Early-stage funding arrives in Oregon amid renaissance for tech entrepreneurs

In a dark decade for Oregon technology, perhaps no part of the landscape was more forlorn than the funding picture for early-stage entrepreneurs.

The dot-com bust left a hole in the investment community, draining the reservoir of cash to fuel new ideas. In the 10 years that followed, no big companies emerged in the Silicon Forest, and entrepreneurs struggled for money just to get started.

Recent Lewis & Clark graduate Amber Case wandered into that bleak forest last spring, looking for money to take her company — a location-sharing startup called Geoloqi — from nifty concept to going concern. After an unsatisfying foray to the Silicon Valley (money was easy to come by, but Case and co-founder Aaron Parecki wanted to stay local) she returned to Portland and discovered a hidden network of opportunity.

By Mike Rogoway, The Oregonian

Full Story: http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2011/09/early-stage_funding_arrives_in.html