EDCO ANNOUNCES THE FIRST ROUND OF SEMI-FINALISTS IN THE GROWTH AND IMPACT CATEGORIES ADVANCING TO THE NEXT STAGE OF THE 2018 BEND VENTURE CONFERENCE
BEND, Ore. – September 6, 2018 – Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO) announced the first round of companies to advance in the Growth and Impact Categories for the 15th Annual Bend Venture Conference (BVC) to be held Thursday, October 18 – Friday, October 29, 2018. This group of companies is one step closer to presenting on the historic Tower Theatre stage in Downtown Bend. Last year, companies in the Growth Stage category won prizes ranging from $25,000 to $485,000, while the Impact Category winner walked away with $110,000.
In alphabetical order, the 18 Growth Stage semi-finalists that will compete to make it through the next round of cuts are:
- BAKERpedia (Portland, Ore.) – An encyclopedia built for industrial bakers that helps to make informed decisions on formulations and processes.
- Caligoo (Bend, Ore.) – A mobile customer journey software platform providing predictive and personalized experiences that sense, learn, reason, and react in real-time to target customers and reach applications goals.
- CommLoan, Inc. (Scottsdale, AZ) – A commercial real estate finance marketplace reducing the cost and time it takes to secure a commercial real estate loan.
- Covered360, Inc. (Bend, Ore.) – A cloud-based software to help cannabis businesses grow.
- Folio Websites (Grand Rapids, MI) – Provides consumers and SMBs customer website design and a visual website builder to manage content.
- Improper Goods (Portland, Ore.) – Cocktail ingredients crafted with real juices and botanicals.
- krowdsourced, LLC (Portland, Ore.) – Modernizes architectural material sourcing by centralizing samples and information for firms seeking a better way of selecting products.
- Liquid Wire (Beaverton, Ore.) – Allows electronics to be worn on a range of fabrics by printing them with MetalGel, enabling circuits to stretch.
- Marko Technologies (Portland, Ore.) – Secure investor portal and investment management tools for managers to communicate more efficiently and transparently with their investors.
- PortEngine.Net (Vancouver, WA.) – A real estate asset marketplace that connects buyers and sellers, eliminating realtor fees.
- Powerit (Seattle, WA) – A recyclable, eco-friendly, portable charging device for your phone or tablet that charges through wind power
- Stabilitas (Seattle, WA) – An A.I. engine designed for security teams that allows them to do the work of 1,000 human analysts in real-time.
- Stratus Digital Systems, Inc. (Eugene, Ore.) – A patent-pending technology decreasing the likelihood of an online hack by frequency hopping.
- Tali (Portland, Ore.) – A voice-driven, hands-free productivity assistant powered by artificial intelligence, helping organizations become more productive and profitable.
- Talkoot, Inc. (Hood River, Ore) – An intuitive, cloud-based tool that helps teams create high volumes of product copy.
- Tender Loving Empire (Portland, Ore.) – A “brick and mortar Etsy” with five retail stores, an e-commerce website, a line of signature products, and an internationally distributed record label.
- TransformativeMed (Seattle, Wash.) – Develops SaaS apps enabling physicians and nurses to deliver better patient care by making hospital medical records intuitive and easy to use.
- Walker Tracker, Inc. (Portland, Ore.) – Works to build wellness into organizational culture, making healthy behaviors fun and accessible to everyone.
In alphabetical order, the 10 Impact Stage semi-finalists that will compete to make it through the next round of cuts are:
- AlgoteK (Eugene, Ore.) – Creates 100% biodegradable safe plastic replacement material from Algae which can be used as single-use plastics or take-home boxes from restaurants.
- Allmade Apparel (Portland, Ore.) – Sustainable apparel with ethically-sourced screen-printing options.
- Asarasi, Inc. (Katonah, NY) – Certified USDA organic plant-based water sourced from maple trees without compromising the groundwater table.
- Dweller, Inc. (Portland, Ore.) – Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) built using modular construction and an innovative ownership structure to reduce the cost of housing in dense cities.
- Fidgets2Widgets, LLC (Eugene, Ore.) – Develops proprietary, online instructional material for computer education, including videos, quizzes, and
- Focal Technologies, Inc. (Portland, Ore.) – Owner of a broad-based patent named Ray that concentrates solar energy and cleans contaminated solids, water, and soils.
- MilkRun (Portland, Ore.) – An online marketplace for consumers and chefs to buy directly from hundreds of local farmers.
- nexgarden (Portland, Ore.) – Indoor vertical farms that grow a wide variety of crops in distributed locations, maximizing cost efficiency and sustainability.
- OCO Corporation (Vida, Ore.) – Converts carbon dioxide generated by industrial and fossil fuel burning power plants into a value-added platform chemical, formic acid.
- ROTBLOC (Bend, Ore.) – A sustainable post wrap for wood trellis systems and ranch fencing that lengthens post life while preventing ground line rot.
Hosted by Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO), this year’s BVC will once again feature three competition categories: Growth Stage, Early Stage and Impact, bringing together over 600 entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders to Bend, Oregon.
Ticket Sales
Tickets to the 15th Annual Bend Venture Conference are on sale now and are available here.
About Bend Venture Conference (BVC)
Now in its 15th year, BVC, hosted by EDCO, is one of the largest angel conferences in the country. Over the past four years, more than $7.8 million has been invested in 34 companies as a result of the conference. This year, over 600 entrepreneurs, investors, and business leaders are expected to attend the multi-day conference on October 18-19, in Bend, Oregon. For more information, visit www.bendvc.com.
About Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO)
EDCO is a non-profit corporation supported by private and public members and stakeholders, whose mission is to create middle-class jobs in Central Oregon by: recruiting new employers to move to the region; helping entrepreneurs start new, scalable businesses; and working with businesses that are already here to grow their operations. For more information, visit www.edcoinfo.com.
