Month: July 2025

If you’re in the tech or startup world, you’ve no doubt been inundated with the news about Nvidia becoming the first company in history to reach the $4 trillion valuation mark, this week. But what you might not realize is that founder Jensen Huang has very strong Oregon ties.

I always love finding new startups in the Portland area. I usually love finding them before anyone is making much noise about them. But finding them because they just raised some capital is fine too. That’s what happened with Stitch, which just raised a $3 million Seed round.

It’s the largest early stage investor gathering in the Pacific Northwest. And it’s not terribly interesting unless there are companies pitching. So if you want to take part — and take the stage — it’s time to get working on your application. Bend Venture Conference 2025 startup applications are now open.

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

We reached $1M ARR with zero funding – ProjectionLab

Want to know what building in public from zero to a million dollars a year really felt like? NOT like serenely progressing up-and-to-the-right…

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(h/t Mitch Daugherty)

You’ve no doubt heard of vibe coding. Or have not been able to escape the term. But what about vibe biking coding… vibe coding biking… vibe bike coding… bike vibe coding…? Well whatever you want to call it, it’s happening. Here in Portland. On July 16, 2025. All as part of Bike Summer.

In a town that rethought the primary care experience with Zoom Care and urgent pediatric care experience with Brave Care, it stands to reason that Oath — a company focused on improving the experience for outpatient surgical care — would have a Portland footprint.

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

Q2 Global Venture Funding Climbs In A Blockbuster Quarter For AI And As Capital Concentrates In Larger Companies

Global venture funding ticked up year over year in Q2 2025, with a greater concentration of capital into the largest funding rounds compared to a year ago, Crunchbase data shows.

It’s the middle of the year. But it’s also a time of unfortunate layoffs rippling through the community. So it seemed like a good time to throw out a little refresher on ways to get more connected to the startup community, both in Portland and throughout Oregon. If you’re new to town or have been recently impacted by a layoff — or know someone who has — I sincerely hope this helps.

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

Five Things I Learned Building a Coffee Tasting App (Again) – Needmore Designs

Fast forward to today, and I’m rebuilding it at Cuppin.com. What started as a fun way to use a domain we’d been sitting on became an education in how dramatically coffee culture has evolved. Here’s the thing: we’ve been designing for coffee companies this whole time at Needmore. But working with coffee businesses versus being deep in home brewing culture? Totally different worlds.