Portland startups, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
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.
While the term unicorn has lost a bit of its luster as of late, it’s still an impressive milestone for any company to achieve a $1 billion valuation, but especially for a northwest company to do so. That’s why it was interesting to see Portland Seed Fund portfolio company Auth0 announce its Series E raise, which officially gives it the unicorn moniker.
Lately, it seems there’s been an uptick in sizable funding rounds and private equity investments in the state. With 2018 being a record setting and landmark year, in that regard. But in order to get to those multimillion dollar rounds — or liquidity events — companies have to first get out of the gates. And if they’re seeking seed funding in Oregon, that doesn’t seem to be happening at a rate on par with other states. According to Crunchbase.