Whenever anyone talks about AI in the Portland startup community, Reclaim.ai immediately jumps to mind. They’ve been at this AI thing longer than most. And they’ve been using AI to resolve a common but particularly thorny problem: scheduling meetings. And, more often than not, rescheduling meetings. Now, they’ve released their latest feature, Smart Meetings — but the data they used to inform the feature may be even more interesting. We’ve all been in bad meetings, but good meetings energize us, motivate the team, and lead us to great things. So when we think about the cost of meetings, it’s n ..read more

I always appreciate a good visualization. Even it’s as simple as a good old graph. If you want to get some insights on what’s happening in startups and venture capital financing these days, Crunchbase has collected a series of graphs to give you a better view. Startup investors kept a tight hold on their wallets in the first quarter of 2024, Crunchbase data shows. There were big exceptions — some AI, healthcare, energy and robotics startups, among others, received massive investments — but overall the tone was cautious as the year got started. For 10 more charts and ..read more

The Provenance Chain Network — the Portland startup that uses the Blockchain to track the “provenance” of materials and ingredients in supply chains — has announced a $4 million round of equity based funding. Prior to this, the company had relied primarily on non-dilutive financing options. Until the Series A, PCN had been funded by seed investments coupled with Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) contract awards. In addition, the company creatively leveraged contract financing through LEONID Capital Partners. “Our capital stack enabled us to cross the well-known SBIR ‘valley o ..read more

The Sports Bra — the Portland pub focused on women’s sports — has captured media attention since its founding. But this latest news is only sure to further that trend: Alexis Ohanian, the cofounder of Reddit, investor, and philanthropist, has shared that his 776 Foundation will provide backing for The Sports Bra expansion to other cities. For more on the foundation, visit 776.org ..read more

It’s always nice to see a first year event sell out. And that’s exactly what’s happened with The Wings Conference, a new event designed to “gather and unite Oregon’s most inspiring leaders from all communities, orient them around the most important crisis of our time, and encourage them to lean into the wind, and take flight.” But you may still be able to grab a ticket, if you join the waitlist. Speakers include: Aina Abiodun, President & Executive Director | VertueLab Alando Simpson, CEO | COR Disposal & Recycling Alicia Chapman, Owner and CEO | Willamette Technical Fabricators Cynth ..read more

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According to research by PitchBook, Portland is ranked 49 on the list of top cities in the world for venture capital. (Seattle, for reference, comes in at #13.) If you take it down to US cities, we’re still second to last. But at least we’re on the board, right…? PitchBook created the global VC Ecosystem Rankings to compare how locations rank in overall development and growth rates relative to one another. The framework provides a scoring system for development and growth by assessing the size, maturity and growth rates of a VC ecosystem using proprietary data points housed in the PitchBook ..read more

I caught this last night on GeekWire. And I expected to see a lot more when I got up this morning. But I’m not really finding much. So it kind of became one of those “Did I just imagine that…?” But, nope. It’s real. I’m just not seeing much about it. So let’s get into it. Portland’s Reperio Health just raised $14 million and signed a deal with Uber. The company has raised a total of $20 million, and is looking to raise an additional $10 million or more to support this broader mission. It’s also talking to manufacturers of other biometric devices to eventually expand the suite of tests provide ..read more

I know, I know. You just barely got your taxes done. But I’ve got some other paperwork for you to complete. But this one has the potential of giving you money for your startup. TiE Oregon Columbia River Pitch competition applications are due tomorrow. That right. If you’ve been all “How come the people in Washington County get there very own special pitch competition from TiE Oregon but we here in Multnomah and Clark counties don’t…? When will we have a special pitch competition of our very own…?” The answer is: now. Because this pitch competition is specifically for startups being built in th ..read more

It seems like it was only a few weeks ago that Ecobadlandz walked away with the win — and the Demolicious belt. That’s because it was. Demolicious happens every month now. Which means it’s time for the next round of companies to take the stage in hopes of taking the belt. But who are the challengers…? Ecobadlandz (defending champ) Fanwagn Flow Green Canary Software Perfect Memory AI Social Director Talent Llama Wingman No. I’m not going to tell you what those companies do. That’s why you show up to Demolicious. But you also show up because you get to vote for the winner. See? So much for you ..read more