Portland Technology Sector Continues to Show Promise

Submitted by Jeremy on February 11, 2013 - 14:32

Portland Last week, we were excited to see Portland-based ventures well represented on Forbes’ annual list of America’s Most Promising Companies. Elemental, Act-On Software and Jama Software all received recognition as one of a hundred privately held, high-growth companies in the U.S. with bright futures. Elemental landed at 23 on the Forbes list for 2013, moving up from its position at number 54 in last year’s rankings.

The spotlight has been shining brightly on the local technology community recently. Marshall Kirkpatrick, CEO of Little Bird, highlighted Portland’s startup momentum in a Wall Street Journal article earlier this month. He notes $30 million-plus raises by Puppet Labs and Janrain, $20 million-plus raised by Urban Airship and Vendscreen, almost $10 million by Cloudability and a number of seed rounds, including Little Bird’s, which was led by Mark Cuban. “Portland is stepping up to the challenge of building technology companies that can compete globally,” writes Kirkpatrick. Elemental shares that sentiment and it’s encouraging to see the message spreading. Clearly, technology companies in the area are thriving, so much so that practical issues such as available office space (or lack thereof) in downtown Portland is a looming issue.

Jesse RosenzweigPortland has been high profile in the Wall Street Journal lately, with Mat Ellis, CEO of Cloudability, also posting recently in the Accelerator section. He points to camaraderie playing a big role in Portland’s recent run of tech success: “One factor that seems unique to Portland is networking: quite simply, Portlanders are world class at it. Locals describe it as the pioneer spirit: Help your neighbor as you’ll never know when you’ll need their help. Whatever it is, sometimes it feels like the whole city is cheering us on.”

In a final plug for the Portland technology scene, this Friday the Portland Business Journal will host its Forty under 40 Awards Reception, featuring nine honorees from Portland technology companies. Elemental will be well represented by Jesse Rosenzweig, our CTO and co-founder. Check out his Portland Business Journal Forty under 40 spotlight video.