SEPTEMBER, 2018
Greetings from David Kenney
President & Executive Director
Events with a Positive Impact on the Planet
Our whole VertueLab team is excited about our annual conference coming up next Wednesday, September 26th! Formerly BEST FEST, the
VertueLab Impact Summit will bring together innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, partners, and others who want to check out some of the most innovative clean technology solutions from around the Northwest and to learn about how impact investors can provide needed capital for developing and deploying these solutions. Be sure to join us next Wednesday at Castaway in Portland at
#VIS2018!
As we look ahead to the fall season, the VertueLab team is gearing up to learn, teach, inspire, and collaborate via other events around the country. We'll be seeking feedback and building support at
Philanthropy NW's annual conference in Boise, supporting the Impact Track at the
Bend Venture Conference, learning and building our impact investing network at
SOCAP18 in San Francisco, and forging partnerships in New York City at
RI (Responsible Investor) Americas, a leading sustainable business and finance conference.
Connecting with others with shared goals is central to what we do, and we're pleased to both host a significant event ourselves
and to participate in other events to further our environmental and economic development mission in order to positively impact the planet. See you out there!
I hope to see you at these events,
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VertueLab Wins FAST Grant from SBA
Last week, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced that VertueLab was one of 24 organizations nationwide to be awarded a $125,000 grant from the Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership Program. The FAST program aims to stimulate economic development with outreach, training, mentoring, financial support, and business/technical assistance to small businesses, with an emphasis on fostering participation from
women-owned, rural-based, and socially/economically disadvantaged firms to help them compete in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs. "This new grant reaffirms that our decade of hard work funding and supporting cleantech startups is having an impact on the world," said David Kenney, president and executive director of VertuLab.
More.
Changing the Apparel Industry, One Garment at a Time
Take a peek at photographs from inside a small factory on the banks of the Columbia River that represents big change for the apparel industry.
Nicole Bassett and
Jeff Denby (
pictured, above) founded
The Renewal Workshop in 2016, aiming to keep returned and/or damaged but repairable clothing out of landfills. The company is growing fast and has 15 industry partners, including the North Face, a big client that lends it added credibility.
See photo gallery.
IOTAS Secures More Markets, Expands Executive Team
IOTAS, developer of a smart apartment technology, has added added
Chad Summers as its new VP of Revenue in response to recent exponential growth that includes securing smart apartment adoption in 35 markets with more than 60 multifamily clients. One of these clients is
The River District, a 276-acre mixed-use development in West Fort Worth, Texas. “We exceeded our 2018 sales goals in Q1 of 2018 working with some of the largest companies in the industry, so we’re pressing the accelerator as demand has kicked into high gear,” stated
Sce Pike, founder and CEO of the company.
More.
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“When it comes to innovating and investing for a cleaner and
more livable future – we all can play a role. Conversations
and ideas shared at the VertueLab Impact Summit could
very well change our communities and the world.”
-
Tobias Read, Oregon State Treasurer
Where Cleantech Innovation & Impact Investing Meet
Join us next week at Castaway in Portland
Come out next Wednesday, September 26, to hear
Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read (
pictured, above) kick off our annual event,
VertueLab Impact Summit (formerly BEST FEST) - the Pacific Northwest’s premier cleantech innovation conference.
Join business leaders, entrepreneurs, impact investors, partners, university researchers, students, scientists, and others who have the common goal of innovating and accelerating solutions to the world's most pressing environmental challenges.
You'll see
Green Technologies for Good that include:
- Insects for animal food and organic fertilizer
- Vodka made from excess whey
- A biodegradable replacement for plastics
- A mobile app that lets drivers automatically invest in local carbon offsets
- Nontoxic sunscreen based on a compound found in marine life that avoids sunburn
- A bio-refining technology that converts biomass into biocoal, biogas, and biochar
- A new micro-hydro energy generation system
During the
Fireside Chat, you'll hear leading minds in impact investing talk about the growing source of "money with a mission" - money that recognizes and values the financial, social, and environmental returns from clean technology solutions.
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WHY PARTNERING ON
CLEANTECH MATTERS
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OEN's President Talks Cleantech Collaboration and Partnering with VertueLab on VIS2018
The
Oregon Entrepreneur's Network (OEN) is partnering with VertueLab on next week's VertueLab Impact Summit.
