Portland, Oregon, startup news - Silicon Florist

It's been a crazy week in politics, so let's just talk startup stuff. Namely: the first humanoid robot on the street is from Oregon, the Cloudability founders are back 15 years to the day, and a bioscience incubator wants your hustle.LINKS:Remembering Aaron Swartz: Portland Civic Lab hosts free screening of The Internet's Own Boy — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/11/04/remembering-aaron-swartz-portland-civic-lab-hosts-free-screening-of-the-internets-own-boy/Aaron Swartz at 40: The Internet's Own Boy — https://luma.com/xv5vrxzkAccording to Stripe, Portland is in the top 10 "emerging US cities for startup founders" — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/11/03/according-to-stripe-portland-is-in-the-top-10-emerging-us-cities-for-startup-founders/Stripe Atlas data — https://lnkd.in/p/gxCAZ-ixIs your market hiding outside the lead database…? Topsail CHARTER may be what you need — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/11/03/is-your-market-hiding-outside-the-lead-database-topsail-charter-may-be-what-you-need/Topsail CHARTER — https://topsail.app/charterREMINDER: SXSW Pitch 2027 applications are due November 13, 2026 — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/11/03/reminder-sxsw-pitch-2027-applications-are-due-november-13-2026/SXSW Pitch — https://cart.sxsw.com/products/acceleratorappREMINDER: Request your invitation to the Oregon UAS Innovation Showcase — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/11/04/reminder-request-your-invitation-to-the-oregon-uas-innovation-showcase/Oregon UAS Innovation Showcase — https://hub.oregonuas.org/events/83e05f40-e8d7-4de0-9426-b7c846094011First humanoid robot on the street: Agility begins trading on Nasdaq as AGLT — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/11/05/first-humanoid-robot-on-the-street-agility-begins-trading-on-nasdaq-as-aglt/Agility — https://www.agilityrobotics.com/Building a bioscience company in Oregon? Apply for BioBuild by November 20, 2026 — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/11/04/building-a-bioscience-company-in-oregon-apply-for-biobuild-by-november-20-2026/OBI/OTRADI BioBuild — https://www.otradi.org/biobuild/Tokematic: They solved the problem for cloud. Now Cloudability founders take on AI spend. — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/11/02/tokematic-they-solved-the-problem-for-cloud-now-cloudability-founders-take-on-ai-spend/Tokematic — https://tokematic.com/RSVP w/ me — https://rsvpw.meFIND RICK TUROCZY ON THE INTERNET AT…- https://patreon.com/turoczy- https://linkedin.com/in/turoczy- https://bsky.app/profile/turoczy.co- https://siliconflorist.substack.com/- https://pdxslack.comABOUT SILICON FLORIST ----------For nearly two decades, Rick Turoczy has published Silicon Florist, a blog, newsletter, and podcast that covers entrepreneurs, founders, startups, entrepreneurship, tech, news, and events in the Portland, Oregon, startup community. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a startup or tech enthusiast, or simply intrigued by Portland's startup culture, Silicon Florist is your go-to source for the latest news, events, jobs, and opportunities in Portland Oregon's flourishing tech and startup scene. Join us in exploring the innovative world of startups in Portland, where creativity and collaboration meet.ABOUT RICK TUROCZY ----------Rick Turoczy has been working in, on, and around the Portland, Oregon, startup community for nearly 30 years. He has been recognized as one of the “OG”s of startup ecosystem building by the Kauffman Foundation. And he has been humbled by any number of opportunities to speak on stages from SXSW to INBOUND and from Kobe, Japan, to Muscat, Oman, including an opportunity to share his views on community building on the TEDxPortland stage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj98mr_wUA0). All because of a blog. Weird.https://siliconflorist.com#pdx #portland #oregon #startup #entrepreneur

