Portland’s Business Incubators and Accelerators

In the latest Federal rankings, Oregon is fourth among US states in job growth, and Portland is eighth among all US cities. How does a small city like Portland create a large footprint in the startup world, while stimulating employment and economic development? We think it’s partly thanks to a great and growing base of programs offering assistance to small businesses. After several years of rapid growth, there are now 35 business incubators, accelerators, and support programs in the Portland area.

Beyond working space and crucial programs like mentoring, skills-building, and networking, you may be surprised what resources you can find in this ecosystem of supporting organizations. Need a commercial kitchen? A pop-up shop downtown? A 3-D printer? Alongside the Portland Business Journal’s recent Portland Incubator Roundup, we hope this post serves as your 2016 directory for local incubators helping small businesses thrive. Let us know in the comments if we missed anyone!

I. Incubators for Social Impact Ventures

Impact Entrepreneurs: Embedded in PSU’s School of Business Administration, Impact Entrepreneurs provides an online Certificate in Social Innovation for students and community members, the Social Innovation Incubator for more established ventures, and leadership trainings for the staff of large organizations.

HATCH: A set of linked offerings for social entrepreneurs and community businesses, Hatch offers co-working and office space, member workshops and public events, and a platform for equity crowdfunding in Oregon.

II. General Business Incubators, Accelerators, and Co-working Spaces

Best HQ: A business incubator, best HQ provides the support and resources for entrepreneurs to establish and grow their companies, in addition to providing workspace and management and leadership training.

CENTRL Office: A collaborative workspace in Portland’s Pearl District providing flexible full-service workspace for leading entrepreneurs, free agents, start ups, and work groups in the historic GE Supply Co. building.

Entrepreneurs’ Organization Portland Accelerator: Provides educational small-group meetings for entrepreneurs and ties to EO’s global network of successful business owners.

Forge Portland: Forge is a shared workspace where members have access to free accounting templates, legal referral, business
development, mentorship and intern placement.

The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE): Designed to accelerate the successful development of member companies, TiE provides support services including rental space, an incubator program, pitch sessions, and mentors.

Mercy Corps NW: Mercy Corps NW supports small businesses and entrepreneurs through microloans, matched business grants, and small business classes taught by business professionals.

NedSpace: This co-working resource has 14,000 square feet of great office space in the heart of downtown Portland for co-working, startups, entrepreneurs and remote workers.

Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN): OEN is the parent organization for Angel Oregon and the Young Entrepreneurs Society of Portland, and hosts a number of events and workshops designed for businesses at every stage of launch and growth.

The Professional Collective: A co-working space in Hillsboro with networking and educational events for entrepreneurs.

SCORE: Score is a nationwide nonprofit organization dedicated to the formation, growth and success of small businesses with free personal counseling, ongoing mentoring, and 100+ high quality, modestly-priced workshops each year.

Small Business Development Centers (SBDC): FREE to Oregon businesses and entrepreneurs, SBDC services include financial, marketing, production, organization, and international trade and feasibility studies.

Starve Ups: A virtual incubator and accelerator with peer mentoring as its cornerstone, Starve Ups is an end-to-end educational approach helping companies to survive, strive and thrive.

Startup PDX Challenge: Hosted by the Portland Development Commission, this annual competition connects startups to Portland’s growing entrepreneurial ecosystem and provides funding and workspace.

TenX: An open source, business frameworks education company, TenX provides content, events, conferences & learning programs to generate growth & acceleration for high potential organizations & individuals.

WeWork Custom House: The Portland branch of the well-known global co-working/event space and entrepreneurial community.

III. Tech Incubators and Accelerators

e1ectr0n: A hardware incubator, powered by Axiom Electronics, that provides manufacturing and engineering capability to startups.

Jaguar Land Rover Innovation Incubator: Focused on supporting technology startups developing new in-car entertainment, communications, and interaction technology.

Oregon BEST: The Built Environment and Sustainable Technologies Center provides funding, grant connections, links to investors, and research and commercialization support for cleantech entrepreneurs.

Oregon Technology Business Center (OTBC): OTBC helps entrepreneurs identify and attain their goals at every stage by providing entrepreneurs with office space, access to coaching, workshops and seminars.

