Portland startups, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
Stick with me here. Long story short, this is a good Portland story. So there’s that. But it may get a little twisty and turny. Let’s see… where shall we begin…?
There are any number of amazing Portland startups. (Clearly. That’s why I’ve been writing about them on this blog for nearly a dozen years.) But every once in a while, a startup comes along that becomes the center of gravity — the proverbial Cinderella story — for a generation of startups around here. Cloudability was very much one of those startups. And today, the denouement of that startup story begins, in the best of ways, with an exit. Cloudability has announced an agreement to be acquired by Apptio.
Remember how I said that one of the issues with creating a self-sustaining ecosystem in Portland was the irregularity of liquidity events? Well, I don’t want to get my hopes up, but… we just started the third month in a row with a liquidity event. This time, it’s Janrain getting acquired by Akamai.
Looks like we have another acquisition to talk about today. Portland startup Provata Health has been acquired by StayWell, a division of healthcare giant Merck.
One of Portland’s quietly successful startups, Cedexis, has been acquired by Citrix. I say “quiet” because, like many startups in town, the company kept a fairly low profile, all while providing behind the scenes business-to-business services for a wide variety of brand name customers around the world. And while they were relatively quiet locally, Citrix—who also invested in Cedexis—was well aware of them, as was the entire cloud industry.
While it’s still a rarity, it’s always interesting to see Portland companies acquiring other companies. Especially when they’re other companies in town. We’ve seen it before with Cloudability acquiring RipFog. And now, we’re seeing Jama make a similar move in acquiring Notion.
One of the challenges with the Portland startup community has always been achieving exits that generate capital and connections that can be reinvested into the next generation of companies in our community. So it’s always nice to see an exit. But it’s even nicer when that exit is a company founded by a Portland native who is interested in giving back to the community. That’s why I’m happy to announce that Portland startup Vault has been acquired by Acorns.
One of my favorite things about Portland’s original startup scalerator, Starve Ups, is their laser focus on helping founders successfully exit from their companies. Why? Well among other things, it’s the only way we’re going to generate enough wealth to create a truly self sustaining startup ecosystem. So following fast on the news of Starve Ups alum SpaceView’s acquisition, I’m happy to reveal that another Starve Ups alum—and RAIN Eugene alum—has exited, Manage My Co-op.
What began with Google Glass has ended in a successful exit for ONtheGO Platforms—and the local investors who took a risk on the company before it was clear where the market was going. Atheer has acquired OTG for its team and technology, who were early players in exploring the potential of gestures within virtual and physical environments. Read More
As long as I’ve been banging on a keyboard about this whole Portland startup scene thing, there’s been one company that has been referenced in any Portland startup conversation: Elemental. And now, it’s a startup no longer. Elemental Technologies is being acquired by Amazon Web Services. Read More