EDCO Announces Semi-Finalists in the Growth & Impact Categories

Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO) announced the Semi-Finalists advancing in the Growth Stage and Impact Categories for the 16th Annual Bend Venture Conference (BVC) on Thursday, October 17-Friday, October 18.

The below semi-finalists have to make it through one more cut before presenting on the historic Tower Theatre stage in Downtown Bend. Last year, companies in the Growth Stage Category won prizes ranging from $100,000 to $500,000, while the Impact Category winner walked away with $100,000. Semi- Finalists in the Early Stage competition will be announced early next week.

In alphabetical order, the ten Growth Stage semi-finalists are:

1. Belmont (Portland, Oregon) — Providing break rooms with coffee, simplified draft beverages and fully-managed pantry service using proprietary
2. Broken Top Candle Company (Bend) — Create hand-poured sustainable and conscious products using renewable and recyclable
3. Candid Wholesale (Portland, Oregon) — A suite of enterprise-grade tools for SME wholesalers, providing a SaaS platform where buyers can make orders and manage
4. ClearOPS, Inc. (New York, New York) — Provides vendor response management for data privacy and security
5. New Leaf Precision Ag (Portland, Oregon) — A standardized, data-driven framework that helps growers grow more, waste less and maintain
6. Observa (Seattle, Washington) — An AI platform bringing ecommerce-style analytics to brick-and-mortar retail.
7. Rupie (Bend) — An AI-driven, community-focused talent-gig matching platform for building video games.
8. SendSmart (Portland, Oregon) — Automates web lead follow up on multiple communication channels, connecting salespeople with leads once they’ve
9. ThingLogix (Belmont, California) — Provides companies with the expertise and tools to design, build, deploy, and manage serverless and IoT Applications on the
10. Walker Tracker (Portland, Oregon) — A SaaS platform that partners with companies and organizations to build wellness into their culture and make healthy behaviors fun and

In alphabetical order, the six Impact Stage semi-finalists are:

1. Beta Hatch (Seattle, Washington) — Farming for the future by industrializing
2. BrainChild Technologies (Bend) — Accessible hearing tests for
3. Meli Wraps (Bend) — Creators of reusable beeswax wraps for food
4. Riff Cold Brewed (Bend) — Upcycling coffee byproduct into an all-natural energy
5. Sana Packaging (Denver, Colorado) — Designer and developer of cannabis packaging using sustainable
6. Sironix Renewables (Seattle, Washington) — Maker of high-performance, eco-friendly ingredients for cleanin

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.

Ticket Sales

Tickets to the 16^th Annual Bend Venture Conference are on sale now and are available here.

bendvc.com • edcoinfo.com