Week ending Mar 13, 2026 - Oregon startup news

Much better mood this week. Depot — a YC alum with Portland roots — just raised a $10M Series A. Tower, co-founded by PIE alum Brad Heller, raised $6.4M. PDXWIT is rebooting. The Claude Code hackathon drew 120 people who built 52 projects in 3 hours. And the Silicon Forest Tech Summit is tomorrow.

TIMECODES

• 00:00 Oregon startup news intro
• 08:30 Silicon Forest Tech Summit preview 10:30 Depot raises $10M Series A
• 14:00 Claude Code Hackathon
• 16:00 Secrets

LINKS

Tower raises $6.4M https://techfundingnews.com/tower-6-4m-claude-data-pipelines-last-mile/ Depot $10M Series A - Blog post: https://depot.dev/blog/depot-raises-series-a - SF post: https://siliconflorist.com/2026/03/12/yc-alum-depot-raises-10m-series-a/ QSBS / SB 1507 - SF post: https://siliconflorist.com/2026/03/06/why-is-no-one-talking-about-oregon-eliminating-qsbs-tax-breaks/ Axios Portland - Oregon losing growth: https://www.axios.com/local/portland/2026/03/09/oregon-businesses-expand-out-of-state-growth-incentives - Small businesses struggling: https://www.axios.com/local/portland/2026/03/11/small-businesses-rising-costs-reputation-challenges PDXWIT reboot - SF post: https://siliconflorist.com/2026/01/26/portland-women-in-technology-pdxwit-reboots/ Seattle Startup Day (May 15) - Tickets / info: https://startupday.seattleflow.org/ - SF post: https://siliconflorist.com/2026/03/12/considering-heading-to-seattle-for-startup-day-2026-early-bird-prices-end-tomorrow/ Founders Live Build Portland (April 9) https://www.founderslive.com/events-list/portland-2026-04 Bluesky CEO change https://bsky.social/about/blog/03-09-2026-a-new-chapter-for-bluesky Silicon Forest Tech Summit 2026 - Tickets / info: https://www.oregoncc.org/attend/events/2026/03/silicon-forest-tech-summit-2026 - SF post: https://siliconflorist.com/2026/03/05/who-is-taking-the-stage-at-the-silicon-forest-tech-summit-next-week/ Claude Code Hackathon recap (Sam Keane) - Sam's recap: https://writing.alteredcraft.com/p/portland-built-with-claude-meet-the - SF post: https://siliconflorist.com/2026/03/12/back-in-my-day-hackathons-used-to-take-a-whole-weekend/ Decisio Startup Story - SF post: https://siliconflorist.com/2026/03/11/struggling-to-figure-out-what-to-watch-theres-an-app-for-that/

ABOUT 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.ABOUT RICK TUROCZY ----------Rick Turoczy has been working in, on, and around the Portland, Oregon, startup community for nearly 30 years. He has been recognized as one of the “OG”s of startup ecosystem building by the Kauffman Foundation. And he has been humbled by any number of opportunities to speak on stages from SXSW to INBOUND and from Kobe, Japan, to Muscat, Oman, including an opportunity to share his views on community building on the TEDxPortland stage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj98mr_wUA0). All because of a blog. Weird.https://siliconflorist.com#pdx #portland #oregon #startup #entrepreneur