The OTRADI Bioscience Incubator (OBI): A bioscience-specific accelerator that provides scientists and young companies with the resources and expertise needed to take their research from the lab to the market.

Portland Seed Fund: The Portland Seed Fund is a privately managed fund and non-resident accelerator focused on providing emerging companies the capital, mentoring and connections to propel them to the next level.

Portland Startup Weekend: A 54-hour frenzy of business model creation, coding, designing, and market validation, Startup Weekend brings together developers, designers and business people to build applications and develop a commercial case.

Portland State Business Accelerator (PSBA): Recognized by the NBIA as the top tech incubator in the US, and by UBI as one of the top 25 in the world, the PSBA offers office and lab space, networking events, and educational workshops for tech and bioscience startups.

IV. Creative, Craft, Culinary and Design Incubators and Accelerators

ADX: ADX is a 12,000-square foot facility that combines membership, fabrication services, classes and co-working to make ADX a hub for design and innovation in Portland.

KitchenCru: A shared-use community kitchen and culinary incubator that supports culinary entrepreneurs in developing, operating, and growing a successful business.

Oregon State University Food Innovation Center: The Food Innovation Center partners with the Department of Food Science and Technology to provide educational programs and with the SBDC to provide support to local food startups.

Oregon Story Board Accelerator: Through mentorship, co-working space, collaboration and networking, the Oregon Storyboard Accelerator is helping a budding industry of digitally-enabled storytellers thrive in Oregon.

PCC Getting Your Recipe to Market : In an intensive 14 weeks, this program will help you make your culinary idea commercial ready, with food industry experts that will take you step by step to produce, promote, and sell your product.

PNCA Bridge Lab: Provides entrepreneurship development and resources for artists by helping artist-entrepreneurs focus your vision, connect you with business resources, and assist you in building your own personal network in the Portland creative community.

V. Incubators and Accelerators for Women and Minority-owned Businesses

Portland State University Business Outreach Program (BOP): Helps local small businesses, including emerging minority and women-owned businesses, achieve their potential by providing technical assistance and business consulting services.

Hacienda CDC Community Economic Development: Serving low income microentrepreneurs at any stage of business development, the organization offers a culturally-specific Microenterprise Program that incubates businesses by providing training, access to capital and selling opportunities, affordable commercial kitchen rental and, in the future, retail space at the Portland Mercado.

Micro Enterprise Services of Oregon (MESO): MESO improves the economic opportunities of underserved individuals through empowerment, education, and entrepreneurship for the benefit of families in the greater
community.

Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs: Participants in the Association can access the Incubator With Walls or the Incubator Without Walls. Both offer market rates, individual technical assistance, counseling with OAME’s staff or volunteers, cooperative marketing and business growth, and development support.

Women Of Mindful Business (WOMB): WOMB helps women create a natural framework for business and marketing efforts, and
is a platform for collaboration with a small group of heart-centered entrepreneurs and opportunity to learn to weave the feminine into your business.

Women’s Plaza: opening in 2016, Women’s Plaza will offer co-w0rking space, childcare, catered meals, wellness advisors, and networking opportunities.

Note: we periodically update this post to ensure that it remains timely. Last update: April 18, 2016. Header photo by Cacophony, used through CC Attribution-Share Alike license. 

Mercy Corps NW: Small Business Loans, Grants, and Classes

Mercy Corps Northwest (MCNW), the regional branch of the global development and relief NGO Mercy Corps, serves a crucial role for local startups. In the past 10 years, MCNW has lent more than $2.5 million to over 250 small business owners in the Portland area. In addition to business loans, MCNW also provides matched savings accounts and courses in business fundamentals. Scott Onder, their lending and strategy manager, was kind enough to answer some of our questions about the ways in which MCNW supports local business owners.

Impact Entrepreneurs: How would you describe MCNW’s lending and IDA programs in a single tweet?

That’s tough—is a link to our website cheating? I’ll try to stick to the 140 character limit:

“Grow your #smallbiz, build #credit w/@MercyCorpsnw #microloans up to $50k + IDA savings-match grants. #Startups welcome!”

