Local entrepreneur launches SURGE Accelerator

The Puget Sound is getting a new accelerator and the City of Tacoma is getting a new tenant.

SURGE Launch, a new startup accelerator founded by Eli Moreno, will launch its first cohort in January 2016.

The SURGE Launch program is unique and will be the first of its kind in the Puget Sound; each company that is accepted into the program will receive between $20k to $80k in seed capital and over $100k in perks, in exchange for up to 9% equity stake.

What separates SURGE Launch from other accelerators is the mentor program and the network of resources available to program companies. “The SURGE mentor pool is a mix of seasoned entrepreneurs, angel investors and venture capitalists that will have a direct equity stake on each company that they mentor,” said Lee Reeves, Executive Director of SURGE. “Our mentors have built companies, sold companies and invested capital into companies; we have a very diverse mentor program.”

"The City of Tacoma applauds the efforts of Eli Moreno to start this Accelerator." shared
Ricardo Noguera, Community & Economic Development Director with the City of Tacoma
"Through the collaborative efforts of the Accelerator, local tech firms, real estate professionals, the University of Washington, and the Tacoma’s Institute of Technology, expect to see the launch of many new start-up tech firms" added Noguera.

SURGE Launch will help facilitate connections and maximize resources for startup entrepreneurs. “We’re all in this together,” says Eli Moreno. “We are in discussions with multiple stakeholders, across multiple disciplines, about the opportunity we have in front of us.

Having strong, working relationships with community partners is in the best interest of entrepreneurism and the greater community.” Moreno has had a successful career as a startup
CEO and early angel investor in numerous ventures. Moreno is currently the CEO of Premier
Residential, a Tacoma-based company that focuses on property investments, acquisitions and management. He also works closely with companies seeking to raise capital.

“This kind of hub of innovation and collaboration is vital to the growth of the startup and entrepreneurial growth of the Puget Sound. The time is right for Tacoma to participate and see a thriving Start up Ecosystem developed that will sustain the area into the future,” said Gary Rubens, Mentor and Strategic Advisor.

Gary Rubens is a private investor and entrepreneur. Rubens has more than 25 years of experience in launching startups, business acquisitions, commercial real estate investing and running large scale businesses. Rubens sold ATG Stores to Lowe’s in 2012; he is also the founder of the Rubens Family Foundation, an organization that provides scholarships to underprivileged youth. More recently, Rubens launched the 1plus1 Initiative with the mission to give back to the educational and entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Mentors are important; community partnerships are equally important. "With a talented workforce and readily available pool of new engineers graduating from UWTacoma and area colleges, startups as well as expanding tech firms from the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle-King County, find this a great place to launch and expand their businesses and The City of Tacoma stands willing and ready to help" said Noguera.

SURGE has developed a series of sequenced elements that need to be in place before companies are accepted into the interview round. If all elements are met, the company will move onto the interview phase. Companies that are interested in applying to SURGE should apply at HERE. The deadline for companies interested in participating in the first cohort is December 31st. Every application will be reviewed upon submission and a response will be provided to each team within two weeks.

CenturyLink Expands Broadband in Tacoma

CenturyLink, Inc. a gigabit deployment leader in the U.S. and Washington, is continuing to expand its broadband service with speeds up to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) in Tacoma, recently surpassing 36,000 households in the area.

“Reaching 36,000 homes marks a positive milestone in CenturyLink’s progress to become the next-generation technology provider for the South Sound,” said Sue Anderson, CenturyLink vice president of operations for Washington state. “This milestone builds on our ongoing commitment to provide this thriving city with the latest technology for communication, innovation and entertainment. We’re invested in the area and will continue to build out across Tacoma for quite some time.”
 
CenturyLink is using fiber-to-the-home technology to provide speeds up to 1 Gbps, equivalent to 1,000 Mbps, allowing users to stream high-definition video content with little to no delays and download movies, songs and TV shows in seconds. CenturyLink has also made fiber-enabled gigabit service available to thousands of business locations in the greater Tacoma area. Gigabit speeds are helping businesses increase productivity and efficiency while working in the cloud, sharing multimedia files, streaming video content and backing-up data in real-time. In addition, CenturyLink’s 1 Gbps service offers symmetrical speeds, allowing customers to upload information as fast as they download it.

CenturyLink has one of the largest fiber-enabled gigabit networks in the country and is an industry leader in the number of homes it has enabled with fiber technology capable of uploading and downloading information at speeds up to 1 Gbps. The company offers gigabit Internet service to residential and small business customers in parts of 17 states and expects to have more than 700,000 homes across the country enabled with gigabit service by the end of 2015.

