Portland startups, open source, and tech news, jobs, and events #pdx
Radious helps users list their home work spaces Airbnb-style, giving people the chance to get out of the house and into another that’s in their neighborhood. Radious also has a B2B focus, working with companies to help their employees get the benefits of in-person collaboration and work-life balance without having to commute to a traditional office.
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After a long drought, there have been any number of “Portland area” companies going public or planning to do so. There’s just been one slight problem. None of them are actually Portland companies. But now there might be one. Vacasa is in talks to go public via SPAC at a valuation of $4.5 billion.
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The big news around the Portland startup community today — and likely for some time to follow — surrounded the latest round of funding for Vacasa. Why? Because the size of the round — at $319 million — was unusual. And the valuation for that round catapulted the company into unicorn territory.
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When it comes to assessing the health of an ecosystem, startup or otherwise, rather than focusing on the financial aspects — like venture capital or exits — I like to take a look at the metrics of the job market. A bunch of open jobs filling quickly? Healthy. Few jobs or jobs remaining open for long periods of time? Maybe not so healthy.
I love seeing Koan starting to get more engaged in the Portland startup community. First, they’ve been out and about running workshops designed to help companies better understand management through Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) — in a really grassroots and Portlandy way. And now? They’ve signed on Portland startup juggernaut Vacasa as a client.
One of the challenges of the Portland startup community has always been momentum. We sometimes have great—at times even fantastic—startup news, like an exit or a major announcement. But more often than not, that happens as a solitary instance. And then it’s some time before the next major announcement. So it’s rare to have a day like today where both Torch 3D and Vacasa have major news.
If there’s one thing that modern day startup existence continues to hammer home for founders, it’s this: talk to customers. Potential customers. Current customers. Past customers. They’re all treasure troves of what’s working and what’s not. But once you’ve heard their feedback, what then? Well, that’s what an upcoming ProductStack PDX gathering is hoping to illuminate.
While I tend to refrain from covering funding announcements, this one seemed like it would be of particular interest to folks. If only as a signal that we should be including a new name when rattling off the impressive startups in our community. You see, Portland’s Vacasa just announced that they have raised $35 million in Series A financing. And that’s the largest round any Portland company has raised in two years. Read More