As the Inland Northwest startup ecosystem matures, the year ahead is expected to build off what has been a strong 2025, says Bill Kalivas, co-founder of LaunchPad Inland Northwest LLC.

His optimism stems from an expected increase in regional collaboration, a potential rise in investors in the area, and a growing network of resources for early-stage companies and entrepreneurs.

The new InnovateINW Initiative, to be facilitated by LaunchPad, will be a driving force behind the expected increase in collaboration within the region’s startup and innovation scene.

“We’re going to expand our ability to connect researchers with the business community, the executives, the investors, the commercialization ecosystem,” Kalivas says.

In September, just months after retiring from Google, Kalivas began performing outreach to the area's universities. From University of Idaho’s Center for Intelligent Industrial Robotics, which is offered at North Idaho College, to Gonzaga University’s Institute for Informatics & Applied Technology, to Eastern Washington University’s machine learning, mechatronics, and robotics offerings, the Spokane region is full of potential, Kalivas explains.

“Regionally, we have a lot of innovation that we haven’t really connected to the business community and the startup commercialization program that we run to see how we can help them commercialize and get some of this technology out into the world,” he says. “We’re just beginning.”

The InnovateINW Initiative will focus on enhancing key industries, including clean technology, life science, artificial intelligence, robotics, advanced manufacturing, and cybersecurity.

“We have a lot of experience and companies and people in all those industries here locally,” he says. “It’s time to connect them all together and start working on specific projects to spin out new companies and new products for existing companies.”

Tom Simpson, CEO of Ignite Northwest and president of the Spokane Angel Alliance, echoes Kalivas’ positive outlook for the Inland Northwest startup ecosystem.

“People continue to find this region as an attractive place to start and grow a business,” Simpson says in the Journal's November episode of Elevating The Conversation.

While there was a bit of an investment downturn in 2022-2023 — or a “hangover” from the highly active 2021, as he puts it — funding has since turned around.

An objective of Simpson’s in the year ahead is to ensure there’s enough capital in Spokane to support early-stage companies.

“Once a company has revenues and a team and a suite of products, they can really go anywhere in the country to find capital. The world is awash with capital,” Simpson says. “But not necessarily at the very early stage. So, as I look forward to next year and beyond, I just want to make sure that in Spokane we have the capital resources to provide to those entrepreneurs at the very earliest stage.”

Kalivas expects to see some expanding of the region’s investor pool moving forward.

“I'm starting to see a lot of excitement for investors getting away from the coastal cities mostly and looking more inland at places like Inland Northwest and Boise,” Kalivas says. “I think a lot of investors are tired of chasing the same deals as other investors, so they're looking at where are the new, unknown hot spots for innovation.”

Additionally, he says he hopes to see more individuals consider investing in startups, rather than solely investing in traditional retirement accounts and the stock market. By investing in Inland Northwest startups, the entire community benefits, including through the potential creation of additional jobs, he says.

“I think you're going to see our organization locally, and also other cities, start to look at ways to allow people to invest in startups and seed funding — that early, early stage — which investors don't always love because it's risky, but with the right commercialization programs that offer mentoring and long-term stability, they're mitigating their risk.”

In addition to the InnovateINW Initiative, LaunchPad facilitates the Springboard Startup Program, which provides hands-on training and mentoring to early-stage companies in the region, helping them gain traction and become investable.

“Part of the reason we launched the InnovateINW Initiative was to expand Springboard,” Kalivas says. “We want to create specific work groups regionally, where researchers, entrepreneurs, business organizations that have subject matter experts in different fields, basically all get together and focus in these specific industries.”

Kalivas says he hopes to increase the number of startups that go through the program in 2026.

“We’ve helped 50 companies in the last 2 1/2 years with different types of services that we offer: connections to capital, coaching, mentoring, getting ready for funding,” he says.

Kalivas additionally says he hopes to add a few more people to the Springboard Startup Program to help with coaching.

“In 2026, I would love to help 100 startups,” Kalivas says.

He adds that outside of the startup services offered through LaunchPad, other regional resources for startups include Simpson’s Ignite Northwest and Spokane Angel Alliance, as well as Health Sciences & Services Authority of Spokane County, and Cowles Ventures.

Two new resources, specifically for the life science industry, launched earlier this year, adding another level of optimism in the startup sector.

Evergreen Bioscience Innovation Cluster has recently opened a 5,000-square-foot business incubator on Spokane’s North Side, at 10220 N. Nevada, that’s designed to give early-stage bioscience companies flexible access to office and wet lab space.

In downtown Spokane, another business incubator, the Riverside Biotech Hub, has opened at 502 W. Riverside below a Numerica Credit Union branch. The nearly 8,000-square-foot shared space is designed to support startups, entrepreneurs, and researchers.

Resources aside, the Inland Northwest region itself helps create optimism around the potential growth in the startup scene, Kalivas says.

“I’ve had people from Seattle come to Spokane and repeatedly say, ‘This reminds us of Seattle in 1985. You have all of the elements plus the quality of life, and it’s more affordable here,’” Kalivas says.

Simpson says it’s crucial that the Inland Northwest community does what’s necessary to support these new companies.

“As a region, we need to really pay attention to that lifecycle of businesses to ensure that as the PotlatchDeltics do get acquired and maybe move out of Spokane like other companies have over the years, that we are refueling that life cycle of businesses with new startups and new innovation, and make sure that as a community that we're putting a lot of resources into ensuring that Spokane and our region are building and creating and supporting and funding new businesses,” Simpson says.