Software and food and beverage startups were the big winners in this year’s Westside Pitch Competition.
Organized by the entrepreneurial group TiE Oregon and the city of Hillsboro, the annual event highlights founders and their companies as they vie for cash or equity investment.
The winner for the Pre-Seed Category was Howl at the Spoon, a company that makes single-serve sauce packets. The startup also took home the Audience Choice award. Between both awards Howl at the Spoon landed $10,000 in cash prizes.
The two other finalists for this category were: Bobafy, which is developing a Boba tea machine; and Ourtifact, which creates personalized audio keepsakes.
The overall winner of the Seed Category was Stiira, which makes software to automate the employee leave process for companies. The company received a $50,000 equity investment.
Rising Wines Collective, which was also vying for the Seed prize, received a $25,000 investment. This startup is building an online tool to connect consumers with small production wineries in Washington, Oregon and California.
The final finalist for the Seed competition was Business Draft, a Portland-based hiring management software startup.
“We are thrilled to support and celebrate the vibrant startup ecosystem on the Westside,” said Donn Dimond, president of TiE Oregon in a written statement.
The Westside Pitch competition is the first of three events designed to take the place of what was previously one Pitch Oregon event organized by TiE. Each event will focus on startups in a specific county.
The next event will focus on startups in Multnomah County in Oregon and Clark County in Washington. The Columbia River Pitch is slated for June 6 in Vancouver.
