Hundreds Voted! EDCO Announces the Early Stage Finalists Presenting at Bend Venture Conference

Central Oregon PubTalk: The Road to BVC

Almost 300 people crowded Worthy’s outdoor patio for EDCO's September Central Oregon PubTalk: The Road to BVC, where 10 Early Stage companies pitched their business ideas. The audience, along with an expert panel of judges, voted to decide which companies would advance to present at Bend Venture Conference (BVC) which takes place October 19-20^th at the Tower Theatre. In addition, the audience favorite, Revino, walked away with a $3,000 check, courtesy of Washington Trust Bank.

Five of the 10 companies will advance to the BVC stage, where the finalists will vie for a chance at $25,000 in funding provided by Portland Seed Fund. Last year, Portland Seed Fund put investment offers out to four companies, including Madras-based Range Revolution, for a total of $160,000.

Speaking on behalf of Portland Seed Fund, Angela Jackson said, "The people of Bend voted to advance a great pool of finalists. We're excited to see such a strong Central Oregon showing this year and are looking forward to seeing all of these companies present in a few weeks."

Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO) organizes monthly the Central Oregon PubTalk event series and venture conference. Jon Stark, CEO at EDCO added, “Central Oregon PubTalk is really a celebration of entrepreneurship. It is about inspiring and connecting startups with the resources needed for success. Bend Venture Conference offers a platform to showcase companies and ideas that will be central to future economic growth and EDCO is thrilled to see three local companies make it to the final stage.”

Early Stage Finalists at BVC

In alphabetical order, the Early Stage finalists that will compete at BVC are:

1. Finnegan the Dragon (Hillsboro, OR) - The first preschool curriculum and mobile gaming system that targets language development for better learning outcomes.
2. FiOR Innovations (Bend, OR) – A robust construction management software for the architecture, engineering and construction industries.
3. Polaris (Bend, OR) - An AI-powered site reliability tool that detects outages and incidents in web applications in real-time.
4. Revino Inc. (Newberg, OR) – A wine bottle reclamation and sanitation service that collects, washes and refills wine bottles in Oregon and beyond.
5. Symphony Markets (Bend, OR) - A streamlined, SEC compliant exchange for IP owners to list shares of their music while providing investors exposure to a stable, culturally relevant asset class.

BVC Growth and Impact finalists will be announced in the coming weeks. Tickets to the 20^th Annual Bend Venture Conference are on sale now and are available here.