For startups raising capital in the Portland metro, this year is shaping up to be a challenge. The amounts invested are down from recent years when historic amounts went to regional startups.
The third-quarter data from Pitchbook and the National Venture Capital Association was released this month and investment activity plunged. However, Portland’s performance wasn’t out of line with slowdowns nationwide as investors focus on their portfolios and wait for exits.
Even as fundraising becomes more challenging, deals are still getting done. Local investors have noted all year that their pipeline for deal flow remains strong.
Here’s the top funding rounds so far this year through Sept. 15, according to data gathered by research firm Pitchbook:
ConductorOne: At $27 million, the company’s round is the largest so far this year. The cybersecurity startup moved to Portland in 2021. The company’s software automates access and permissions to applications and infrastructure during what would otherwise be a time-consuming and manual process. Earlier this summer, co-founder and CEO Alex Bovee spokes with the Business Journal about the company and his move to Portland.
Hydrolix: This homegrown startup raised $23.9 million. Hydrolix is the latest startup up from Portland entrepreneur Marty Kagan, who previously founded Cedexis. That company sold to Citrix Systems in 2018. The new product is aimed at the increasing cost of data storage and querying that data. Hydrolix is focused on company data that doesn’t change, such as logs for observability of how software is working. The product helps customers keep more data longer.
PreAct Technologies: The company raised $20 million. PreAct makes a suite of sensors and software for affordable Lidar solutions that can map a physical area quickly. It was already sampling its technology with a number of vehicle manufacturers and their major suppliers for driver assistance systems. However, the company has expanded into other markets like health care and robotics as a way to hedge against the changing economic landscape.
Liquid Wire: The semiconductor startup raised $14 million. The company started as research on nontraditional printed electronics at Portland State University. It is developing Gallium-based electronic circuitry for flexible, wearable electronics.
ThatDot: The company, which was born out of work at R&D firm Galois, raised $13 million. The startup has an open-source tool called Quine that gives developers a “streaming graph” that can take huge amounts of data and interpret meaning based on any number of event triggers. The company also has an enterprise version of the tool.
Reperio: The health care startup raised $9.8 million. This startup is also the product of Portland serial entrepreneurs. Founders Travis Rush and Matt Wallington previously founded and sold Sightbox. Reperio is a health testing and management company that aims to make it easier for customers to monitor their health. It allows users to perform certain health care screen tests at home by using a screening kit of FDA-approved sensors that are connected to a proprietary app.
Source: The Portland startup raised $8.5 million. Source works in the architectural and construction industry. It has an online platform that helps professionals in construction and design streamline the process of finding materials, obtaining samples and sourcing final orders. The company has a massive database of products and a waiting list of manufacturers to participate. It specializes in multifamily, hospitality and commercial projects. Over the summer, founder Nicole Schmidt said some of this capital will be used for hiring.
