Bend Venture Conference

The Bend Venture Conference, organized by EDCO, is the largest angel conference in the Pacific Northwest, attracting over 600 attendees and 50 prominent investors. This annual event celebrates entrepreneurship and innovation by providing a platform for companies to showcase their ideas and compete for funding. In previous years, such as 2016, the conference awarded nearly $4 million in investments, allowing for multiple winners. Additionally, the conference manages a Social Impact Fund that focuses on making investments in companies related to biodiversity and ecosystem improvements, with a minimum investment of $100,000 per company. Located in Bend, Oregon, the Bend Venture Conference plays a significant role in fostering investment opportunities and supporting impactful ventures in the region.

Jenn Lynch

Managing Partner

Past deals in Oregon

Belmont

Funding Round in 2019
Belmont curate, roast, test, build, design, and deliver memorable experiences for employees.

Riff

Funding Round in 2019
Riff Cold Brewed Coffee specializes in the retail of cold brewed coffee, offering a range of unique flavors crafted from sustainably-sourced, artisanal coffee and pure Cascade mountain water. Founded in 2017 and based in Bend, Oregon, the company features products such as "Arm in Arm," which has notes of red berry and stonefruit, "Off the Cut," with dark chocolate and toffee undertones, "Paint the Town," highlighting bing cherry and blueberry, and "Southpaw," which offers cocoa nibs and nougat flavors with reduced caffeine. Riff distinguishes itself in the craft beverage market by focusing on the natural characteristics of coffee varieties through careful selection of beans and brewing techniques, avoiding the addition of sweeteners, dairy, or preservatives. The founding team includes industry veterans known for their expertise in craft branding and cold brew development. Riff also engages in online retail of apparel, further diversifying its offerings.

OCOchem

Seed Round in 2018
OCOchem is a renewable chemical manufacturing company based in Vida, Oregon, focused on developing and commercializing a proprietary process that electro-catalytically converts carbon dioxide into formic acid and its derivatives. The company's innovative ECFORM process utilizes low-value carbon dioxide, water, and intermittent renewable electricity to produce high-value C1 chemicals. This method emphasizes energy efficiency and product selectivity, positioning OCOchem at the forefront of sustainable chemical manufacturing since its incorporation in 2016. By transforming CO2 into valuable products, OCOchem aims to contribute to environmental sustainability and the circular economy.

LeadMethod, Inc.

Funding Round in 2017
LeadMethod is a software company focused on channel partner engagement and sales enablement, two factors that drive the most ROI, and channel partner loyalty. LeadMethod works with more than 23,000 suppliers, reps, and distributors to better align their businesses for growth. LeadMethod clients see between a 10-20% increase in revenue and have stronger communication and collaboration with their channel partners. LeadMethod can be used as a stand-alone system or integration with more than 65 CRM, marketing automation, or ERP systems for a total solution. LeadMethodwas founded in 2014 and is based in Bend, Oregon

Handful

Pre Seed Round in 2017
Handful, Inc. is a Tigard, Oregon-based company that manufactures and distributes women's sportswear, focusing on providing comfortable and functional apparel for daily use and physical activities. Founded in 2006, the company offers a range of products, including sports bras, tops, capris, leggings, and accessories such as hats and tank tops. Handful aims to enhance women's self-esteem by creating fashionable and supportive clothing that allows for ease of movement during activities like yoga, running, and workouts. Through its commitment to style and comfort, Handful seeks to empower women to feel confident while engaging in various physical pursuits.

Green Theme International

Pre Seed Round in 2017
Green Theme International is creator of sustainable and water-free textile and fabric finishing techniques.

Hemex Health

Seed Round in 2017
Hemex Health, Inc. develops and manufactures medical diagnostic devices for populations at risk for malaria and sickle cell disease (SCD). Its products include Magneto-Optical Device (MOD), a device to detect all strains of malaria at low concentrations under a minute; HemeChip, a device to identify hemoglobin disorders; and SMART, which provides solutions for early SCD and malaria diagnosis through point-of-care testing and mobile device registries in health facility settings. The company was founded in 2016 and is based in Portland, Oregon.