The midterms are making so much noise that it's been a slow news week, but slow isn't empty. The feds bet $1.2 million on bacteria spores, a University of Oregon spinout got acquired, and the Oregon governor's race gets one last startup-flavored look before ballots are due.In this episode, Rick starts with Wildwood, the LAIKA stop-motion love letter to Portland that's pulled in about $20 million so far, and the sad news that the crow statues are coming down. Then it's a podcast with SentoClaw, a Portland startup acting as a security layer for AI agents, a "witness" that checks what an agent is about to do before it does it. VertueLab, formerly Oregon BEST, names PIE alum Leo Ochoa as its new executive director. Then the big one. Rick's final run through the Oregon governor's race, Tina Kotek versus Christine Drazan: what they said about business formation and business growth, how little either said about startups, and the QSBS tax issue that both candidates seem to lean toward fixing. Plus a plea to please vote and walk your ballot to a drop box. Graze, now part of Flipboard, has built an election night tracker for Bluesky. Next comes Caravel Bio, fresh off its Bend Venture Conference win, with a $1,246,984 NSF SBIR Phase II award after a $275,000 Phase I. It uses engineered bacterial spores to hold enzymes, as an alternative to chemical catalysts. Then Azenta acquires SynPlexity, a Eugene company from the University of Oregon's Knight Campus and a Launch Oregon portfolio company. Terms weren't disclosed. Secrets wraps it up with thanks to all 138 patrons, a pen pal sticker club mailing, a beta of the Soqratic chat on Rick's personal site, RSVP w/ me, catch-ups with Jason Bolt of Revant Optics, Juan Barraza of Latino Founders, and Katharine Reinhold of Built Oregon, and a happy Halloween.LINKS:- Magical Trail of Crows winds through Portland in advance of Laika film 'Wildwood' — https://nwexaminer.com/p/magical-trail-of-crows-winds-through- Chatting with SentoClaw — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/28/chatting-with-sentoclaw/- SentoClaw — https://sentoclaw.ai/- VertueLab names Leo Ochoa as new executive director — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/27/vertuelab-names-leo-ochoa-as-new-executive-director/- VertueLab — https://vertuelab.org/- If you haven't submitted your ballot yet, here's my final recap of the Oregon governor's race from a startup perspective — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/29/if-you-havent-submitted-your-ballot-yet-heres-my-final-recap-of-the-oregon-governors-race-from-a-startup-perspective/- Tina Kotek's plan — https://www.tinafororegon.com/oregons-future/- Christine Drazan's plan — https://www.christinefororegon.com/drazan-plan/- Stressed about the midterms…? Election Night 2026 from Graze will keep you up-to-date on Bluesky chatter — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/20/stressed-about-the-midterms-election-night-2026-from-graze-will-keep-you-up-to-date-on-bluesky-chatter/- Election Night 2026 from Graze — https://midterms.graze.social/- Caravel Bio awarded $1.2M NSF SBIR Phase II grant — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/28/caravel-bio-awarded-1-2m-nsf-sbir-phase-ii-grant/- Caravel Bio — https://www.caravel.bio/- Azenta acquires SynPlexity, a University of Oregon spinout — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/30/azenta-acquires-synplexity-a-university-of-oregon-spinout/- SynPlexity — https://www.synplexity.com/- Soqratic — https://soqratic.com- RSVP w/ me — https://rsvpw.me/- Revant Optics — https://www.revantoptics.com/- Latino Founders — https://www.latinofounder.com

BVC handed out $1M to six Oregon startups. In this episode, we cover a 22-year-old PHP bug that sent the internet scrambling to patch, the North Bank Vancouver Tech Crawl drawing twice the crowd it planned for, Jonathan Maus stepping back from BikePortland after 21 years, and Agility cofounder Jonathan Hurst's AMA on X. Then it's down to Bend, where the Bend Venture Conference handed $1 million to six Oregon startups, and Lake Oswego's Permeta took home $420K of it. Back in Portland, NedSpace, the city's longest-running coworking space, is up for sale and looking for its next owner. Graze built Election Night 2026 to track the midterm chatter on Bluesky, Portland Civic Lab dug into campaign finance, and yes, please vote early. Secrets wraps it up with thanks to all 137 patrons and a few good catch-ups.CHAPTERS00:00 - Intro: BVC awards $1M, NedSpace for sale & Agility AMA00:56 - 22-year-old PHP bug threatens WordPress installs02:29 - Vancouver Tech Crawl recap with Dave Barkos03:20 - Jonathan Maus steps back from BikePortland after 21 years05:13 - Agility Robotics co-founder AMA: Digit, margins & growth06:44 - Bend Venture Conference recapped: High Desert resilience09:00 - BVC Winners: $1M awarded across 6 Oregon companies10:37 - Portland's oldest coworking space is for sale: The NedSpace story13:13 - Opportunity for a new steward: What NedSpace could become14:54 - Grays (Flipboard) launches custom Bluesky election night feeds16:01 - PSA: Vote early and drop your midterm ballots18:27 - Portland Civic Lab campaign finance tracking19:30 - SecretsLINKS:Bend Venture