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Well. The votes are in. The checks are written. And three companies walked away with wins at the annual TiE Oregon Westside Pitch competition.

You’ve probably heard rumblings about this. But now, it’s been confirmed by Waymo, the company whose fleet of autonomous vehicles carry folks around without a driver. Portland is on the list of expansion cities for the service.

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

Requests for Startups | Y Combinator

AI has stopped being a feature and started being the foundation. We’re excited about a new wave of startups rebuilding software, services, and silicon— and pushing AI into the physical world. Several come directly from YC founders sharing what they’re seeing on the frontier.

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

SBIR part 2: How SBIR Actually Works — A Practical Guide for Innovators Who Prefer Substance Over Spectacle | by Surj Patel | Apr, 2026 | Punkworks.com

At its core, SBIR is simply a structured pathway designed to help promising technologies move from concept to commercialization. It is less a labyrinth and more a well-signposted journey — albeit one that benefits from careful preparation and a reasonable tolerance for paperwork.

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

GenAI is raising the stakes in managing a global workforce; trust and speed are emerging as decisive, EY research finds | EY – Global

72% of mobility teams are scaling GenAI and agentic AI to improve speed and consistency, but just 51% of functions trust that their data is accurate to move to the next phase.