The Oregon Entrepreneurs Network annual awards are slated for Nov. 18 and the finalists have been announced.
The event is being hosted on the Brandlive platform and the community is invited to host virtual tables or gather for watch parties. Individual tickets go on sale the week of Oct. 11. Each year, OEN gathers to honor founders and startups in several award categories. This year also includes an award called Futureproof, and honors a company that has shown resiliency and adaptability.
This year marks OEN’s 30th anniversary and the group is handing out a 30th Anniversary award that will be voted on by the audience. This award will go to a past OEN award or Angel Oregon winner or finalist.
Here are the finalists who are up this year in the different categories.
Early stage:
- Young Mountain Tea and founder Raj Vable. The company works with Himalayan tea farmers to get their teas to American consumers and help those communities build viable businesses.
- Gabbi and founder and CEO Kaitlin Christine. The company’s product helps women better understand their risks of breast cancer and then formulate action plans that can be taken to their health care provider.
- Easeenet and founder and CEO Erin McCune. The company built an online platform that stores, organizes and updates in real-time passwords and important documents that can be accessed by loved ones and estate executors after someone dies or is incapacitated.
Development stage:
- The Renewal Workshop and co-founders Jeff Denby and Nicole Bassett. The company works with apparel brands to help reuse and resell clothing.
- Skypoint Cloud and founder and CEO Tisson Mathew. The company makes software used by consumer brands and health care companies to personalize experiences and drive engagement.
- The Wild and founder and CEO Gabe Paez. The company makes a virtual reality and augmented reality collaboration tool that allows users in different locations to work in and manipulate the same virtual space.
Growth Stage:
- Absci and founder and CEO Sean MClain. The company created AI-powered platform to create novel biologics faster and cheaper by integrating two processes — drug discovery and the generation of cell lines to manufacture them.
- RFPIO and co-founders Ganesh Shankar, AJ Sunder and Sankar Lagudu. The company makes software that allows customers to easily respond to RFPs and other business inquiries.
- Slumberkins and co-founders Kelly Oriard and Callie Christensen. The company makes children's books and plush toys that help children and families understand complex feelings.
The finalists for the Futureproof awards are:
- A Kids Company About and founder and CEO Jelani Memory. The company creates media to help families talk about important and challenging topics.
- The Renewal Workshop
- Brandlive and president and CEO Sam Kolbert-Hyle. The company created a platform for elevated virtual events.
The Entrepreneurial Achievement Award finalists are:
- Jelani Memory, founder and CEO of A Kids Company About
- Raj Vable, founder of Young Mountain Tea
- Allie Magyar, founder and CEO of Hubb. Hubb makes event management software.
