UpStart Collective mentions potential new 70,000 sq ft Westside location [Updated]

When it comes to early stage venture scale tech startups, UpStart Collective has rapidly become a hub of activity, events, and coworking for the Portland startup community. But apparently, they have even bigger plans than the current Eastside location. Listening to their last podcast of 2023, UpStart cofounder Josh Carter discusses a potential growth of the footprint — to the tune of 70,000 square feet on the Westside. [UPDATE] More details appear at the end of the original post.

“As far the UpStart [Collective goes], there’s some really positive discussions about taking it from 4,000 square feet to 70,000 square feet, which would be remarkable,” said Josh. “I think we’re slowly… slowly but surely changing that mindset of ‘We’re in Portland. We know how to do it the Portland way,’ which clearly for the last 20 years hasn’t really worked. There’s more appetite to be like, ‘Let’s see how this plays out.’ And I think 2024 is going to be the feeder or the start of that.”

Mark Grimes, cohost of the UpStart Collective podcast, also hinted at the formation of “a fund.”

Then, on the next episode, Josh revealed even more detail. That 70,000 sq ft…? It’s on the Westside — through a partnership with Portland State University. And that’s an “and” not an “or.” Both locations will apparently be available.

“This is going to change the game,” Josh said.

Again, not a lot of details at the moment. Might make sense to subscribe to the UpStart Collective podcast to stay in the loop on this as things play out.

[UPDATE] Josh reached out to provide some additional details for all of you. Sharing what he provided, verbatim so that you have all of the information I have:

“PSU recently got a grant to help our region build innovation hubs. With UpStart Collective already on a trajectory to doing that work, we were approached about helping. Right now we are taking up a small space in the old Business Accelerator location on the westside of town with the hopes of expanding our footprint in the future. However there is nothing set in stone and a lot needs to be worked out. We have always maintained that UpStart Collective will eventually become a central hub for all the support orgs helping Portland startups. We believe that PSU shares in that long term vision.”