Maggie Finnerty, the president and executive director of the organization, talks about OEN's interest in clean technologies, why the new partnership with VertueLab is an ideal fit, and the opportunities she hopes to bring to entrepreneurs of all sorts.
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Why did you decide to team up with VertueLab on this event?
VertueLab is the leader in cleantech, and when we discussed their vision for "the retooled and reimagined BEST FEST," it was clear that we would make a very strong team. We want to use our platform, including our
network of Venture Catalysts across the state, to ensure that all entrepreneurs, no matter where they are in Oregon or SW Washington, know how VertueLab can help cleantech companies. By combining OEN's expertise in education, pitch/presentation training, our investor network, and deep bench of mentors with VertueLab's focus on cleantech specifically, we are a very strong team!
Why cleantech? And why is OEN interested in cleantech as a new cluster?
OEN has a long history of supporting technology companies, and that commitment continues today. Technology companies take many forms – there's tech in nearly everything. Cleantech can mean lots of things – from wind and solar energy projects to innovative food and clothing companies. As we continue to organize our work along clusters, supporting environmentally focused technology companies will remain a critical part of our work.
What are the opportunities for OEN you hope to see?
We want to organize communities of entrepreneurs to educate, support, and inspire one another to success. Our startup ecosystem has evolved to the point where
companies are expecting/requiring cluster-specific education. Entrepreneurs want their service providers to understand their industry and want to connect with others in their industry across the state. Investors increasingly have preferences and want to invest in industries that matter to them. By leveraging our network, including our Venture Catalysts, we believe we are in a unique position to help organize clusters and support them across the state. We hope to catalyze funds along cluster lines, too. All with the goal of supporting Oregon and SW Washington companies so that they thrive and drive the region's economy.
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EVENTS, OPPORTUNITIES,
AND FUNDING
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EVENTS
Presented by OEN and VertueLab, this event (formerly known as BEST FEST) brings together innovators, entrepreneurs, impact investors, and others to ensure clean technology innovations are impacting the world in powerful, positive ways. Portland
Register!
Oregon State University is hosting "The Promise and the Peril of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics," with keynote address by
Jacob Ward, a science and technology correspondent for CNN and Al Jazeera and the former editor-in-chief of Popular Science magazine. Corvallis, OR
VertueLab is proud to be the Impact Track sponsor for the largest angel conference in the Pacific Northwest. Last year, more than 600 attendees, 50 investors, and 70 companies participated, and investments, awards, and prizes totaled more than $1.83 million. Bend, OR
SOCAP is the world’s leading conference activating the capital markets to drive positive social and environmental impact – convening the marketplace at the intersection of money and meaning. San Francisco
This conference and expo is the platform for accelerating a clean economy. Join people from companies and utilities, city and regional governments, policymakers, NGOs, solution providers and startups - to explore scalable solutions at the intersection of technology and sustainability. Oakland, CA
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OPPORTUNITIES
Application Deadline: October 5th
Launch Alaska is recruiting 4 to 6 energy and transportation companies for its spring 2019 cohort, and an additional 4 to 6 food and water companies in the fall.
Application Deadline: October 31st
Present your concept or seed stage company to some of the most active VCs and
Angel Investors in Oregon. Pitch Oregon is TiE Oregon’s marquee event, attracting more than 200 attendees each year to see entrepreneurs from all around Oregon pitch for a prize package and overall cash prize.
Applications Deadline: November 16
Are you working on cutting edge projects in the electric, shared, and smart mobility Industry? Apply to present at Roadmap 12, the nation’s largest and most advanced annual electric and smart mobility conference.
RocketSpace and BP have teamed up on this accelerator to shape the future movement of people, goods, and services. Up to 21 startups are selected to participate.
If your product or service is “Made in America,” your company could qualify for this matching grant funding from the Northwest Trade Adjustment Assistance Center.
A group of investors contributes time, expertise, capital, and connections to help founders gain access to the right people and resources to grow their business their way.
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#VIS2018
SPONSORS - THANK YOU!
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Let's Collaborate and Make an Impact!
Resources and expertise for innovators and investors
At
VertueLab
, we support great ideas from entrepreneurs and help investors ensure that their dollars are making a positive impact on the planet. We collaborate to help transform ideas into successful enterprises and measure the success all along the way.
Contact us
!
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