Conference shares 2026 winners — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/20/bend-venture-conference-shares-2026-winners/Bend Venture Conference — https://bendvc.comLongtime coworking space NedSpace seeks new owner — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/20/longtime-coworking-space-nedspace-seeks-new-owner/Faris Mubarak on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:7518342422645460992Agility hosts AMA with cofounder and Chief Robot Officer Jonathan Hurst — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/21/agility-hosts-ama-with-cofounder-and-chief-robot-officer-jonathan-hurst/AMA responses from Jonathan Hurst, cofounder of Agility — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/23/ama-responses-from-jonathan-hurst-cofounder-of-agility/Agility on X — https://x.com/agilityrobotics/status/2113359743351960059Stressed about the midterms…? Election Night 2026 from Graze will keep you up-to-date on Bluesky chatter — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/20/stressed-about-the-midterms-election-night-2026-from-graze-will-keep-you-up-to-date-on-bluesky-chatter/Election Night 2026 — https://midterms.graze.social/Portland Civic Lab campaign finance — https://www.portlandciviclab.org/deep-dives/campaign-finance/dataPortland startup and tech events this week (North Bank Vancouver Tech Crawl) — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/19/portland-startup-and-tech-events-this-week-2/FIND RICK TUROCZY ON THE INTERNET AT…- https://patreon.com/turoczy- https://linkedin.com/in/turoczy- https://bsky.app/profile/turoczy.co- https://siliconflorist.substack.com/- https://pdxslack.com

Filming on location in Central Oregon during High Desert Innovation Week and Bend Venture Conference, a rough week and a massive week of Oregon tech news. Intel-alum founded Mueon raises $65M (bringing total funding to $80M) to pioneer modular 3D "cublet" AI compute architecture, cybersecurity and AI identity company C1 (formerly ConductorOne) is acquired by Workday, and the Oregon UAS Accelerator brings its defense and autonomy demo day from Pendleton right to Big Pink in Portland. Let's get into it…CHAPTERS00:00 - Opening thoughts from Bend & episode overview01:59 - Vancouver Tech Crawl reminder (Oct 21 with Dave Barkos)03:10 - Addis Ventures coffee & donuts gathering with Andrew Chen04:00 - Muon raises $65M: AI "cublets" & 3D modular chip architecture07:09 - Workday acquires Portland-rooted cybersecurity startup C1 (ConductorOne)09:39 - Oregon UAS Accelerator demo day comes to Big Pink in Portland11:44 - Secrets Segment: High Desert Innovation Week & Bend Outdoor Works13:39 - Saturday Swimwear wins Bend Outdoor Works demo day13:52 - Patreon thank you & monthly community sticker club14:55 - Catching up with Jason Schneider: Oregon ecosystem builder event preview16:15 - Mitch Daugherty interview on The Long Con (Authentic community building)17:11 - Closing: Take care of yourselves & keep up the good workLINKS:Take the opportunity to crawl your way around the tech community in Vancouver, Washington — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/09/take-the-opportunity-to-crawl-your-way-around-the-tech-community-in-vancouver-washington/North Bank Vancouver Tech Crawl — https://luma.com/northbankcouvecrawl?coupon=SILICONFLORISTAndrew Chan of Atas VC brings The Road Show to Portland on October 23 — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/15/andrew-chan-of-atas-vc-brings-the-road-show-to-portland-on-october-23/The Road Show (request to join) — https://luma.com/ycmlzr0zAtas VC — https://atas.vcPortland startup Mueon raises $65 million Series A with OVF and Intel Capital in the mix — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/15/portland-startup-mueon-raises-65-million-series-a-with-ovf-and-intel-capital-in-the-mix/Mueon — https://mueon.comThe Information: Mueon raises $65 million — https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/exclusive-mueon-raises-65-million-rework-data-centers-put-togetherC1 – formerly known as ConductorOne — to be acquired by Workday — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/13/c1-formerly-known-as-conductorone-to-be-acquired-by-workday/Workday to acquire C1 — https://www.c1.ai/news/press-release/workday-to-acquire-c1-aiOregon UAS Accelerator cohort to take the stage in Portland — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/15/oregon-uas-accelerator-cohort-to-take-the-stage-in-portland/Oregon UAS Innovation Showcase — https://oregonuas.org/showcaseBend Outdoor Worx — https://www.bendoutdoorworx.comBend Venture Conference — https://www.bendvc.com/Chatting