Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO) announced the semifinalist companies advancing in the Growth and Impact Stage competitions for the 19th Annual Bend Venture Conference (BVC) on Thursday, October 20-Friday, October 21, 2022. The nine semifinalists in the Early Stage competition category were announced earlier this week.
Each year, new BVC Growth and Impact funds are raised to invest in the most promising companies that compete in the annual conference. In the weeks preceding the conference, investors meet with semifinalist companies at a series of pitch meetings to narrow the companies to a list of finalists, which will be announced in early October. Following the due diligence process, investors determine which finalists will receive investments from the funds at the Bend Venture Conference on October 21.
“Since 2007, the BVC Funds have supported 28 great companies and founding teams in an effort to grow the investment ecosystem in Central Oregon,” said Jenn Lynch, BVC Growth and Impact Fund Manager. “We’re already hard at work this fall looking at these great new companies in search of our next winner.”
The semifinalists below have one more round of cuts to go before qualifying to present at this year’s conference. Companies have historically won investments ranging from $100,000 to $2,500,000.
In alphabetical order, the BVC Growth Stage semifinalists are:
- Altitude Functional Beverages (Bend) — A functional beverage producer incorporating CBD into routine-based beverages like coffee and alcohol replacements.
- Bluebird CX (Vancouver, Washington) — An automated gifting platform that partners with swag sellers to reach more customers faster.
- Cannecht (Bend) — A digital marketplace to help cannabis operators find and secure service contracts with trusted providers.
- Clean Age (Portland, Oregon) — Gender inclusive, natural, sustainable personal care products that give teens and preteens the essentials they need to help them establish healthy habits.
- Healers Petcare, Inc. (Vancouver, Washington) — An innovative pet products company that engineers, manufactures and markets a full range of pet health products.
- Minnow Technologies (Seattle, Washington) — A cloud-connected delivery hub (called a “pod”) that makes food delivery efficient and reliable.
- Phenix Solutions, Inc. (McMinnville, Oregon) — Professional aviators that design, certify and manufacture heavy lift, remote piloted aircrafts and specialized equipment used for unmanned aerial missions.
- ProMedix Inc. (Portland, Oregon) — A revolutionary, noninvasive wearable sensor for accelerating sepsis detection at the bedside — whether in hospital, or remote patient monitoring settings.
- Radious (Portland, Oregon) — A B2B marketplace for on-demand workspaces in residential neighborhoods.
- Wild Rye (Sun Valley, Idaho) — A women’s outdoor brand crafting beautiful and technical mountain apparel that fits, inspires confidence and welcomes more women into the outdoors.
In alphabetical order, the BVC Impact Stage semifinalists are:
- Canopii Inc. (Portland, Oregon) — A technology company building autonomous greenhouse farming systems to make local food production more viable.
- Ethicann Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Bethesda, Maryland) — A biotechnology company developing high-value, cannabinoid-based drug therapies using a development strategy of reformulating approved drugs into safer and equally efficacious drugs.
- Pacific Diabetes Technologies, Inc. (Tigard, Oregon) — Developers of SynerG, a single through-the-skin device that is able to measure glucose and deliver insulin for people with diabetes.
- Photon Marine (Portland, Oregon) — Designing and developing an electric outboard motor system and intelligent fleet management software for commercial boat fleets.
- SolarX|Works (Bend) — An applied solar company with patented cooling and control systems that meet the challenge of a sustainable cold chain and help improve post-harvest yield.
- Upcycle & Co. (San Diego, California) — Makers of Upcycle Active Fertilizer, which not only grows plants, but regenerates, conditions and improves the earth with every use.
- Veana Therapeutics, Inc. (Portland, Oregon) — A privately held clinical stage biotechnology company developing effective and safer treatments for cancer patients.
- VitalFlo Inc. (Portland, Oregon) — A predictive respiratory medicine company that monitors and forecasts expensive patient outcomes for respiratory disease.
Ticket Sales
Tickets to the 19th Annual Bend Venture Conference are on sale now and are available here.
EDCO’s September PubTalk
Early Stage semifinalist will present at EDCO’s September PubTalk on September 22 at Silver Moon Brewing in downtown Bend in hopes of moving on to present at BVC. Tickets are available here.
