Portland Oregon startups, tech, news, events, jobs, and community

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

US AI startups see funding surge while more VC funds struggle to raise, data shows | Reuters

U.S. startup funding surged 75.6% in the first half of 2025, thanks to the continued AI boom, putting it on track for its second-best year ever, even as venture capital firms struggled to raise money, a report from PitchBook on Tuesday showed.

Stumbled across another one. This time, it’s a startup building a solution designed to simplify the overly complicated morass of Medicare — especially for the elderly or those providing care for the elderly. Meet Livmor.

During your time on the Internet, you’ve likely run across the Creative Commons mark, an series of marks designed to indicate that content carries with it the rights for others to use it in certain ways. It’s designed to be a way to make knowledge and objects more easily shareable. Now, the Human Intelligence™ Institute is taking a similar tact — only this time it’s designed to enable humans to differentiate their content from content generated by AI.

As we enter the second half of the year, we start to see our fair share of big pitch competitions like Bend Venture Conference and the Demolicious Champion of Champions. But even in the early going, some big events are already highlighting a variety of startup founders on stage as they vie for investment. Like OEN 2025 Angel Oregon Tech (which serves as more reveal than a pitch competition).

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

VC investment in Portland metro nearly doubles in Q2 – Portland Business Journal

For the first half of 2025, investors have pumped $438.2 million into companies across 62 deals in the Portland metro. This data includes investment in Southwest Washington companies. That’s compared to $205.6 million invested in the first half of last year, also across 62 deals.

I’m always one to be contemplating the potential startup community impact of local corporations. Especially when the economy is forcing those organizations to reduce the size of their workforce. But I’m often challenged to come up with good startup examples that have come out places like Nike and Intel. Now, I’ve got a new one: Fiveonefour.

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

Oregon falls to 39th in CNBC ranking of top states for business – Portland Business Journal

Oregon fell to 39th place in CNBC’s 2025 rankings of America’s Top States for Business, which assess states’ economies, cost of doing business and livability. It’s a new low for Oregon, which ranked 28th last year and 17th in 2017. The plummet did not come as a shock to at least one economic development leader.

A good number of events on the calendar for this week — including the annual summer gathering for TAO and a unique opportunity to vibe code.

I was pretty excited about the PDX Digital Corps when I first heard about it. The brainchild of Ron Bronson, the former Director of Design & Strategic Initiatives at 18F, an innovative government organization that was unceremoniously shuttered by DOGE. But it was never meant to last. By design.