Portland startups, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
I’m always saying that we have a super interesting fintech cluster here in town. Thanks, in part, to the diaspora from early challenger banks like Simple. And a recent hire — by a company helmed by one of the cofounders of Simple — lends credence to that assertion. You see, Chris Chen, formerly CTO of Wyre, has joined Sila as CTO.
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Listen as Portland’s Shamir Karkal, cofounder of fintech startup Sila and cofounder of Simple, discusses the current state of fintech with Nasdaq.
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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In case you haven’t been tracking, former Simple cofounder Shamir Karkal has been quietly building another fintech startup here in Portland. But after today, it might not be “quietly” much longer. You see, that company, Sila, just raised $13 million.
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The once flourishing Portland startup fintech community has had some unfortunate setbacks, as of late. Acorns, Simple, and Azlo are no longer here. And while companies like Expensify and Bumped continue to grow, we haven’t seen a great deal of activity of up and comers, lately. Until now. Created by startup fintech veterans with more than 60 years experience as a team, we now have a new Portland fintech startup to watch: quin.
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As mentioned previously today, Portland’s Simple is being shuttered by acquirer BBVA ahead of PNC completing the acquisition of BBVA USA properties. Not only did the move adversely impact many of our fellow Portlanders and the Portland fintech community — as did the similar shuttering of Azlo today — but it also marked the end of a banking story of David and Goliath proportions. Where Goliath won.
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Earlier today, Portland’s Simple — one of the companies that helped inform this generation of the Portland startup community — announced that they were shutting down. But unfortunately, they’re not the only Portland fintech affected by the BBVA USA sale to PNC. Azlo — often referred to as “Simple for business banking” — which also has a significant Portland presence and was part of the BBVA-PNC deal, is being shut down, too.
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Among the other bad news from yesterday, I got a number of pings from folks to let me know that Simple, one of the startups that helped put the Portland startup community on the map, is being shut down. There has not be an official communication in this regard, but there has been discussion online about it.
Granted, I’ve been a Simple customer for a long long time. (Full disclosure: They’re a PIE alum.) But if I wasn’t, this is the kind of thing that would inspire me to become one. During this Memorial Day weekend, if you use your Simple card to buy food from a local Oregon restaurant, they’ll reimburse you $20.
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By now, we’ve all heard the buzz about Blockchain. And cryptocurrency. But what are the other potential applications of this technology? Blockchain startup Sila — a company cofounded by Shamir Karkal, the cofounder of Simple — wants to help answer that question — and other questions you might have. And they’re hosting a webinar this week to do just that.