Credit: Oregon Startup Center
BEAVERTON, Ore. – The eighth annual Beaverton Startup Challenge winners have been announced by the Oregon Startup Center with funding and services of a total of $125,000 awarded to five startup companies.
The Beaverton Startup Challenge has been sponsored by the City of Beaverton for eight years as a way to promote the growth of small businesses. Nineteen investors formed this year’s Westside Startup Fund 8 to provide $125,000 to the five winners in the 2023 cohort.
Jim McCreight, Director of the Oregon Startup Center, which manages the startup challenge and the investment fund said, “this new cohort represents a diverse mix of entrepreneurs and industries, and we are looking forward to helping grow these companies in the years ahead.”
McCreight added that in the first seven years of the Beaverton Startup Challenge “our companies have gone on to raise more than $100 million in additional investment capital.”
“Beaverton is full of creative entrepreneurs,” said Mayor Beaty. “I’m excited for these five businesses who are doing such meaningful and important work. The impact and benefit of their innovative solutions will reach through and far beyond our city’s boundaries.”
The 2023 winners are:
Finnegan the Dragon - An EdTech company creating online gaming systems and classroom curriculum that supports Pre-K language and literacy development. Woman co-founder.
Humankind Homes - Designs and builds affordable, sustainable, and healthy homes and buildings using interlocking bricks made from sustainable geopolymer concrete.
Keliomics - Keliomics offers personalized treatment testing for patients with solid cancers (breast, prostate, ovarian, gastric, and colorectal).
My Fertility Health: Navie - Navie is a patient-centered resource and tool to successfully navigate your reproductive health, fertility journey and beyond. Women co-founders.
RUTE Foundation Systems/Suntracker - RUTE provides elevated solar panel systems to farms allowing dual-use of the land.
The Oregon Startup Center mentors and helps founding companies gain access to experienced entrepreneurs and business service providers.
Since 2016, the Startup Challenge has invested $25,000 in each of 40 companies. Those companies subsequently closed on more than $100 million in follow-on funding.
Formerly the Oregon Technology Business Center, companies aided by the incubator include technology, consumer products, food production, travel, marketing, and service firms, among others. They include women- and BIPOC-owned companies.