Starting a company is a lesson in hard work and perseverance. When times are good, the highs are high. When times are hard, the lows can be low.
With a shifting macro economy, tightening investor sentiment and fears of a 2023 recession, that entrepreneurial resiliency may be in sharp focus next year. But, if I’ve learned anything over my years writing about founders and startups it’s this: Don’t underestimate an entrepreneur’s ability.
We have written dozens of stories about startups this year across industries. The following are 13 of those companies that we are highlighting as Startups to Watch. Some have raised money, or landed big partnerships, some are building their companies their own way. All of them have big plans next year, no matter what the economy brings.
Our selection is by no means exhaustive. The collection of companies here, though, offers a window into the highlights that marked the startup year in Portland.
Productive Flourishing
Headquarters: Portland
Founders: Charlie Gilkey, Angela Wheeler
What it does: The company is a productivity and leadership consulting firm. It has created an app called Momentum that, using its proven consulting methods, helps users manage their time and achieve goals.
Latest: This year, the company raised $42,000 through a successful Kickstarter to fund development. It also recently completed the Portland Incubator Experiment program.
Why you should watch Productive Flourishing: The company already has a robust community: PDF versions of its physical planners have been downloaded more than 1 million times. Clients and others already turn to the company for help getting projects done. The company is also profitable, so Gilkey and Wheeler know how to manage and bootstrap a business, skills that may be helpful if the duo decides against raising outside capital.
What’s next: The subscription-based app is available now with a lengthy set of features. The team is planning more additions.
Indigenize
Headquarters: Portland
Founders: Se-ah-dom Edmo, James Parker
What it does: Indigenize crafts curated gift boxes with items from tribal and Native-owned businesses. The company looks to support those producers and introduce consumers to buy Indigenous products and reverse Native erasure in the economy.
Latest: The first boxes went out in May 2021. The company is profitable. It has relationships with 25 producers that regularly supply items.
Why you should watch Indigenize: Edmo (Shoshone-Bannock, Nez Perce and Yakama) has spent a career in community organizing and movement building. Parker, her husband who's an enrolled citizen of the Chippewa Cree, has a background in business. The company is a response to the lack of Native-produced items she saw on store shelves while she did family shopping throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
What’s next: Edmo is building the company on her own terms and not necessarily the time frame of white Western culture. She is still forming the ultimate vision for the company. While she is toying with the idea of becoming a distributor of Native products to get them on store shelves, she will go where the market, and movement, takes her.
Kuto
Headquarters: Portland
Founders: Kiyo Kubo, Nick Farina
What it does: Kuto is a payments app that connects consumer bank accounts to the Kuto platform and moves money like a debit card. The fees charged by Kuto are lower than those of other payment products, 70% less on average. Those savings can be passed on to customers as loyalty rewards that bring those customers back.
Latest: This fall, the company launched a new section in its app called Store that highlights merchants in the Kuto payments network and helps consumers find new businesses. For retailers, it is a way to get in front of new customers.
Why you should watch Kuto: This is the latest startup for Kubo and Farina. The duo previously founded Meridian, a location-based app that Aruba Networks acquired in 2013. With Kuto, the founders are combining their location technology expertise with what had been a growing interest in payments. They launched Kuto in 2020 to help local merchants through the Covid-19 pandemic.
What’s next: Kuto is available in Portland and Corvallis. While the system serves 1,000 merchants, the company hopes to get more businesses in the network and boost usage. Kubo expects that as people pay more attention to where they spend their money, the discounts and ability to shop local will help the startup. At the same time, Kubo hopes to help businesses turn new customers into regulars.
Source
Headquarters: Portland
Founder: Nicole Schmidt
What it does: Source has built an online platform that helps construction and design professionals streamline the process of finding materials, obtain samples and source final orders for projects. The company has a massive online database as well as physical materials libraries.
Latest: The company made several acquisitions this year that further boost its three areas of business: discovery of materials, decision making and delivery of product. It’s also opened materials libraries in three other cities and is hiring.
