Tag: 2

As you may have — or may not have — heard, Business Oregon is looking to do a halfway report on the Oregon Innovation Plan, a plan designed to guide the current decade of innovation in Oregon. At the same time, we’re eagerly awaiting the insights and findings from the Governor’s Prosperity Council at midyear. And if I’m reading my watch correctly, we might just be in the middle of creating the next Oregon Capital Scan. So I thought it might be interesting to compare those three efforts — Oregon’s 10 year innovation plan (i.e., what we wanted to happen), the most recent Oregon Capital Scan (i.e., what actually happened), and the feedback from the public to the Prosperity Council (i.e., how folks are feeling currently) — to see if there’s anything of consequence.

(Cue up “Been down so long“) The latest Venture Monitor data from PitchBook and the NVCA just dropped. Portland metro: $69.7 million across 15 deals in Q1. Down nearly 65% from Q1 last year. Statewide: $74 million across 23 deals. The lowest first quarter since they started tracking in 2016.

I know, I know. I’ve been talking a lot about Graze and how excited I am but the work they’re doing with Bluesky. But just to prove I’m not offer my rocker — about Graze at least — I wanted to share a lengthy write up on TechCrunch describing what this Portland startup is doing.

I apologize if this is the first you’re hearing of this. JOhn Rokos reached out to let me know about the passing of Ben Kihnel, who was the first person hired — and the second hire overall — when CD Baby relocated to Portland back in the day. He also spent time at local music startup Rumblefish. He was 48.