The Fiber to the Home (FTTH) Council recently presented CenturyLink with this year’s Chairman’s Award for deploying FTTH technology and  making high-speed broadband service up to 1 gigabit per second available to communities throughout the U.S., including underserved areas.

Residential customers can purchase 1 Gbps service for a monthly recurring charge of $79.95 with a 12-month term commitment and when bundled with additional, qualifying CenturyLink services. In addition to speeds up to 1 Gbps, some customers may be eligible for speeds up to 40 and 100 Mbps. Customers should contact CenturyLink to see what speeds are available to them. They can also go to www.centurylink.com/gigabit to find out if broadband speeds up to 1 Gbps are available in their location and request an email notification once network upgrades are completed in their area.

Vets Startups Forum

RSVP: http://sched.co/41U3

Transpo Tech Conference 2015

Technologies and transportation?  Here's how to know more:

Chinese Provinces- U.S. States Business Cooperation Seminar & Inaugural Ceremony of Joint Working Group for Trade and Investment Cooperation Between Chinese Provinces and Washington State

Sponsored by: Daohe Global & Washington State Sichuan Province Chamber of Commerce          

WHEN: September 22, 2015, 1:30 PM to 6:00 PM

WHERE: Leonesa Ballroom, Grand Hyatt Seattle

                721 Pine Street, Seattle, Washington, USA, 98101

REGISTER HERE

PROMO CODE: SEATTLECHAMBER

Please join the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce and the People’s Republic of China’s Ministry of Commerce for an invite-only afternoon of networking and collaborating as officials and key decision makers in top companies discuss long-term cooperation and partnership opportunities between China and the United States.

Over 200 of China’s top governmental officials and business decision makers in agriculture, aerospace, ecommerce, investment, and technology, will be present at this private event.

The Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber is excited to announce the event will begin with the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Establishing Joint Working Group for Trade and Investment Cooperation between PRC Provinces and the State of Washington. Following the signing of the MOU, key decision makers in a multitude of industries will be sharing their experiences and ideas while promoting future business endeavors.

                                GUEST SPEAKERS INCLUDE:

·         Doug McMillion, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., President and CEO

·         Liu Shaoyong, China Eastern Air Holding Company, President

·         Pan Gang, Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Company Limited, President

·         Ralph Haupter, Microsoft, Corporate Vice President and

Chief Executive Officer of Greater China Region

·         Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn, Executive Chairman and co-Founder

·         Zhou Xijian, Daohe Global Group Limited, Chairman 

                                               

                                                *Please note speakers are subject to change based on availability and schedule changes

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS AND ORGANIZERS

Dahoe Global; Washington State Sichuan Province Chamber of Commerce; Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), People’s Republic of China; United States Department of Commerce; Washington State; Trade Development Bureau of MOFCOM; Washington State Department of Commerce; Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce; China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products; China Chamber of Commerce of Foodstuffs and Native Produce

Tech Startups Changes Location

Tech StartUps Networking Event

Improving the Security and Reliability of Your Business

Join the West Side Branch at Smoke + Cedar Restaurant July 31 from 7:30-9:00 am for a technology discussion lead by Wade Stewart of Stewart & Son Computer Services, LLC. Learn how to increase your organization's efficiency and mobility. Topics to be addressed are:

• Emerging Technology: what the focus is and where it's going.
• Popular apps and how to use them for your business
• Technology planning for small business
• Computer Security: How to protect yourself and your business.
  

Admission is complimentary and includes a light continental breakfast. For more information , or to register, please visit the event webpage.

"Fast Track" Important to Tech Industry

On Friday, the U.S. House of Rep- resentatives will likely consider legislation that will allow trade agreements to move through Congress under special rules intended to speed up the approval process.

A great resource is the Information Technology Industry Council's TechWonk Blog: http://bit.ly/1T9kqCi

Trade Promotion Authority (TPA, also colloquially known as “fast-track”) will help grow America’s economy and create new jobs by ensuring future trade agreements benefit American workers, consumers, and businesses. Through the TPA bill, Congress has the ability to tell U.S. Trade officials what goals they must meet to benefit their constituents and local businesses.

The bill enjoys (and passed the Senate with) bipartisan support – of a unique kind. The President has urged its passage, and many pro-trade congressional Republicans and Democrats have said they would support the bill. But some Republicans have indicated they’re on the fence, possibly because they don’t want to support what’s being referred to as “Obamatrade,” or, for that matter, the President himself, because it grants him “too much power.” Many Democrats oppose the bill, some because they still have NAFTA in mind, others because they’ve been threatened by the labor lobby.

