most.
8. SpeechAce (Seattle) – SpeechAce is an app that teaches correct American English pronunciation and eliminates accents one word at a time.
9. Sqoop, Inc. (Mercer Island) – attracts business journalists throughout the country by saving them hours currently spent repetitively searching for story ideas and filtering PR pitches.
10. TruMedicines (Sammamish) – is a secure mobile image recognition service that verifies the authenticity of a pharmaceutical.
11. Unoceros (Seattle) – turns mobile devices into data-center-like instances for use in high performance computing by rewarding device owners for participation.
12. VanAir Design (Vancouver BC) – developed an enhanced interior door that allows air to flow through it while shut, and maintains visual and acoustical privacy in an aesthetic manner.

WTIA partnered with NW Innovation Resource Center to host this event. For more questions about applying for First Look Forum next spring, email Claire Dillow at cdillow@washingtontechnology.org