Seems to be a good week for acquisitions. Autodesk is picking up Portland’s Innovyze for $1 billion. And Portland startup The Wild has acquired a product to add to its repertoire and customer base, Prospect by IrisVR.
Read MoreMonth: February 2021
Autodesk to acquire Portland’s Innovyze at a unicorn valuation
Innovyze isn’t exactly a startup anymore. But when local companies get acquired by Autodesk for $1 billion in cash, it seems like news in which people would be interested.
Read MoreMissouri legislation calls for Office of Entrepreneurship and startup tax breaks
Given that the Oregon 10 year Innovation Plan is top of my mind, I’ve been poking around to see what other states are doing in support of innovation and entrepreneurship. And this proposed legislation for Missouri was interesting for a number of reasons.
Read MoreLogging could be the future of Oregon startups
Okay. Not that kind of logging. The other kind. Dealing with the massive amounts of data trapped in logs in corporate environments, server farms, and the like. And that’s exactly where Portland startup Hydrolix is focused.
Read MoreMore Glory: Learn more about the Portland startup and the Sephora incubator
As I mentioned earlier this month — or as I like to refer to it, pre-pandemic-power-outage — Portland startup Glory has been selected to participate in the Sephora incubator program. Now, we get to hear from Glory founder Alisia Ford about that whole thing.
Read MorePortland kicks Sidewalk Labs’ Replica to the curb
Turns out that the Rose City is having second thoughts about anonymous — yet somewhat still creepy — tracking stuff. Even if it was a project that spun out of Google. That’s right. Portland’s partnership with Replica and Sidewalk Labs has come to an end.
Read MoreFry’s dies
For a time, if you wanted to geek out on hardware or build your own computer, Fry’s in Wilsonville, Oregon, would have been your first stop. But it appears that — like Wilsonville’s Hollywood Video before it — Fry’s is no more. (Also, it’s sadly ironic that the frys.com Website is throwing a 503 error.) For more, visit Ars Technica.
Read MoreLooking to speed up your app development? Portland startup Knapsack wants to help
The promise of object oriented programming was always rooted in the idea of being able to reuse chunks of code, thereby speeding up programming and reducing errors. But as applications get more and more complex, companies are creating their own libraries of objects. And Portland startup Knapsack is interested in helping.
Read MoreVamosVentures selects Portland’s Juan Barraza as a part of its inaugural scout program
More and more venture capital funds are embracing the concept of “scouts” to help them with deal flow — and its a win win for folks who are in close contact with startups but aren’t necessarily investing. The funds get access to a wider spectrum of companies. And the scouts get compensated for finding startups that are on thesis for the funds.
Read MoreLooking for a new take on virtual events? It might be Skittish
If I accomplished one thing during 2020, it was successfully test driving innumerable online meeting and collaboration platforms. I mean, what else was there to do, really? And throughout that time I kept thinking, “Trying to recreate the real world meeting or event dynamic online is only going to result in an uncomfortable and awkward Uncanny Valley situation.” The true winner of the new generation of virtual events, in my opinion, was going to have to come at the problem of gathering virtually in a new and creative way. And with that in mind, Skittish just might be on to something.
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