Welcome back to another Startup Radar, where we highlight up-and-coming early stage startups across the Seattle region.

This time we’re spotlighting founders working on digitizing golf scorecards, automating port operations, developing protein sequencing hardware, and tackling e-commerce returns.

Read on for brief descriptions of each company — and a pitch assessment from GPT-powered “Mean VC,” which we prompt to offer both positive and critical feedback.

Check out past Startup Radar posts here, and email me at taylor@geekwire.com to flag other companies and startup news.

Barkie

Founded: 2025

The business: Sports tech startup aiming to digitize scorecards for golfers. The goal is to preserve the traditional experience on the course while giving golfers advanced analytics after their rounds. Barkie is developing social features within its app and is launching next month.

Leadership: CEO Dane Renkert was a sales leader at Docugami, Komiko, and Ben Kinney Companies. He’s also a competitive golfer who placed 13th at the 2009 World Long Drive Championships. His former Docugami colleague Zubin Wadia is a technical advisor.

Mean VC: “There’s something charming about modern tech wrapped in the polite culture of golf — your timing’s smart, too, with golf booming post-COVID. But digitizing scorecards isn’t exactly a deep moat, and Arccos, Hole19, and 18Birdies already live here. The social angle could be your wedge in, but it needs to be more than ‘Strava for golfers’ if you want retention after the novelty fades.”

Gatein

Founded: 2025

The business: Software to help ports track containers using automation and AI-powered computer vision technology. The company is initially targeting small and medium-sized ports that it says have historically been excluded from being able to automate port operations. Gatein is bootstrapped and recently began working on a site in Europe. 

Leadership: CEO Bernardo Mendez-Arista is a longtime product leader with stints at Amazon, Volley Automation, RRAI, and Yaskawa Motoman. Co-founder and CTO Michael Pivtoraiko also worked at Volley and previously started two logistics tech companies.

Mean VC: “Smart to go after small and mid-size ports — they’re often overlooked, yet desperate for modernization. But port operators move slow, and convincing them to adopt computer vision and AI is more about trust and track record than flashy tech. If you can show real savings and keep integration friction low, you might quietly build a very sticky business.”

Primary Bioscience

Founded: 2023

The business: Early stage biotech startup developing a protein sequencing device. The company is stealthy for now but its website describes the business as a “comprehensive proteomics platform” for multi-biomarker screening. Primary Bioscience graduated from the Creative Destruction Labs’ Vancouver program earlier this year.

Leadership: CEO Stacy Anderson most recently spent three years at Roche as a protein engineering scientist. She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Mean VC: “Proteomics is white-hot, and if your device can actually accelerate multi-biomarker screening, the upside is massive. But ‘comprehensive platform’ is vague, and stealth mode works better when people already know you’re dangerous. The science background is strong, but the key question is: are you a tool company, a data company, or a pharma play pretending to be a device?”

Return Stack

Founded: 2025

The business: A “reverse logistics” startup that helps online retailers process and restock customer returns. It uses computer vision and AI agents to authenticate, grade, and resell returned items. The startup recently opened its first warehouse in Indianapolis to process returns. 

Leadership: Founder and CEO Mayank Sharma spent more than a decade at Amazon, where he led teams working on last mile logistics and returns. Co-founder Maria Pavlovskaia was an engineering leader at Amazon and Uber. 

Mean VC: “Reverse logistics is messy, costly, and growing — which makes it exactly the kind of boring problem that could be a monster business. Having ex-Amazon leadership is helpful here, but you’ll need to prove your tech handles real-world chaos, not just demo videos. The first warehouse is a good start; now show you can scale ops without your gross margins vanishing into the void.”