Portland, Oregon, startup news - Silicon Florist

Nineteen stories this week and not one of them wanted to be the headline — which is honestly kind of great. Palo Alto Networks bought a company called Embrace that may or may not count as a Portland startup depending on how you squint (its president and VP of engineering are right here, so I'm counting it), two local apps picked up Apple Design Awards, and then things just kept coming — a plant-poison checker named after somebody's cat, an app that scores your Spotify for yacht-rock content, a whole association of small companies trying to out-organize Big Tech. No anchor, just volume — and I'm genuinely energized by that.

LINKS:

Apple Design Awards 2026 — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/20/two-portland-apps-recognized-by-apple-design-awards-2026/

Apple Design Awards — https://developer.apple.com/design/awards/

World Reborn (Apple Game of the Day) — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/23/medford-made-world-reborn-lands-apple-game-of-the-day-honors/

Wicked Saints Studio — https://www.wickedsaints.studio/

Palo Alto Networks acquires Embrace — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/22/palo-alto-networks-acquires-embrace/

Embrace — https://embrace.io/

Lewis & Clark $1M Google grant — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/22/your-next-cybersecurity-hire-could-come-from-lewis-clark-thanks-to-a-1m-google-grant/

Lewis & Clark announcement — https://www.lclark.edu/live/news/58507-lc-lands-1-million-in-google-funding-for-cybersecurity

Boulder Care $1.8M grant — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/20/boulder-care-lands-1-8m-grant-to-further-opioid-addiction-efforts/

Paige Hendrix Buckner joins the Check Writers Room — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/22/all-raise-ceo-paige-hendrix-buckner-joins-the-check-writers-room/

Little Tech may be for you — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/23/tired-of-big-tech-holding-all-of-the-power-little-tech-may-be-for-you/

Little Tech Association — https://www.little.tech/

LinkedIn Cities on the Rise — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/22/linkedin-highlights-both-portlands-among-cities-on-the-rise/

Quilld (branding/rebranding) — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/22/branding-is-hard-rebranding-is-even-worse-quilld-is-here-to-help/

Quilld — https://quilld.ai/

Rami (plants + pets) — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/21/helping-houseplants-and-housepets-cohabitate-rami/

Rami — https://getrami.app/

Is it yacht rock? — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/21/looking-to-answer-the-age-old-question-is-that-yacht-rock-playing-theres-an-app-for-that/

Is It Yacht Rock? app — https://madegglabs.com/apps/is-it-yacht-rock/

Lemonvite (ad-free invites) — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/22/tired-of-ads-cluttering-your-invites-look-at-lemonvite/

Lemonvite — https://www.lemonvite.com/

Fan the Flame (Portland Fire app) — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/23/portland-fire-fan-youll-want-this-app-burning-a-hole-in-your-pocket/

Fan the Flame — https://fantheflame.app/

funnr (kids' schedules) — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/22/managing-your-kids-social-schedule-just-got-funnr/

Chain React 2026 visitor guide — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/24/attending-chain-react-2026-in-portland-heres-a-visitor-guide-to-help-you-make-the-most-of-your-stay/

Y Combinator F26 apps (close July 27) — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/24/reminder-y-combinator-applications-for-f26-close-july-27-2026/

Y Combinator apply — https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/

Pitch Latino Portland (apps due July 30) — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/23/reminder-pitch-latino-portland-applications-are-due-in-a-week/

Pitch Latino — https://www.latinofounder.com/pitchlatino

DevOps Days Portland (Sept 8–10, code SILICONFLORIST) — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/21/need-a-little-more-devops-in-your-life-go-to-devops-days-portland-with-a-discount/

DevOps Days Portland — https://devopsdays.org/events/2026-portland-or/welcome/

Funny how it works — the same week the Silicon Forest lands federal funding worth up to $160 million, the stuff that actually holds a community together is getting quietly built at street level. A machinist in Gresham shipping an AI tool for the shop floor, Latino Founders taking out a 15,000-square-foot building downtown for the entrepreneurs who chose to stay, a Pendleton drone accelerator opening a pipeline clear across the Pacific to Korea. The headline number is great — but honestly, it's the ground game that's got me fired up this week.

