The first-ever Portland Inno Madness competition is complete.
Thirty-two local startups were vying for the title of 2022 Inno Madness champion, and Portland's Mise – designer of footwear for chefs and other service-industry professionals – garnered 780 votes (52%) in last week's final round in a tight contest against Bend's TonsilTech, which received 711 votes (48%). Remarkably, the two companies were seeded No. 30 and No. 32, respectively.
To learn more about Mise, check out this profile of the startup by reporter Malia Spencer from November.
Inno Madness is our friendly, bracket-style challenge where readers vote to advance companies based on one question: Who would you invest in? Whether you believe in one mission or product slightly over the other or would prefer to back a more established company versus an early-stage startup, how you answer that question is entirely up to you. The bracket is designed to shine a spotlight on innovative local businesses.
The bracket is assembled based on reader nominations, as well as editorial input from the Portland Business Journal team. Seeding was determined by total funding raised to date based on information in Crunchbase profiles. Any company for which no known funding has been raised was seeded alphabetically. Meet the participants below and read contest rules here.
The goal of Inno Madness is to give a snapshot of some promising young companies in Portland. It is by no means a complete list of Portland's startups, which is a testament to the size of Portland's entrepreneurial community. It's also not just a list of the most-funded startups in the region.
Instead, the bracket is meant to represent the full breadth and diversity of the ecosystem. In the end, think of the bracket as just a fun look into fresh local companies.
