About Portland, Oregon, startup news - Silicon Florist
Interested in Portland, Oregon, startup news…? Silicon Florist has been a leading source for news on early-stage startups in the Rose City since 2007. Now, I'm offering a quick recap of the stories from the week to ensure that you're always in the loop on what's happening in the Portland startup community.
Filming on location in Central Oregon during High Desert Innovation Week and Bend Venture Conference, a rough week and a massive week of Oregon tech news. Intel-alum founded Mueon raises $65M (bringing total funding to $80M) to pioneer modular 3D "cublet" AI compute architecture, cybersecurity and AI identity company C1 (formerly ConductorOne) is acquired by Workday, and the Oregon UAS Accelerator brings its defense and autonomy demo day from Pendleton right to Big Pink in Portland. Let's get into it…
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Opening thoughts from Bend & episode overview
01:59 - Vancouver Tech Crawl reminder (Oct 21 with Dave Barkos)
03:10 - Addis Ventures coffee & donuts gathering with Andrew Chen
04:00 - Muon raises $65M: AI "cublets" & 3D modular chip architecture
07:09 - Workday acquires Portland-rooted cybersecurity startup C1 (ConductorOne)
09:39 - Oregon UAS Accelerator demo day comes to Big Pink in Portland
11:44 - Secrets Segment: High Desert Innovation Week & Bend Outdoor Works
13:39 - Saturday Swimwear wins Bend Outdoor Works demo day
13:52 - Patreon thank you & monthly community sticker club
14:55 - Catching up with Jason Schneider: Oregon ecosystem builder event preview
16:15 - Mitch Daugherty interview on The Long Con (Authentic community building)
17:11 - Closing: Take care of yourselves & keep up the good work
LINKS:
Take the opportunity to crawl your way around the tech community in Vancouver, Washington — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/09/take-the-opportunity-to-crawl-your-way-around-the-tech-community-in-vancouver-washington/
North Bank Vancouver Tech Crawl — https://luma.com/northbankcouvecrawl?coupon=SILICONFLORIST
Andrew Chan of Atas VC brings The Road Show to Portland on October 23 — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/15/andrew-chan-of-atas-vc-brings-the-road-show-to-portland-on-october-23/
The Road Show (request to join) — https://luma.com/ycmlzr0z
Atas VC — https://atas.vc
Portland startup Mueon raises $65 million Series A with OVF and Intel Capital in the mix — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/15/portland-startup-mueon-raises-65-million-series-a-with-ovf-and-intel-capital-in-the-mix/
Mueon — https://mueon.com
The Information: Mueon raises $65 million — https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/exclusive-mueon-raises-65-million-rework-data-centers-put-together
C1 – formerly known as ConductorOne — to be acquired by Workday — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/13/c1-formerly-known-as-conductorone-to-be-acquired-by-workday/
Workday to acquire C1 — https://www.c1.ai/news/press-release/workday-to-acquire-c1-ai
Oregon UAS Accelerator cohort to take the stage in Portland — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/15/oregon-uas-accelerator-cohort-to-take-the-stage-in-portland/
Oregon UAS Innovation Showcase — https://oregonuas.org/showcase
Bend Outdoor Worx — https://www.bendoutdoorworx.com
Bend Venture Conference — https://www.bendvc.com/
Chatting with Mitch Daugherty about community — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/14/chatting-with-mitch-daugherty-about-community/
Mitch Daugherty on community and connection (The Long Con) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot54ZfmafTk
FIND RICK TUROCZY ON THE INTERNET AT…
- https://patreon.com/turoczy
- https://linkedin.com/in/turoczy
- https://bsky.app/profile/turoczy.bsky.social
- https://siliconflorist.substack.com/
- https://pdxslack.com
ABOUT RICK TUROCZY ----------
Rick Turoczy has been working in, on, and around the Portland, Oregon, startup community for nearly 30 years. He has been recognized as one of the “OG”s of startup ecosystem building by the Kauffman Foundation. And he has been humbled by any number of opportunities to speak on stages from SXSW to INBOUND and from Kobe, Japan, to Muscat, Oman, including an opportunity to share his views on community building on the TEDxPortland stage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj98mr_wUA0).
All because of a blog. Weird.
https://siliconflorist.com
#pdx #portland #oregon #startup #entrepreneur
10 Oct 2026
Week ending Oct 9, 2026 – Oregon startup news
Leading the week: Latino Founders opened a 15,000-square-foot Founders Hub on the North Park Blocks, with Senator Ron Wyden on hand for the ribbon cutting. Then Pitch Latino Portland where all ten companies took home $2,000 and crowd favorite Hey Doc Clinic took an extra $10,000, non-dilutive and unrestricted. Then the pitch feedback I kept repeating at OEN's Angel Oregon Tech pitch practice: hook them before you introduce yourself, feed us the logo candy, and don't show up and throw up. Plus the Oregon AI Accelerator's second cohort of 14 companies and the eight Bend Venture Conference Growth Stage companies, with me heading to Bend next week. Quick hits: the North Bank Vancouver Tech Crawl (Oct 21), Demolicious Champion of Champions (Dec 3), and Clarence Bethea's What VCs Won't Say workshop. Then the secrets.
