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

Just stumbled across a little drama in the startup-o-sphere that impacts local company ZoomInfo. Apparently, well-funded startup 11x was sharing that ZoomInfo was one of their customers — including a logo on their site. Problem is ZoomInfo wasn’t a customer. And now they’re taking legal action.

In my recent rant on pitch competitions, you may have noticed one caveat: I directly referenced models like Pitch Black and Pitch Latino as events we should all be seeking to emulate. And now — which I’ve been eagerly awaiting after hearing rumblings that this was in the works — I’m happy to announce that we have a new pitch competition that does exactly that. Meet I Hope You Get Rich.

Yet another opportunity to raise the question, “In a world of remote first companies, what even is a Portland company anymore…?” Regardless of where companies are “headquartered,” I’ve always tried to track companies that have regional offices here, because we happen to have regional offices that have significant impact on our community. (Intel, for example, has more employees here than anywhere else, even though it’s a regional office.) So I’ve been tracking on Mercury — a banking service designed to be startup friendly — ever since I caught wind that it had a Portland presence. That’s why I’m sharing today’s news: Mercury just raised $300 million at a $3.5 billion valuation.

If you run in tech circles, I’m sure you’re already well aware of the Department of Government Efficiency’s sudden shuttering of 18F, an innovative digital services agency at the federal level that helped other government agencies — wait for it — improve public service and efficiency through technology. Yes. As stupid as that is, luckily, we have some of those amazing 18F folks right here in our own Portlandy midst. And now, they’ve found a new outlet for their expertise. Meet the Portland Digital Corps.

One of the more established pitch competitions in the region is on the lookout for up and coming venture scale startups in Washington County. It’s time for TiE Oregon Westside Pitch applications, again. But you better hurry. They’re due on March 21, 2025.

Boy oh boy. The weeks fly by. It seems like just a couple of weeks ago, the Metro Region Innovation Hub hosted their inaugural Startup Cafe @ The Hub… What’s that…? Oh. Oh it was two weeks ago…? Oh. Oh I see. Well, whatever the case, it’s time for another one.

Ampere Computing, the company founded in 2017-ish (the press release says 2018 but other parts of the site say 2017) by former Intel president Renée James — a University of Oregon alum — with a significant Portland area footprint, has announced that SoftBank Group will be acquiring Ampere for $6.5 billion in an all cash deal.