Hemex Health

Pre Seed Round in 2016
Hemex Health, Inc. develops and manufactures medical diagnostic devices for populations at risk for malaria and sickle cell disease (SCD). Its products include Magneto-Optical Device (MOD), a device to detect all strains of malaria at low concentrations under a minute; HemeChip, a device to identify hemoglobin disorders; and SMART, which provides solutions for early SCD and malaria diagnosis through point-of-care testing and mobile device registries in health facility settings. The company was founded in 2016 and is based in Portland, Oregon.

OpConnect

Pre Seed Round in 2016
OpConnect, LLC develops, produces, and supports electric vehicle charging systems. It offers OpConnect Electric Vehicle Charging System, an electric vehicle charging solution that includes charging stations, a wireless communications network, back-office data management, billing solutions, and mobile phone applications. The company was founded in 2005 and is based in Portland, Oregon. OpConnect, LLC operates as a subsidiary of OP Technologies, Inc.

Odysys

Pre Seed Round in 2016
Odysys, Inc. offers digital marketing tools for independent hotels. The company offers Odysys platform to help independent hotels connect, manage, and track their digital marketing efforts; and connects travelers with independent hotels. Its solutions include Website templates to attract visitors; a mobile-friendly booking engine to drive conversions; a content marketing manager to connect with guests; and SEO and analytics tools to track performance. The company is based in Bend, Oregon.

Amplion

Seed Round in 2015
Amplion is an intelligence platform using machine learning and biomedical domain expertise to accelerate Precision Medicine. By harnessing the world’s largest and fastest-growing corpus of biomedical evidence, the company’s solutions deliver timely, targeted, and actionable insights to enable confident strategic decisions in drug and diagnostic development. Amplion has established trusted partnerships with leaders in precision medicine that leverage the platform to discover new opportunities and realize strategic objectives.

Poached Jobs

Pre Seed Round in 2014
Poached Jobs, Inc. operates Poachedjobs.com that offers staffing solutions for owners and hiring managers in the food and drink industry. Its portal provides various tools to owners and hiring managers to rate, sort, filter, download, and make notes on resumes that are connected to their jobs; and job seekers to sign up, review, and apply for posted positions. The company serves customers in Portland, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Seattle, Austin, Dallas, Houston, Boston, Denver, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. Poached Jobs, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is based in Portland, Oregon.

Nouvola

Pre Seed Round in 2014
Nouvola provides a cloud-based, scalable performance and load testing solution for web, mobile, and API. It offers customers the ability to proactively measure the responsiveness of the application under various real world workflows and traffic scenarios, and pinpoint bottlenecks in the stack and in the infrastructure. The company's solution includes performance testing and integrated in-depth performance analytics, supports backend and client performance, and is DevOps ready.

Sonivate Medical

Seed Round in 2012
Sonivate Medical develops and manufactures innovative technologies to reduce healthcare costs and expand access to diagnostic imaging. The company's technology opens new markets for ultrasound imaging by extending its use beyond traditional applications and into new classes of procedures and new clinical settings. The SonicEye, their first product, is a high performance, fingertip-mounted ultrasound probe that enables imaging while leaving both hands free to do work with simultaneous tactile feedback.

RES Equine

Pre Seed Round in 2011
RES Equine is a manufacturer of protective horse equipment with a patent pending replaceable Velcro type hook and loop closure system.

AWS Elemental

Seed Round in 2007
Elemental Technologies is the leading supplier of software-defined video solutions for multiscreen content delivery. Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Portland, Oregon, the company pioneered the use of software-based video processing to distribute and monetize video over IP networks. Solutions from Elemental provide the flexibility, scalability and performance required to transform high quality video into new revenue streams via turnkey, cloud-based and virtualized deployment models. Powering video experiences for more than 600 leading media franchises worldwide, Elemental helps pay TV operators, content programmers, broadcasters and enterprise customers bring video to any screen, anytime – all at once. The company has offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, China, Russia, India and Brazil.

AWS Elemental

Pre Seed Round in 2007
Elemental Technologies is the leading supplier of software-defined video solutions for multiscreen content delivery. Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Portland, Oregon, the company pioneered the use of software-based video processing to distribute and monetize video over IP networks. Solutions from Elemental provide the flexibility, scalability and performance required to transform high quality video into new revenue streams via turnkey, cloud-based and virtualized deployment models. Powering video experiences for more than 600 leading media franchises worldwide, Elemental helps pay TV operators, content programmers, broadcasters and enterprise customers bring video to any screen, anytime – all at once. The company has offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, China, Russia, India and Brazil.