The latest — and now we know last — cohort of the Portland Incubator Experiment is making its debut this week with an event Thursday.
The startups have been revealed and you can check out their pitches on the PIE YouTube channel. At the event the companies will set up trade-show style to talk to potential investors, partners and members of the general community. The event is at The Redd, 831 S.E. Salmon St., in Portland, and doors open at 4 p.m.
In addition to the event being the debut for many of the companies, it's also something of a farewell party for PIE, which has been an instrumental piece of the Portland startup ecosystem for more than a decade. Co-founder and General Manager Rick Turoczy announced last week the organization is shifting its focus from its original programming for software and app startups to physical and consumer products, two other areas it has supported.
Founder Chris Skaggs participated in this recent class with co-founder Ehsan Saidi. The two are building Bonappaeat a marketplace for amateur chefs. Participating in the accelerator has helped the duo, who both own other businesses, by connecting them with other people who are going through the same pains of idea formation and growth.
"Its comforting. Starting a business and putting yourself out there is daunting and unknown. Being around people doing it and at different stages helps with accountability and social emotional support," Skaggs said.
Here’s the last class of PIE software edition:
- Fridie Outdoors: an app for people who are new to camping to access camping information and know-how offline
- Intersectional Group: an equity diversity and inclusion consulting firm based on intersectionality
- Panda Party: tools for resale shops and vendor communities built on the shopify point of sale platform
- HirelyAI: an AI-powered hiring platform designed to remove bias from hiring
- Ballroom: a new kind of social media. Designed to help you meet people and make connections more akin to real life than online
- Paloma: an online platform to help match job seekers to roles, but instead of basing the match on key words on a resume the platform asks job seekers what they want and matches them to companies based on those preferences
- Energy Kaizen: software to help manufacturers achieve energy and emissions reduction goals through boosting employee engagement in these programs
- Bonappaeat: marketplace to help home chefs or recent culinary school grads connect with people looking for cooking lessons or private catering for events and dinner parties
- Finnegan the Dragon: learning systems that encourage language and literacy development for young children through music and song
- Binster: an online marketplace to search local resale shops' inventory to help consumers find what they are looking for
- Thriving Design: maker of c-bites, a patented gardening support clip that gardeners use to build structures and cages for plant support
- Radious: a platform for homeowners to rent extra space on demand to remote workers or teams looking for meeting or private office space
- Joyous, customer engagement platform for local restaurants to acquire and retain customers
