It’s the inaugural class of Portland Seed Fund. More than 120 applied. Only eight made the cut. But who are the companies that convinced PSF to invest?
Well, today is the day we find out. The companies that made the cut are mostly tech—and one apparel company. Okay. Enough jibber jabber. Who is the first class of the Portland Seed Fund? Let’s take a look.
- 4-Tell provides Amazon.com-esque “people who bought this also bought…” functionality to storefronts far smaller than Amazon.
- Startup Weekend Portland winner AudioName (@audioname) lets you record the pronunciation of your name, in your voice, and share it with your contacts. (See AudioName on Meet the Startup)
- Geoloqi (@geoloqi) offers an API and mobile applications that lets users share where they were, where they are, and where they will be.
- If you want to motivate your customer service team, Hively (@teamhively) provides a simple and entertaining way of gathering customer feedback. (See Hively on Meet the Startup)
- InvestorInMe uses simple, straightforward questions to help determine your risk tolerance for investing—and suggests companies you might like. (See InvestorInMe on Meet the Startup)
- Vizify provides new ways of looking at your resume—by creating intriguing data visualizations.
- Mixing Portland’s love of technology and comics, Zinofile hopes to make a big splash in online media.
Who was the eighth company? Okay okay. It was an apparel company. Not a tech company. But still. They made the cut so I wanted you to know. It was Homeschool Snowboarding (@HMSCHL) creates highly breathable snowboarding outerwear featuring Cocona Xcellerator technology.
Another interesting point? Individual investors comprise a third of the total fund.
“It’s a great day for Portland startup businesses,” said Portland Mayor Sam Adams during the announcement.
I couldn’t agree more.
We’ll be keeping an eye on these folks throughout the program and sharing their stories as they progress.
For more information, visit the Portland Seed Fund, like the Portland Seed Fund on Facebook, or follow the new @pdxseedfund Twitter account.