LINKS

• Oregon FAST wins NSF Innovation Engine award — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/16/its-a-semiconductor-fast-oregon-consortium-wins-nsf-innovation-engine-award/
• Oregon State University (announcement) — https://news.oregonstate.edu/news/oregon-team-nearly-100-partners-awarded-nsf-regional-innovation-engine-award-set-receive-160
• By a machinist for machinists: Swarf — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/15/by-a-machinist-for-machinists-ai-enabled-cnc/
• Swarf — https://swarf.app/landing/
• Latino Founders preps a new home: Founders Hub — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/16/latino-founders-preps-a-new-home-founders-hub-center-for-innovation-and-entrepreneurship/
• Latino Founders — https://www.latinofounder.com/
• Oregon UAS Accelerator partners with Korea Investment Accelerator — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/16/oregon-uas-accelerator-partners-with-korea-investment-accelerator/
• Oregon UAS Accelerator (apply by Jul 19) — https://hub.oregonuas.org/apply
• Bend Venture Conference 2026 opens applications — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/14/bend-venture-conference-2026-opens-applications-for-startups/
• Bend Venture Conference — https://www.bendvc.com/
• Chain React 2026: Putting yourself out there — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/15/chain-react-2026-putting-yourself-out-there/

This week in Oregon startup news, Agility Robotics is headed toward a SPAC IPO w — could be one of the biggest Oregon IPOs this year. Speaking of IPOs… with SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic all going public the Bay Area is getting less and less affordable. And I also spent way too many hours with the 2026 Oregon Prosperity Council Report so you don't have to — 452 pages.

LINKS:

A startup founder's guide to the 2026 Oregon Prosperity Council Report — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/10/a-startup-founders-guide-to-the-2026-oregon-prosperity-council-report-or-what-a-452-page-report-actually-means-for-people-considering-building-companies-here/Oregon Prosperity Council — https://www.oregon.gov/gov/policies/pages/prosperity-council.aspxGeothermal startup Quaise Energy raises $144M based on Oregon efforts — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/07/geothermal-startup-quaise-energy-raises-144m-based-on-oregon-efforts/Quaise Energy — https://startupfortune.com/quaise-energy-raises-144-million-to-drill-for-superhot-geothermal-power/Bay Area brain drain could result in Portland brain gain — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/09/bay-area-brain-drain-could-result-in-portland-brain-gain-emphasis-on-could/The New York Times — https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/08/technology/san-francisco-home-sales-openai-anthropic-ipo.htmlTechCrunch sits down with Agility CEO — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/06/techcrunch-sits-down-with-agility-ceo/Agility Robotics (TechCrunch) — https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/05/this-humanoid-robotics-company-is-going-public-but-its-ceo-isnt-promising-a-robot-in-your-home-anytime-soon/Bend's Platformr raises more money to ease AWS adoption — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/08/bends-platformr-raises-more-money-to-ease-aws-adoption-and-maintenance/Platformr — https://platformr.cloudDroplet can help — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/07/wish-your-mac-and-iphone-had-a-more-collaborative-relationship-droplet-can-help/Droplet — https://apps.apple.com/us/app/droplet-launch-sidekick/id6754230465Figma schmigma: Scamp simplifies the design handoff — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/08/figma-schmigma-scamp-simplifies-the-design-handoff-between-designers-and-developers/Scamp — https://www.scampdesign.app/Terrified of totally tokenmaxxing…? TokenJam — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/08/terrified-of-totally-tokenmaxxing-tokenjam-helps-you-understand-and-manage-token-spend/TokenJam — https://tokenjam.dev/Chatting with Conello about company culture — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/08/chatting-with-conello-about-company-culture/Chain React comes to Portland — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/10/chain-react-the-us-react-native-conference-will-be-in-portland-at-the-end-of-july/Chain React — https://chainreactconf.com/REMINDER: Oregon UAS Accelerator applications due July 19 — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/08/reminder-oregon-uas-accelerator-applications-are-due-july-19-2026/Oregon UAS Accelerator — https://hub.oregonuas.org/apply

FIND RICK TUROCZY ON THE INTERNET AT…- https://patreon.com/turoczy- https://linkedin.com/in/turoczy- https://bsky.app/profile/turoczy.bsky.social- https://siliconflorist.substack.com/- https://pdxslack.comABOUT SILICON FLORIST ----------For nearly two decades, Rick Turoczy has published Silicon Florist, a blog, newsletter, and podcast that covers entrepreneurs, founders, startups, entrepreneurship, tech, news, and events in the Portland, Oregon, startup community. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a startup or tech enthusiast, or simply intrigued by Portland's startup culture, Silicon Florist is your go-to source for the latest news, events, jobs, and opportunities in Portland Oregon's flourishing tech and startup scene. Join us in exploring the innovative world of startups in Portland, where creativity and collaboration meet.