It’s that time of year. Portland Startup Week is back May 11–16, 2026. And with more than 50 events on the calendar already and the schedule continuing to grow hour by hour, it’s sure to be a week chockfull of events to engage with your startup community peers. Plus all of the folks who’ve come to town to get a feel for what’s happening in the Portland startup community.
Relaunched in 2025 with more than 80 events, Portland Startup Week has quickly become a vibrant stage for celebrating and inspiring our startup community. Driven by founders, builders, and champions across the region, the week brings together gatherings that spark learning, connection, and momentum. Every event is designed to lift the ecosystem, highlight what’s possible, and remind us why Portland is an incredible place to build.
Josh Carter and the Upstart Collective are running it again this year. Big Pink (the Upstart HQ at the US Bancorp Tower) is the unofficial center of gravity, but events are everywhere — Sentinel Hotel, Kiln, NedSpace, CENTRL Office, the Reser, the Vancouver Innovation Center, and more.
Rather than recap the whole thing, I’ll just run through a few of the major events you should have on your calendar to seed your week — but that shouldn’t prevent you from thumbing through the entire calendar for other interesting opportunities.
- Kickoff Party presented by Merrill — Mon, May 11, 5:00PM at Big Pink.
- Oregon Innovation Showcase — Mon, May 11 (3:00PM) and Tue, May 12 (8:00AM), Sentinel Hotel
- Town Hall at NedSpace — Tue May 12, 10:25AM
- Beaverton Startup Challenge Demo Day at the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts — Wed, May 13, 10:00AM
- Startup World Cup Portland Regional at UpStart — Wed, May 13, 1:30PM (the global competition with the $1M Silicon Valley finale)
- PDX AI Demo Night at Kiln — Wed, May 13, 6:00PM
- Oregon AI Accelerator: Demo Day at Big Pink — Thu, May 14, 1:00PM
- Demolicious at UpStart — Thu, May 14, 5:00PM
- Closing Party presented by SVB — Fri, May 15, 5:00PM at WonderLove
There’s also a smattering of coworking opportunities throughout the week at CENTRL Office and UpStart. Plus a whole bunch of AI stuff in a variety of flavors. (Which I intentionally didn’t share so that you feel even more of an urge to go check the full schedule 😉)
Or maybe, host something yourself…? The schedule is still filling in. If you’ve been thinking about hosting a meetup, panel, workshop, demo, happy hour — submit it. Anyone can host. The audience is already showing up. Submit at portlandstartupweek.com.
The full live schedule lives at Portland Startup Week 2026. Keep an eye on it. New events keep landing.