Why you should watch Source: Schmidt is a veteran of the industry who knows the challenges her customers face. She has raised venture funding and, as she builds the business methodically, is on track for profitability next year. The business targets commercial, hospitality and multifamily efforts: Schmidt is optimistic those kinds of projects will continue to move forward despite the broader consumer economy.
What’s next: The company boosted its revenue five-fold this year as its procurement marketplace zeroed in on housing, hospitality and workplace contract furnishings. It is on pace to generate 10 times its 2022 revenue in 2023.
A Kids Company About
Headquarters: Portland
Founder: Jelani Memory
What it does: The company is a children’s media publisher with content that helps children and adults in their lives discuss hard and important topics. The company counts more than 80 titles in its A Kids Book About line that features titles by authors with expertise or lived experience in the topics they cover.
Latest: This year, the company released its first book on parenting. It features essays by 100 different writers from all walks of life. It also inked a deal with The Jim Henson Co that could lead AKCA books to air as “A Kids Show About” programs.
Why you should watch A Kids Company About: The company’s media empire includes its book titles as well as a growing list of podcasts, not to mention its potential in other media types.
Slumberkins
Headquarters: Vancouver
Founders: Callie Christensen, Kelly Oriard
What it does: Slumberkins makes emotional learning resources for families with young children. The company created a line of characters that tackle different topics like family change and self-esteem. The characters are featured in books and plush toys.
Latest: The company’s characters made their television debut this fall with a show streaming on Apple TV+. The show was made in partnership with The Jim Henson Co.
Why you should watch Slumberkins: The company has grown quickly for several years and has an engaged community built around it. The show is a new way to engage that community and perhaps introduce families to the characters. The venture-backed company collected $12.2 million in revenue last year.
What’s next: As the show streams, the founders say this is just the start of the company’s expanded media plans. Look out for an affirmation app, a podcast and music.
Photon Marine
Headquarters: Portland
Founders: Marcelino Alvarez, Tara Russell, Charles Steinback, Nick Schoeps
What it does: Photon Marine develops high-powered electric outboard motors for commercial fleets.
Latest: It has created a prototype 100 horsepower engine and software for intelligent energy and fleet management. The company has letters of intent from customers for 45 systems.
Why you should watch Photon Marine: The team has expertise in maritime business, sustainability and electric vehicle manufacturing and design. It targets fleets for fishing, transportation and tourism. Photon Marine hopes to electrify this portion of the maritime sector and help protect fragile ocean ecosystems.
What’s next: The team is headed to the Miami International Boat Show in February, where it plans to unveil a prototype of a 300-horsepower engine. It also plans to close out a seed round, build out its team and start deploying customer pilot projects next year.
Ondr
Headquarters: Portland
Founder: Dr. Jessica Lubahn
What it does: Ondr designs and makes Ondrwear, a leakproof underwear that helps those struggling with incontinence.
Latest: The product launched in 2020. Since the end of 2021, the company has logged quarter-over-quarter growth between 10% and 20%. The company was part of the 2022 cohort of the Built Oregon consumer product accelerator.
Why you should watch Ondr: Lubahn is a practicing urologist who developed the product to help patients either augment treatment or replace more invasive or pharmaceutical solutions. She is also on a mission to remove the stigma associated with bladder problems.
What’s next: The company is launching retail partnerships. One of the first is with Barre3, where products can now be purchased locally.
UrbanForm
Headquarters: Portland
Founders: Quang Truong, Anna Shakotko
What it does: UrbanForm created a software platform that easily finds site specific zoning information.
Latest: The company recently completed the Portland Incubator Experiment program. Its product can be used by customers in three cities: Portland, Seattle and San Diego.
Why you should watch UrbanForm: Understanding zoning regulations in different jurisdictions is a complex and time-consuming challenge for architects and developers. It’s a problem Truong know first-hand from his time as an architect. The team has fine-tuned how it onboards new cities and believes it has a repeatable process. The company also has paying customers in its three currently served cities.
What’s next: The company landed a three-year partnership with mapping tech company Esri that will give it access to that company’s suite of products and mentors. As part of the PIE program, the company was teamed with software maker Autodesk, giving it a meaningful connection to two of the biggest players in the architecture, engineering and construction worlds. It will announce its fourth city soon.
