Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:
The End of Buy-and-Hold: Why Venture Capital Needs Portfolio Liquidity Management by @ttunguz
But the investment landscape has fundamentally shifted beneath our feet. Time to IPO has tripled from four years two decades ago to 12-13 years today. M&A exits, once a reliable four-year path to liquidity, now stretch seven to eight years on average. The math has become untenable for traditional fund models.
Startup Cafe @ The Hub » Calagator: Portland’s Tech Calendar
Startup Cafe is a great opportunity for founders and startup partners to connect, learn, and level up. Free coffee and donuts throughout the event! Feel free to drop by for 10 minutes or stay the entire time…all are welcome!
AI is already creating a billionaire boom: There are now 498 AI unicorns—and they’re worth $2.7 trillion | Fortune
AI is minting billion-dollar startups faster than the dot-com era, with 100 unicorns born in the last two years, including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Scale AI. They join a total of nearly 500 AI companies with valuations of $1 billion or more, according to CB Insights. And the gold rush is far from over.
Vision for an AI Center of Excellence in the Pacific Northwest
For the past couple of years, TAO has been working on a number of initiatives that would contribute to the formation of an AI Center of Excellence in Oregon. I have written about these efforts here in previous Executive Briefs. Earlier this summer, I was asked, “What would a regional AI Center of Excellence, leveraging the strengths of the Pacific Northwest, look like?”
Allen Institute for AI lands $152M from Nvidia and NSF to lead national AI project – GeekWire
The five-year initiative positions Ai2, as it’s known, as a key player in building the technological backbone of U.S. artificial intelligence, while expanding its sources of support beyond its historic reliance on grants and philanthropy from the estate of late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
SheerID adds former Ruby CEO, Updata operator to board – Portland Business Journal
Kate Winkler, who spent three years at the helm of Ruby before the company quietly sold in late 2022, was named to the seven-member board. Winkler is an operating partner with Updata Partners, a Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm. Winkler, who is based in California, is also a board member for Portland software company LegitScript. Her board work is keeping her connected to the Portland tech community.
More Oregon startup stories