Since these complex issues are, as always, rife with political rhetoric, perhaps it’s worth looking at two key myths about this legislation.

Regarding the legislation granting the president some sort of unilateral power, the fact is that Congress still must approve any trade agreement negotiated by the president in an up or down vote. As the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service notes, TPA represents a “gentleman’s agreement” between the Congress and the president, in which the legislative branch offers “fast track” rules if the executive branch agrees to follow a detailed set of negotiating objectives and engages in a consultations with Congress. (A fact that even some members of Congress apparently didn’t realize.)  And of course it’s worked for decades; Congress has endowed every U.S. president since FDR at least some trade negotiating authority.

But those are just Congress’ arguments. Others attacking the legislation say that TPA (and its accompanying Pacific-rim Trade Agreement, or TPP) only benefits large corporations at the expense of workers. This specious reasoning vastly overlooks the fact that innumerable growing businesses and industries, both large and small, will be hurt if the bill fails. In 2012 alone, for example, the U.S. technology industry exported more than $85.5 billion worth of technology goods to TPP countries.

Passage of this critical legislation should be determined by careful consideration of the facts, not by partisan rhetoric and unfounded claims. Luckily, you can help in this effort by taking two minutes to send a letter to your Representative and urge them to pass this important legislation. Join us and speak out in support of jobs, growth, and prosperity. The vote is Friday, so please act now.

Apply for SSTI's '15 Excellence in TBED Awards

Consider sharing your organization's achievements by applying for SSTI's 2015 Excellence in TBED awards.

SSTI will present awards in six categories that focus on several elements found in thriving tech-based economies.  These include research base that generates new knowledge, mechanisms for transferring knowledge into the marketplace, an entrepreneurial culture, sources of risk capital and competitive industries. Other categories are available.

If you wish to participate in an informational conference call June 15, register at sstiawards.org to register.

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State of Tech Luncheon 2015

Every year, more than 800 of Washington's top leaders in business, tech, research and government gather for the State of Technology Luncheon.

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Finalists for Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2015 in the Pacific Northwest

EY today announced the finalists for the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2015 in the Pacific Northwest.

The awards program recognizes entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.  These business leaders were selected by a panel of independent judges.

Award winners will be announced at a special gala on June 5, 2015 at Sheraton Seattle Hotel.  To find out more about the Pacific Northwest program please visit HERE.  #EOYPNW.

The finalists are:

Avalara, Inc. | Scott McFarlane, Co-Founder & CEO | Bainbridge Island, WA

Avvo | Mark Britton, Founder & CEO | Seattle, WA

barre3 | Sadie Lincoln, Founder & Owner | Portland, OR

Blink UX | Karen Clark Cole, CEO | Seattle, WA

Context Relevant | Stephen Purpura, Founder & CEO | Seattle, WA

Dave's Killer Bread | John Tucker, CEO | Milwaukie, OR

DiscoverOrg | Henry Schuck, CEO | Vancouver, WA

EagleView Technologies | Chris Barrow, President & CEO | Bothell, WA

ExtraHop Networks | Jesse Rothstein, Co-Founder & CEO; Raja Mukerji, Co-Founder & President | Seattle, WA

Hydro Flask | Scott Allan, President & CEO | Bend, OR

Life Flight Network | Michael Griffiths, CEO | Aurora, OR

Limeade | Henry Albrecht, CEO | Bellevue, WA

Picmonkey.com | Jonathan Sposato, CEO | Seattle, WA

PitchBook | John Gabbert, Founder & CEO | Seattle, WA

SET Creative | Sabina Teshler, Owner & CEO | Portland, OR

SmartRG | Jeff McInnis, President & CEO | Vancouver, WA

Smartsheet | Mark Mader, President & CEO | Bellevue, WA

Treehouse | Ryan Carson, Co-Founder & CEO | Portland, OR

Trupanion | Darryl Rawlings, CEO | Seattle, WA

TUNE | Lucas Brown, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer; Lee Brown, Co-Founder & Chief Architect | Seattle, WA

ZoomCare | Dave Sanders, M.D., CEO | Hillsboro, OR

Now in its 29th year, the program has expanded to recognize business leaders in over 145 cities in 60 countries throughout the world.

Regional award winners are eligible for consideration for the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year national program.  Award winners in several national categories, as well as the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Overall National Award winner, will be announced at the annual awards gala in Palm Springs, California on November 14, 2015.

The US Entrepreneur Of The Year Overall Award winner then moves on to compete for the World Entrepreneur Of The Year Award in Monaco, June 2016. Additionally, venture-backed companies that win an Entrepreneur Of The Year Award regionally are also eligible for the Venture Capital Award of Excellence at the national level. The awards are the culminating event of the EY Strategic Growth Forum®, the nation’s most prestigious gathering of high-growth, market-leading companies.

