GeekWire Awards: Sustainable Innovation finalists create, destroy and transform to protect the planet

The Sustainable Innovation of the Year finalists for the 2025 GeekWire Awards sound like they could be wizards or minor deities. They create, transform, destroy and remove — all in the name of saving the planet Earth.

These companies are creating technologies to generate clean energy from smashed atoms and natural gas, blasting weeds into oblivion, spinning crab shells into clean chemicals, and sucking carbon dioxide gas out of industrial exhaust flues.

The finalists for this category are Carbon Robotics, CarbonQuest, Helion, Modern Hydrogen and Tidal Vision.

Last year’s winner was Electric Era, a Seattle-based EV charging technology startup.

Continue reading for details on each of this year’s finalists, and vote here or below.

Carbon Robotics

Carbon Robotics is the stuff of dandelion nightmares. The ag-tech company is building weed-killing machines that use artificial intelligence to recognize unwanted plants that it zaps dead with a laser.

The Seattle startup recently released a robotic weeder dubbed the LaserWeeder G2, which is up to two-times faster, as well as lighter and more modular than its original device. It’s building the machine at a new manufacturing facility in Eastern Washington.

Since launching in 2018, Carbon Robotics has helped growers weed more than 250,000 acres, eliminating over 15 billion weeds across 100-plus different crops. The company has raised $157 million to date.

• Story: Carbon Robotics releases new line of laser weed-zappers for more types of farms and budgets

CarbonQuest

CarbonQuest wants to take a bite out of carbon emissions at its source — before the greenhouse gases escape into the environment and heat up an ever-warming planet. 

Launched in 2019, the Spokane, Wash.-based startup is building devices that are paired with smaller natural gas operations such as gas boilers, fuel cells and industrial activities to catch carbon. It developed a filter that the startup says can pull out approximately 90% of the carbon dioxide from an emission source’s flue.

CarbonQuest last year raised a $20 million investment round and announced a partnership with Iceland-based Carbfix, a global leader in carbon storage, to team up in deploying technologies that address climate change.

• Story: This Spokane startup catches carbon dioxide at the source, before it escapes to the environment

Helion Energy

Helion Energy is a super-sized operation. It has big-name investors, big-time partnerships and really big ambitions: the Everett, Wash., company is building fusion reactors in which they’re trying to replicate the reactions that power the sun and the stars.

Since launching in 2013, Helion has raised more than $1 billion from investors including OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Softbank. It has a deal with Microsoft in which the tech giant agreed to buy power from a yet-to-be built Helion fusion reactor that’s supposed to start operating in 2028.

The company has been ramping up its internal supply chain manufacturing and doing R&D for customized semiconductors. But Helion — and every other commercial fusion venture — still needs to demonstrate that it can generate energy from fused atoms.

• Story: Sam Altman, SoftBank invest in $425M round for Helion, a Seattle-area startup chasing fusion power

Modern Hydrogen

Bill Gates-backed Modern Hydrogen aims to navigate a less controversial middle path that provides climate benefits while allowing for continued use of natural gas.

The Woodinville, Wash., company has developed reactors that crack natural gas molecules, producing hydrogen for fuel and a product known as solid carbon that has a variety of applications, including as a component of asphalt. The outcome is a fuel that doesn’t warm the planet.

Modern Hydrogen, which launched in 2015 as Modern Electron, has raised about $125 million from investors. It recently announced a partnership with Puget Sound Energy (PSE), a major Seattle-area utility, to seek new customers for the company’s technology.

• Story: Modern Hydrogen and major Seattle-area utility aim for less controversial clean energy fix

Tidal Vision

Tidal Vision is turning discarded crab shells into a valuable and safe industrial chemical, and they’re using an an environmentally friendly, zero-waste process to do it.

The chemical — called chitosan — is something of a wonder molecule and can be used in water purification, to preserve produce, to promote plant growth, as a flame retardant in fabrics, and in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. It offers a safe alternative to toxic chemicals, metals, petroleum products and pesticides used in industry.

Tidal Vision launched in 2015, founded by a former Alaska fishing boat captain. The Bellingham, Wash., company recently raised a $140 million Series B round. It has additional facilities in South Carolina and Texas, with new plants being built in Ohio and Europe.

• Story: Tidal Vision, a company turning tossed crab shells into a green chemical, nets $140M in funding

The GeekWire Awards recognize the top innovators and companies in Pacific Northwest technology. Finalists in this category and others were selected based on community nominations, along with input from GeekWire Awards judges. Community voting across all categories will continue until March 23, combined with feedback from judges to determine the winner in each category.

We'll announce the winners on April 30 at the GeekWire Awards, presented by Astound Business Solutions. There are a limited number of half-table and full-table sponsorships available to attend the event. Contact our events team at events@geekwire.com to reserve a spot for your team today.

Vote here across all categories: Create your own user feedback survey

Astound Business Solutions is the presenting sponsor of the 2025 GeekWire Awards. Thanks also to gold sponsors JLL, Baird, Wilson Sonsini, Baker Tilly and First Tech, and supporting sponsors ALLtech and Showbox Presents.