Portland Oregon startups, tech, news, events, jobs, and community
Portland startup and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
It’s getting to be that time of year again. The time when the competitions heat up for startups looking to impress venture capitalists. Okay. Maybe that’s actually all year.
Whatever the case, it’s time for the Bend Venture Conference where startups will be vying for $175,000 in funding. Read More
When it comes to technology, health care, ironically, tends to fall closer to the rusting edge than the bleeding edge. But that shortcoming is a boon for startups that can figure out how to use today’s technology to solve health care’s problems—both for providers and patients.
One such company is Portland-based SweetSpot, a startup that seeks to help diabetics and their care givers better manage health information by providing a central resource for blood glucose tracking and reporting. And today, Sweetspot is one step closer that helping fix its own corner of health care, thanks to a round of seed funding. Read More
It’s always nice to hear about Portland startups securing capital. It’s downright exciting when you hear that a local open source startup is getting funding.
And that’s the case today with Puppet Labs—the makers of a leading open source server configuration management and provisioning solution—as they announced that they have closed a $5 million second round, led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Read More
This week, Second Porch announced that they have secured $1 million in investment led by the Oregon Angel Fund.
During a SXSW panel on startups in smaller metropolitan areas, I spent some time talking about how venture capital was a bit more difficult to come by in towns like Portland. But I’ll be darned if some awesome Portland startups—like Urban Airship, ShopIgniter, and ActiveTrak—aren’t working to prove me wrong. And now? Another Portland startup has joined the list.
This week, Second Porch announced that they have secured $1 million in investment led by the Oregon Angel Fund. Read More
Today, ActiveTrak announced that they had secured their first round of funding. And while an amount was not provided, they did provide details on where the investment will be channeled
One of the most interesting boostrapped companies I’ve followed during my tenure here on Silicon Florist has to be ActiveTrak (the startup formerly known as GadgetTrak). And honestly, I always saw them as a dark horse around here.
They have a compelling consumer-focused product that helps people recover stolen laptops and mobile phones. They get major media coverage more than any local startup I know. And they continue to pitch as hard as any company—they’ve presented at OEN’s Angel Oregon three times—I’ve seen. And yet, they couldn’t really seem to land funding. Until now. Read More
Urban Airship – which provides infrastructure for mobile messaging services like Apple Push Notifications for iPhones – has secured $1.1 million in funding, led by True Ventures.
[HTML2]It’s not often that I get to break news. So I always tend to cherish the few moments that I do. And this one is special for any number of reasons. One, it’s a Portland startup in the mobile space. Two, they’re receiving a respectable amount of funding to continue doing what they do, faster. Three, it’s a company that’s less than a year old pulling in seven figures of cash. And four, these are people I’m lucky enough to see almost every day.
That’s a lot of reasons to be happy. So I couldn’t be more ecstatic to finally announce that Urban Airship—the company that supports the mobile development community by providing infrastructure for mobile messaging services like Apple Push Notifications for iPhones—has secured $1.1 million in funding, led by True Ventures. Read More
Portland-based JanRain—a company that started as an OpenID play and has since morphed into the way to simplify distributed Web logins across the board—announced that they had closed Series A financing to the tune $3.25 million. The round was led by DFJ Frontier. Especially considering this round has been rumored to be in the works since this summer.
It’s always a good day when a Portland-area startup gets funding. And by that reasoning, today was a very good day. Portland-based JanRain—a company that started as an OpenID play and has since morphed into the way to simplify distributed Web logins across the board—announced that they had closed Series A financing to the tune $3.25 million. The round was led by DFJ Frontier. Especially considering this round has been rumored to be in the works since this summer.
So how did the market react? Well, there was quite a bit of coverage, so let’s take a look. Read More
For every Oregon company that has had success attracting capital for their pursuits—Jive and AboutUs come to mind—there are hundreds who struggle with where to begin and how to engage the Angel or VC community.
It’s a difficult issue. And no one seems to put his or her finger exactly on the problems or how to solve them. Some say buck up and play the game. Others say the game needs to change. People talk about staying in Portland and figuring out how to bootstrap. People talk about leaving Portland in order to get funding.
Start talking to entrepreneurs and side project startups in Portland—or throughout the Silicon Forest in Oregon—and the conversation will inevitably turn to one topic: venture capital or the lack thereof.
Read More
When it comes to Oregon companies competing for Angel funding, I’m always going to pull for the Web-based apps. It’s just kind of how I am. And those folks are definitely starting to turn heads, whether it’s at speed pitching events like the Big Idea Bash or through competitions like Angel Oregon.
In 2009, Portland-based WeoGeo has come closest to winning top prize at these competitions. Earlier this year, they were robbed walked away as the runner up for the Angel Oregon event.
Now, another Portland startup, Zapproved, is looking to claim the prize at the first Willamette Angel Conference. Read More
Welcome to the “How many questions can I ask in one headline?” edition of Silicon Florist.
Just a reminder that the submission form for “Startup Now” will close today at 11:59 PM.
How about you take a few seconds to provide some details about one, two, or 12 of your current side projects? Take a moment to reflect on what you could do with $250,000 in the next year, to help bring your product or idea to fruition.
Don’t think you’re worthy? Not interested in getting funding? I’d still encourage you to take a few moments to respond. Really, what could it hurt?
The point is this: rising water floats all boats. And our state treasurer needs convincing that we have a viable entrepreneurial environment filled with viable startups just waiting to take form. What’s more, if these folks can pull off putting together a $100 million fund for Oregon startups, it’s going to help all of us.
Come to think of it, I don’t even care if you live in Oregon right now. If you’d be willing to relocate to Oregon to start your business, you’re more than welcome to fill out the form, as well.
I’m looking forward to seeing you get some money to bring that idea to fruition. And if we can all work together to help the state understand the, um, state of our startup scene, it just might happen.
More than 50 startups—in addition to those who presented at the event—have provided details on how they would reinvest $250,000 in funding in Oregon over the next year. Why haven’t you?
How would you use that money? Complete the Startup Now form.