Sklip
Headquarters: Portland
Founders: Dr. Joanna Ludzik, Dr. Alexander Witkowski
What it does: Sklip created a special lens that clips to a mobile device and can take high-grade images of a mole or skin patch as well as artificial intelligence software to analyze and flag suspect images. The system routes patients and their imaging to dermatologists within a week.
Latest: Over the summer, the company received a Breakthrough Device Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, allowing for a potentially faster review process for the device to receive full regulatory clearance.
Why you should watch it: The founders are practicing dermatologists who run the Skin Cancer Imaging Center at OHSU. Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the U.S., and as one in five Americans will develop it in their lifetime, early detection and treatment is key.
What’s next: The company expects full FDA clearance next year. Once that happens, the AI will do all the evaluation of images — work currently done by dermatologists — and give results in seconds.
Community Co-Pack
Headquarters: Portland
Founders: Chris Bailey, Hannah Kullberg
What it does: Community Co-Pack provides a flexible, low-barrier to entry and culturally specific contract manufacturer for food and beverage startups.
Latest: The company raised $99,040 by selling small business bonds on the SMBX platform in a campaign earlier this year. The proceeds helped Community Co-Pack buy equipment, hire staff and provide working capital. The company and a California-based manufacturer, A Dozen Cousins, teamed up on a rice product called Wakandan Jollof Rice Seasoning in collaboration with the movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The food maker, which had a partnership with Disney, selected Community Co-Pack for the effort after its existing, and much larger, manufacturing partner couldn’t support such a small production run.
Why you should watch Community Co-Pack: The founders are food entrepreneurs and consultants who know the challenges other food and beverage startup face. They started Community Co-Pack to support more founders earlier in their journey. The company has already worked with 10 food and beverage makers since last fall.
What’s next: The company is considering expanding its production capacity to about triple its current footprint. It’s also evaluating whether to hone in on two to three key product categories. The team will work statewide to educate makers about co-packing and breaking down common barriers in rural communities.
Rock Paper Coin
Headquarters: Portland
Founders: Nora Sheils, Elizabeth Sheils
What it does: Rock Paper Coin created software that digitizes payments and contract management for the wedding industry. The product allows three parties — the couple, the vendor and the wedding planner — to access and manage invoices in one place.
Latest: This year, the company raised $2.3 million from investors. The industry it serves has bounced back after a pause in 2020 during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Why you should watch Rock Paper Coin: The founders, who are sisters-in-law, are wedding industry experts. Nora founded Bridal Bliss, one of the largest wedding planning companies in the Pacific Northwest. Elizabeth has been a leader there for years. They know how the wedding industry works and recognize their product sells business-to-business, as opposed to a consumer play. They provide a valuable tool to vendors and wedding planners.
What’s next: More than 1,900 businesses are registered on the platform. An increasing number of the company's vendors are shifting all of their business, not just weddings, onto the platform. Rock Paper Coin also secured several partnerships with some household wedding names that should be rolling out in 2023.
Birch Biosciences
Headquarters: Portland
Founders: Johan Kers, Neil Assur
What it does: Birch Bioscience is developing a new way to recycle plastics using naturally occurring enzymes that will yield better-quality plastic than current recycling methods.
Latest: The company was in the 2022 cohort of the Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator. Kers was previously CTO at Vancouver biotech Absci.
Why you should watch it: A lot of plastic is not actually recycled. In fact, less than 9% of plastic in the U.S. is recycled. When that happens, the resulting plastic isn’t used in the same way as originally intended: It instead goes into lower value items, and new “virgin” plastic is still needed for things like packaging.
What’s next: The startup is in the research stage as it searches for enzymes within naturally occurring microbes that “eat” plastic and could be used for a better recycling process. The company has investment from YC as well as a number of federal scientific research grants. In 2023 it plans to double its headcount to 10 people. It also has $80 million in letters of intent from major plastic makers and packaging companies who want to buy the startup's plastic when it's ready.