CHAPTERS
00:00 - Oregon startup news intro and quick startup stories
04:45 - Latino Founders opens 15,000 sq ft Hub on North Park Blocks
06:51 - Pitch Latino Portland moves to the Newmark Theatre
08:52 - Hey Doc Clinic wins the $10,000 Pitch Latino grand prize
12:50 - 8 Rules for Stage Pitching:
18:37 - Oregon AI Accelerator reveals Cohort 2
20:03 - Bend Venture Conference 2026 Growth Stage finalists
21:28 - Secrets
LINKS:
Take the opportunity to crawl your way around the tech community in Vancouver, Washington — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/09/take-the-opportunity-to-crawl-your-way-around-the-tech-community-in-vancouver-washington/
North Bank Vancouver Tech Crawl — https://luma.com/northbankcouvecrawl?coupon=SILICONFLORIST
Demolicious Champion of Champions 2026 tickets are now on sale — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/05/demolicious-champion-of-champions-2026-tickets-are-now-on-sale/
Demolicious Champion of Champions tickets — https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/31863486/demoliciouschampion-of-champions-portland-mcmenamins-mission-theater
Latino Founders share insights on Latino Entrepreneurship Week on KGW — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/06/latino-founders-share-insights-on-latino-entrepreneurship-week-on-kgw/
Latino Entrepreneurship Week — https://www.latinoentrepreneurshipweek.com/
Pitch Latino Portland 2026 is in the books. Who took home the big check…? — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/09/pitch-latino-portland-2026-is-in-the-books-who-took-home-the-big-check/
Hey Doc Clinic — https://www.heydocclinic.com/
Latino Founders — https://www.latinofounder.com/
Pitching your startup soon…? Here's the feedback I kept repeating — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/07/pitching-your-startup-soon-heres-the-feedback-i-kept-repeating/
Angel Oregon Tech — https://www.oen.org/2026-technology/
Books for Amazon — https://siliconflorist.com/2021/02/03/what-do-i-mean-when-i-say-that-your-startup-story-should-be-books-for-amazon-lets-let-jeff-bezos-tell-it/
Oregon AI Accelerator launches second cohort — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/06/oregon-ai-accelerator-launches-second-cohort/
Oregon AI Accelerator — https://oregonaix.com/
Bend Venture Conference finalizes Growth Stage slate for 2026 — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/05/bend-venture-conference-finalizes-growth-stage-slate-for-2026/
Bend Venture Conference — https://www.bendvc.com/
FIND RICK TUROCZY ON THE INTERNET AT…
- https://patreon.com/turoczy
- https://linkedin.com/in/turoczy
- https://bsky.app/profile/turoczy.bsky.social
- https://siliconflorist.substack.com/
- https://pdxslack.com
3 Oct 2026
Week ending Oct 2, 2026 – Oregon startup news
Who knew AI would be the thing that reboots the Silicon Forest? This week: a16z says capital is rotating back to hardware, Portland lands at 53 out of 1,000, and I ran a diff between a governor's debate and my earlier coverage and came up with — not much. Plus, I'm giving away copies of Anika Horn's *It Takes a Valley* to premiere watchers and paid Patreon supporters — and if you stick around for the secrets, it's our third anniversary, and I'm cranky.
LINKS:
Struggling to choose between Pitch Latino Portland and What VCs Won't Say…? Now you can do both — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/09/29/struggling-to-choose-between-pitch-latino-portland-and-what-vcs-wont-say-now-you-can-do-both/
Pitch Latino Portland — https://www.portland5.com/event/pitch-latino
Investor Ready Workshop with Clarence Bethea — https://luma.com/workshopor
Bend Venture Conference finalizes Early Stage slate for 2026 — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/09/28/bend-venture-conference-finalizes-early-stage-slate-for-2026/
High Desert Innovation Week returns to Bend, October 13–16, 2026 — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/01/high-desert-innovation-week-returns-to-bend-october-13-16-2026/
High Desert Innovation Week — https://www.hdinnovationweek.com/
Bend Venture Conference — https://bendvc.com/
Portland's Prelude Early Learning secures $2M NIH SBIR grant — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/09/29/portlands-prelude-early-learning-secures-2m-nih-sbir-grant/
Prelude Early Learning — https://preludeearlylearning.com/
My recap of the latest Oregon gubernatorial debate from a startup perspective — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/02/my-recap-of-the-latest-oregon-gubernatorial-debate-from-a-startup-perspective/
Watch the debate — https://www.youtube.com/live/WNCfGur9iwk
Could the AI era mean a reboot of more traditional Silicon Forest activity…? — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/01/could-the-ai-era-mean-a-reboot-of-more-traditional-silicon-forest-activity/
a16z State of Markets II — https://a16z.com/state-of-markets-ii/
Subsea geothermal startup Endurance Energy drills off the Oregon coast — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/01/subsea-geothermal-startup-endurance-energy-drills-off-the-oregon-coast/
Endurance Energy — https://www.enduranceenergy.com/
Oregon Entrepreneurs Network secures ~$172K grant. Well, that was FAST. — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/01/oregon-entrepreneurs-network-secures-172k-grant-well-that-was-fast/
Oregon Entrepreneurs Network — https://www.oen.org/2026/09/28/oregon-entrepreneurs-network-receives-sba-fast-grant-to-expand-support-for-oregon-innovators/
Portland ranks 53rd in the 2026 rankings of top global cities — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/01/portland-ranks-53rd-in-the-2026-rankings-of-top-global-cities-but-unfortunately-thats-three-spots-shy-of-garnering-a-dedicated-report/
Oxford Economics Global Cities Index 2026 — https://www.oxfordeconomics.com/global-cities-index/
City Observatory — https://cityobservatory.org/what-global-rankings-say-about-successful-cities-and-portlands-performance/
Interested in building more resilient startup ecosystems…? It Takes a Valley — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/10/01/interested-in-building-more-resilient-startup-ecosystems-it-takes-a-valley/
It Takes a Valley — https://bookshop.org/a/128693/9798995796312
Friday night watch party — https://luma.com/nlez8wxy
Matt Schulte for Portland City Council — https://mattschulte.org
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