with Mitch Daugherty about community — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/14/chatting-with-mitch-daugherty-about-community/Mitch Daugherty on community and connection (The Long Con) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot54ZfmafTkFIND RICK TUROCZY ON THE INTERNET AT…- https://patreon.com/turoczy- https://linkedin.com/in/turoczy- https://bsky.app/profile/turoczy.bsky.social- https://siliconflorist.substack.com/- https://pdxslack.comABOUT RICK TUROCZY ----------Rick Turoczy has been working in, on, and around the Portland, Oregon, startup community for nearly 30 years. He has been recognized as one of the “OG”s of startup ecosystem building by the Kauffman Foundation. And he has been humbled by any number of opportunities to speak on stages from SXSW to INBOUND and from Kobe, Japan, to Muscat, Oman, including an opportunity to share his views on community building on the TEDxPortland stage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj98mr_wUA0). All because of a blog. Weird.https://siliconflorist.com#pdx #portland #oregon #startup #entrepreneur

Leading the week: Latino Founders opened a 15,000-square-foot Founders Hub on the North Park Blocks, with Senator Ron Wyden on hand for the ribbon cutting. Then Pitch Latino Portland where all ten companies took home $2,000 and crowd favorite Hey Doc Clinic took an extra $10,000, non-dilutive and unrestricted. Then the pitch feedback I kept repeating at OEN's Angel Oregon Tech pitch practice: hook them before you introduce yourself, feed us the logo candy, and don't show up and throw up. Plus the Oregon AI Accelerator's second cohort of 14 companies and the eight Bend Venture Conference Growth Stage companies, with me heading to Bend next week. Quick hits: the North Bank Vancouver Tech Crawl (Oct 21), Demolicious Champion of Champions (Dec 3), and Clarence Bethea's What VCs Won't Say workshop. Then the secrets.CHAPTERS00:00 - Oregon startup news intro and quick startup stories04:45 - Latino Founders opens 15,000 sq ft Hub on North Park Blocks06:51 - Pitch Latino Portland moves to the Newmark Theatre08:52 - Hey Doc Clinic wins the $10,000 Pitch Latino grand prize12:50 - 8 Rules for Stage Pitching:18:37 - Oregon AI Accelerator reveals Cohort 220:03 - Bend Venture Conference 2026 Growth Stage finalists21:28 - Secrets LINKS:Take the opportunity to crawl your way around the tech community in Vancouver, Washington — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/09/take-the-opportunity-to-crawl-your-way-around-the-tech-community-in-vancouver-washington/North Bank Vancouver Tech Crawl — https://luma.com/northbankcouvecrawl?coupon=SILICONFLORISTDemolicious Champion of Champions 2026 tickets are now on sale — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/05/demolicious-champion-of-champions-2026-tickets-are-now-on-sale/Demolicious Champion of Champions tickets — https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/31863486/demoliciouschampion-of-champions-portland-mcmenamins-mission-theaterLatino Founders share insights on Latino Entrepreneurship Week on KGW — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/06/latino-founders-share-insights-on-latino-entrepreneurship-week-on-kgw/Latino Entrepreneurship Week — https://www.latinoentrepreneurshipweek.com/Pitch Latino Portland 2026 is in the books. Who took home the big check…? — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/09/pitch-latino-portland-2026-is-in-the-books-who-took-home-the-big-check/Hey Doc Clinic — https://www.heydocclinic.com/Latino Founders — https://www.latinofounder.com/Pitching your startup soon…? Here's the feedback I kept repeating — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/07/pitching-your-startup-soon-heres-the-feedback-i-kept-repeating/Angel Oregon Tech — https://www.oen.org/2026-technology/Books for Amazon — https://siliconflorist.com/2021/02/03/what-do-i-mean-when-i-say-that-your-startup-story-should-be-books-for-amazon-lets-let-jeff-bezos-tell-it/Oregon AI Accelerator launches second cohort — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/06/oregon-ai-accelerator-launches-second-cohort/Oregon AI Accelerator — https://oregonaix.com/Bend Venture Conference finalizes Growth Stage slate for 2026 — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/05/bend-venture-conference-finalizes-growth-stage-slate-for-2026/Bend Venture Conference — https://www.bendvc.com/FIND RICK TUROCZY ON THE INTERNET AT…- https://patreon.com/turoczy- https://linkedin.com/in/turoczy- https://bsky.app/profile/turoczy.bsky.social- https://siliconflorist.substack.com/- https://pdxslack.com