What is an IDA program, anyway?

Our Individual Development Accounts are an opportunity for low-income entrepreneurs to earn a grant to invest in business assets like equipment, websites or relevant education. To accomplish this, new and experienced business owners alike take a 6-week business course, develop an effective business plan, and save $1,334 over a 6 to 24 month period.  This savings is then matched with an additional $4,000 grant.  Every year over 100 entrepreneurs start and grow businesses with Mercy Corps IDAs.

Mercy Corps loans go up to $20,000 for new businesses and up to $50,000 for businesses that have been in operation for more than a year. We occasionally partner with other lenders to extend financing up to $200,000.

How large are your loans, and what types of businesses are eligible?

We work with a very broad array of businesses ranging from contractors to bilingual schools and health clinics, to commercial bakeries, bike manufacturers, retailers and breweries. They may be looking to finance equipment, growth inventory, vehicles, or space expansion.  A common element among our borrowers is that traditional lenders were unable to meet their needs.  Most of our clients are low-income, and we will also work with moderate-income business owners who are creating jobs but unable to obtain commercial bank financing.

What does the application process look like, and how long does it take?

The process begins with a short online loan inquiry form. From there, a loan officer will help navigate a prospective borrower to a full application, also online. We ask for many of the same materials that a bank would: financials, tax returns, credit history and other documentation. For startups, we request a business plan. Once a client submits a complete application, it can take anywhere from 2 to 8 weeks for our loan committee to make a decision. The committee is made up of business owners, instructors, and bankers from outside our organization who make the final decision.

How much do you charge in interest and fees?

Interest ranges from 8 to 12%. Fees range from 1 to 4%

What are your collateral requirements?

Unlike banks, we do not have specific collateral requirements.  We do want to see that the business owner has invested what they are able to and are fully committed to the success of the business.  We accept personal assets as collateral and take a first interest lien position in the form of a UCC-01 on business assets.

What sets you apart from a more traditional lender, such as a bank?

We offer our clients more educational opportunities than a traditional lender might. These include classroom training, one-on-one counseling and other support to help an entrepreneur get ready to apply. Once approved, we are very hands-on with our clients and try our best to link them with resources that will give them the best chance of success. Also, Mercy Corps NW will approve loan amounts that are substantially smaller and, often, riskier than a bank would consider. We will work with new business owners who have limited track records, limited or no net worth, credit challenges, and lean balance sheets.

Where do you receive the funding for your programs?

Our funding comes from a diverse range of sources including foundations, local, State and Federal government, commercial banks and corporations, and many individuals throughout the Northwest.

What other programs do you have to support entrepreneurs?

Mercy Corps NW offers a range of training resources including seminars on business topics, business planning courses as well as mentoring and consulting opportunities for our clients.

We are a Small Business Administration Women’s Business Center and also work along with partner organizations to assist underserved minority- and women-owned businesses to form business teams for the purpose of bidding for federal and corporate procurement contracts.

We also have an Agriculture Project that helps immigrant and refugee farmers access land and bring their crops to market through CSAs and farmers markets.

Photo by Bruce MacGregor for MercyCorps NW

Do you have a memorable story of how an IDA or loan helped a local business?
We have a number of memorable clients, which makes my job a lot of fun.  It never ceases to amaze me how resourceful entrepreneurs can be, especially when they have limited funds to accomplish their goals.

One of my favorite examples of this is a couple that took out a small loan to purchase basic brewing equipment and have turned a small home brewing operation into a really top-notch brewery, Captured by Porches. With remarkable ingenuity, they developed a high-quality line of beers that they distribute throughout the region, and an authentic brand that competes with much larger breweries. They reach out to customers in unique ways, including building a fleet of mobile pubs which serve their beer in food cart pods and farm stands. They care about the environment (they use reusable bottles and recycle most of their waste) and contribute to the community in very genuine ways.

To learn about the emerging field of impact investing in local and sustainable enterprises, please register for the upcoming PSU Business Briefing Breakfast “Meet the Impact Investors: In Pursuit of Profits, Purpose and Planet.”