Portland startups, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
According to Crunchbase, Oregon was ranked 24th in the US in terms of Series A and Series B venture capital raised during the second and third quarters of 2021 — with a total of $119 million raised. They also noted that this marked an improvement of 88% over the same time period, last year.
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According to Portland Inno, a publication of the Portland Business Journal:
Cascade Seed Fund II has completed its first close and the team can start investing. The first fund was $6 million, after fundraising was cut short by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The managing directors, Julie Harrelson and Robert Pease, have completed all the new investments that can happen for Fund I.
For many founders, one of the most difficult parts of fundraising is figuring out who to pitch — and how. And while many funds provide details on their existing portfolio and their thesis, the particulars of how and why they make decisions remains rather opaque. Now, Oregon Venture Fund is making the effort to provide more transparency in that regard.
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Definitions change. And culture changes. Which means that communities have to deal with those changing dynamics. But sometimes, those changes mean that folks lose the thread. And lose track of the reasoning behind why definitions and roles exist.
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It’s one of those weeks in Seattle. Founders’ Co-op announced their new fund. And now, Pioneer Square Labs has revealed Fund II, a $100 million fund focused on early stage startups in the Pacific Northwest.
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While Auth0 is a Seattle company, they do have a distinct Portland tie. You see, the Portland Seed Fund was one of the company’s early investors. And today was a big day for everyone involved, given that it was just announced that Okta is acquiring Auth0 for $6.5 billion.
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While Founders’ Co-op is headquartered in Seattle, the fund regularly puts money to work in Portland. So when I hear the news that they have more money to put to work, I always remain hopeful that they’ll continue that trend of investing here. Because Founders Co-op has $50 million to invest from their latest fund.
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One of the most rewarding things about covering the Portland startup community is the opportunity to watch things come full circle. Sometimes, that’s extremely positive. Like watching founders start something, build something, and successfully exit something. Sometimes, it’s less positive. Like being around for both the beginning and the end of an effort, successful or otherwise.
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More and more venture capital funds are embracing the concept of “scouts” to help them with deal flow — and its a win win for folks who are in close contact with startups but aren’t necessarily investing. The funds get access to a wider spectrum of companies. And the scouts get compensated for finding startups that are on thesis for the funds.
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For all of the weirdness of 2020, some things in Oregon remained the same. People still built interesting companies. And local investors still supported them. Among them, Cascade Seed Fund wound up adding a dozen companies to its portfolio.
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