ULTREO INC.

Location: Redmond

Website: www.ultreo.com

Founded: 2003

Key Innovation: A small, ultrasonic "wave guide" on the head of the company's power toothbrush excites bubbles created during brushing, creating an ultra clean feel. University of Washington professor Pierre Mourad came up with the concept and Ultreo President and CEO Jack Gallagher helped turn it into a marketable product.

Key People: From 1999 to 2002, Gallagher led Optiva Corp. (now Philips Oral Healthcare), developer of the Sonicare toothbrush. He also had a long career at Johnson & Johnson, last serving as president of the company's Canadian subsidiary.

Measure of Success: Backed by Polaris Venture Partners, Ultreo has completed three rounds of funding. The brush launched Feb. 20. For the first six months, the company targeted dental professionals solely. It had sold more than 30,000 trial units by mid-September, Gallagher says.

Employees: 90

What's Next: Gallagher knows his company is up against larger competitors. "We have a lot of work in front of us in terms of building a great brand," he says. An infomercial is set to be broadcast nationwide this month. Ultreo planned to offer its brush at upper-end retailers and Seattle based Bartell Drugs stores in October.

ENERG2 LLC

Location: Seattle

Website: www.energ2.com

Founded: 2003

Key Innovation: In collaboration with the UW's Department of Materials Science and Engineering, EnerG2 has figured out how to control the microstructure of activated carbon materials, which are used as filters and conductors in a variety of industries. With nanotechnology, "We are able to custom-engineer the carbon to nearly perfectly match the requirements" of a particular industry, says CEO Rick Luebbe. Optimized pore-size distribution results in better energy capture, with applications ranging from hybrid vehicles to military and medical use.

Key People: Luebbe was co-founder and CEO of Seattle-based Hubspan Inc. Chris Wheaton, vice president of finance and operations, formerly served as vice president of North American operations for Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Loudcloud Inc. And Aaron Feaver, vice president of research and development, previously worked as a project manager and engineer at The Boeing Co.

Measure of Success: The company has received research grants from the Washington Technology Center and is partly self-funded. Luebbe estimated profitability could be two years away. "But really what we're focused on today is market development," he says.

Employees: 4

What's Next: "Research and development is always next for us and is always a focus," says Luebbe. "The field of nanotechnology is pretty broad and has been in existence for 15 years at most. ... The problem with the early approaches is they were just too expensive to be commercially viable. ... From the very beginning, we were focused on research that was cost-effective."

SEREDIGM CORP.

Location: Seattle

Website: www.acceleratorcorp.com

Founded: 2006

Key Innovation: UW professors John Harlan and Robert Winn discovered that a family of proteins in the human body, previously thought to be active only within cells, may signal the body to protect itself when the proteins are administered as medicine. Their findings, demonstrated only in mice so far, could help prevent damage to tissues after blocked blood flow is restored during a surgical procedure, as in the case of treating heart attack or stroke.

Key People: Carl Weissman is president and CEO of Accelerator Corp., an investment and development firm that specializes in biotechnology start-ups. Of the six companies Accelerator has funded since 2003, three have "graduated" and spun off on their own with new leadership. "The science is really quite exciting. It's a breakthrough and completely different approach to injuries," Weissman says of Seredigm.