Portland Oregon startups, tech, news, events, jobs, and community

A major downtown real estate player is stepping into venture funding, an end-of-an-era championship pitch night, and Portland’s startup activity is firing on all cylinders heading into the holiday season.

In this episode, Rick highlights Mitch Daugherty’s annual roadmap for backing local small businesses (with and without spending money), recaps demo days from Oregon Startup Center and Oregon UAS Accelerator, breaks down Big Pink owner Jeff Swickard’s investment into Tigard-based cellular imaging startup Aricelli Bio ($4.5M round), previews the 2026 Demolicious Champion of Champions showdown at Mission Theater, and covers Nik Kolov’s new free Mac tool, Infinity.

Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:

Silicon Florist watch party · Luma

It’s Friday evening. You’re wiped. But you’re still in the mood for something entertaining. Well, unfortunately, this ain’t it. But it is an opportunity to join folks from the Portland startup community for a little watch party — all from the comfort of your own keyboard.

Following any part of an AI answer down its own side road without losing your place in the main answer can be difficult. Even with something like Instinct that does a pretty good job of linking replies. But, it could be easier and better. For sure. That’s the idea behind Infinity, a free AI app for Mac.

It’s Friday the 13th. What could go wrong…? (Don’t answer that.) I just wanted to provide a quick reminder that every Friday evening around 9:00PM Pacific Time, a bunch of us gather together virtual watch party from the comfort of our own keyboards to watch the latest episode of the Portland startup news weekly recap. And it would be great to have you there.

Fundraising is the easiest way to increase the number of “No”s you hear on a daily basis. You know that. But if you’re tired of collecting those rejections, Martin Tobias of Incisive Ventures has launched a new offering called Investor Match. Which is expressly built to tell you which investors are more likely to add to your collection of “Yes”s.

Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:

Your Company’s Attachment Problem

Underneath my desire to keep everything “okay” was a drive to avoid being abandoned. My actions were all weighed down by a misguided agenda of rescuing. If I saved, I mattered. And if that didn’t work, I could fall back on my black-belt-level skills in dissociation.

If you track on what’s happening in downtown Portland, the name Jeff Swickard will be familiar. The new owner of Big Pink (and a number of other buildings downtown) has been on a buying spree to help rejuvenate the Rose City. And while snapping up buildings is indeed helpful, you may have been hopeful that some of that capital hit closer to home. Maybe he’ll start investing in startups, you thought…? Well, wish granted. Swickard has become an investor in Araceli Biosciences.

Ever wish you could talk product and growth with actual humans…? Well, here’s an opportunity. It’s like the comment section of Lenny’s Podcast and Lenny’s Newsletter come to life IRL. The Lenny’s Newsletter community is holding a meetup in Portland tomorrow, Friday, November 13, 2026. And it comes with free drinks courtesy of PostHog.