Portland startups, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
While the size of today’s Seed Rounds seem more like Series A rounds from a few years ago, it’s nice to see a Portland startup taking advantage of the trend — and dry VC powder — to fuel their growth here locally. This morning, I got word that DeepSurface has raised $4.5 million. Participating investors include Differential Ventures, which led the round; Osage Venture Partners; Ginossar Ventures; and Peninsula Ventures.
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We don’t make a big deal of it, but Oregon punches above its weight for innovative fintech expertise. From the Simple diaspora to current players like Bumped, Expensify, and Sila, there are a lot of local folks rethinking finance and the infrastructure that runs it. And it’s always nice when other regions recognize how compelling that talent is. Like Lincoln Savings Bank which has recently hired former Simple exec and Seed cofounder Ryan Hildebrand to head up innovation.
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The Portland Seed Fund, one of the most active investors in Seed stage companies in the state, has been working to invest in early stage startups for more than a decade. But they’ve had a couple of meaningful firsts recently. All thanks to ESS, a startup in their portfolio.
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Earlier today, I shared the news that Portland startup Reclaim.ai had raised a $4.8 million Seed round, with some notable investors in tow. So notable, as a matter of fact, that a number of other writers took notice.
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What was once a stealth startup has revealed its company and focus in grand fashion. Meet Vancouver, Washington, based Embedded, who just announced that they have secured $20 million in Seed funding from a who’s who of name brand venture funds.
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In order to sustain a vibrant startup investor ecosystem, funds need to start, find success, and raise more funds. And should that success cause them to grow beyond their previous stage focus, then new funds need to start to backfill the gaps. So as many of the early stage funds in the Pacific Northwest achieve success and move downstream to Seed and Series A investments, it’s nice to see new funds stepping up to take the opportunity to support pre-Seed startups. Like the new Startup Haven Venture Fund.
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While Auth0 is a Seattle company, they do have a distinct Portland tie. You see, the Portland Seed Fund was one of the company’s early investors. And today was a big day for everyone involved, given that it was just announced that Okta is acquiring Auth0 for $6.5 billion.
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There are any number of ways to tell a startup’s story. But no format sparks more debate than the pitch deck. What topics should it cover? How many slides should it contain? How much time should I spend on design?
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Sorry, this one kinda snuck up on me. Portland Seed Fund regularly takes the opportunity to invite a bunch of startups to come hang out and practice their pitches to the PSF partners. This time, it’s taking place at the Portland State Business Accelerator.
In some industries, the idea of “closing” can be the worst possible outcome. But in the world of startups, closing is often a very good thing. And the latest news from the Portland Seed Fund is no different. The Portland Business Journal just revealed that PSF has just closed their third fund to the tune of $13.9 million.