.

Category: Northwest

Attend Venture Northwest from the comfort of your own desk

For more information, visit Venture Northwest. Or, if you’re sold and want to attend, make the choice as to whether you’re attending in person for $495 or following along by the warm glow of your laptop with Venture Northwest Live for $250.

Rick Turoczy on October 28, 2009

Venture Northwest is one of the premier opportunities for Silicon Forest startups to pitch their ideas in front of a room of would-be investors. Arguably, there’s no better regional event around here for gaining access to that type of crowd. It’s like DEMO or the TechCrunch 50 for the Pacific Northwest. For as good as the event is, however, it’s always suffered from one particular problem: you had to actually be there.

But now, thanks to the magic of streaming media and the wonderful world of the Web, anyone, anywhere can attend Venture Northwest virtually. Introducing Venture Northwest Live. Read More

Nothing ventured, nothing gained: 5 Portland tech startups to pitch Venture Northwest crowd

Rick Turoczy on October 7, 2009

Ah, fall in Portland. Time for the leaves to change, the nights to get a little more chilly, and the startups to pitch potential investors for the capital that will help those entrepreneurs make it through the dark and rainy months.

And there’s no better place to pitch a room full of potential shareholders than Venture Northwest, the annual gathering of institutional investors, investment bankers, and some of the most promising startups in the Pacific Northwest. Read More

Venture Northwest 2008: AboutUs, Collaborative Software Initiative, Revelation, SplashCast make the cut

Rick Turoczy on October 8, 2008

Venture NorthwestMy favorite thing about entrepreneurs? They’re scrappy.

So today, it came as a pleasant surprise that—even in light of the not-so-hot economic environment—our plucky local organization of entrepreneurs, the Oregon Entrepreneur Network (OEN), has chosen to unveil the presenters for the upcoming Venture Northwest 2008.

“The companies presenting at the conference represent some of the most innovative and creative companies from across the Northwest,” said John Hull, chair of the OEN Venture Northwest 2008 and managing director at OVP Venture Partners. “Some of these companies are seeking their first institutional venture financing while others have already received first rounds of capital from top-tier venture firms. In total, this list of companies represents well the broad spectrum of investment opportunities that flourish in our region”

Not only that, but I’m happy to report that there are some Web startups—and at least one open-source-focused company—on the list.

And four out of 14 isn’t bad.

So which of the Silicon Florist crowd got a nod to present?

Interested in who else is presenting? The Oregonian‘s Mike Rogoway has a complete list of the 14 Venture Northwest presenters with links.

OEN’s Venture Northwest is the premier forum for new and emerging investment opportunities in exciting companies from Oregon, Washington, and throughout the Pacific Northwest. This annual conference draws institutional investors and investment bankers from across the western US who are interested in the emerging companies that the Northwest has to offer. Companies that have presented at Venture Oregon have raised over $1.3 billion in venture capital since 1996 and over $68 million in angel investment.

For more information, visit OEN’s Venture Northwest.

Confidence in Web 2.0 isn’t waning, but confidence in the Valley may be

Rick Turoczy on March 18, 2008

There’s a great deal of Chicken Little reporting occurring today about how the Web 2.0 sky is falling. Why? Because apparently, according the Dow Jones, the investments in Web 2.0 technology in the Silicon Valley are down, year over year.

Silicon Valley remains the hotbed of Web 2.0 activity, but the hipness of start-ups with goofy names is starting to cool in the face of economic reality.

Not shocking news, I realize. But I think they buried the lead.

Even the venerable Wall Street Journal puts the news in the very last sentence of their piece:

“It’s clear that the real growth in the Web 2.0 sector is happening outside of the (San Francisco) Bay Area,” says Jessica Canning, director of global research for Dow Jones VentureSource.

And there’s the real story. That’s the real news. Not that the investments in the Valley are down, but rather, that the investments elsewhere are up. In some cases, way up.

In our own Pacific Northwest, for example, the number of Web 2.0 oriented deals more than doubled. And the amount of the investment? It’s up 400% from $35 million in 2006 to $140 million in 2007.

That’s about as opposite of “waning” as I can come up with.

And we’re not alone.

Investment amounts in New England doubled, Southern California nearly tripled, New York metro nearly tripled, Southeast doubled, Mountain more than quadrupled, and North Carolina, alone, tripled.

In fact, the only area besides the Valley that went down was Texas.

So has Web 2.0 peaked? I honestly don’t know.

From what I’ve seen, it’s going pretty strong here in the Silicon Forest. And it’s clearly picking up speed in other sectors.

Maybe the better question is: Has Silicon Valley peaked?