Sponsors
Founded and produced by EY, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards are sponsored nationally by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and SAP America.  In the Pacific Northwest, sponsors also include Merrill Datasite, Union Bank and Scherzer International.

About EY Entrepreneur Of The Year®
EY Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world’s most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The unique award makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global award of its kind, Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 145 cities in more than 60 countries.

Join the CoMotion Incubator Innovation Seminars

Registration Link: http://depts.washington.edu/uwc4c/news-events/events/innovation_seminar_series

Cyber Security as a Regional Economic Issue

The Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber presents Cybersecurity at its Lunch & Learn session.


Join Cybersecurity Policy Advisor Mike Hamilton as he shares an all-state strategy to treat cybersecurity as an economic issue, and how the strategy centers around workforce development, infrastructure protection, and research.


Presented By:
Michael K. Hamilton
Cybersecurity Policy Advisor
State of Washington Office of CIO

Event Location
The Hub
203 Tacoma Ave. S
Tacoma, WA 98402
Date/Time Information
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
11:30 - 1:00 PM


Fees/Admission
$20.00 Member
$25.00 Non-Member
Includes lunch service

Registration HERE

UW Lecture Series 2015

This lecture is open to everyone in the community.

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18 Washington State Tech Companies to 2015 Mobile World Congress

                    18 Washington state tech companies are bound for Barcelona, 2015 Mobile World Congress.

The Washington State Department of Commerce aims to increase awareness and sales in international markets for innovative technology businesses.

Demonstrating the state’s leadership in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector, the Washington State Department of Commerce is leading a delegation of 18 companies at GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, the world’s largest conference for the mobile tech industry. This is the fourth consecutive year Commerce has showcased new platform solutions and services in mobile apps, game design, productivity, security and location mapping developed by some of the state’s most creative and forward-thinking businesses.

“Washington is one of the nation’s vital hotbeds for established and new businesses that are pushing the envelope in digital media and mobile technology development,” said Brian Bonlender, state Commerce Director. “By putting our delegation on the international stage at Mobile World Congress, we are providing them with an opportunity to increase global awareness of their technologies and pave the way for future growth.”

The Washington State Department of Commerce Pavilion, themed “Choose Washington,” features a mix of established mobile technology businesses and startups for conference attendees to view demonstrations and learn more about their unique solutions. Pavilion exhibitors include: APImetrics,Apptentive, autograph, Black Pixel, Buddy Platform Inc., Codeproof, General UI, Glympse, Guppy Games|Media, IndoorAtlas, INRIX, Studio Pepwuper, PlayFab, Orca Wave, Sequitur Labs, Sirqul, and Syntonic, TouchBase, plus the non-profit organizations, One Redmond and Washington Interactive Network.

“As a startup, Mobile World Congress offers tremendous opportunity to introduce our technology to major global brands. We participated in the conference as part of the Washington State Department of Commerce delegation two years ago and found the experience to be extremely valuable as we were able to focus on our business goals instead of logistics. After participating last year on our own, we enthusiastically signed up for 2015, and we are already seeing the benefits from being a part of this great community,” said Bryan Trussel, co-founder and CEO of Glympse.

The Department of Commerce team organizes business matchmaking introductions for their exhibitor companies to meet with mobile carriers, hardware manufacturers, enterprise mobility strategists and marketers to negotiate licensing agreements and grow global awareness of their unique technologies and services. Though customer relationships often take years to develop, Washington State companies have already reported nearly $8 million in new sales as a result of their participation in this event over the last three years.

Many of these companies are smaller startups that wouldn’t be able to attend international trade shows of this caliber without the export vouchers provided by Commerce. Made possible through the Small Business Administration’s State Trade Export Promotion (STEP) program, these funds help offset the cost of attending major international trade events.

Washington State ICT Industry Snapshot:
• 14,000 companies with 176,600+ workers
• 90,000 software developers
• 300 game design companies
• $700 Million in 140 VC investments, another 260 startups financed by founders and angels
• $600B in market cap among the top 10 public ICT companies
• $2.6 Billion in mobile app development

Washington state has grown its presence each year as the world becomes more familiar with the region’s leadership in mobile technologies and role in shaping the future of information and communication technology, Bonlender said.

For more information on the Choose Washington Pavilion’s featured companies, download the free iPad app for iOS users at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/choose-wa/id954735761?mt=8. The app also provides handy quick reference information from GSMA about the show venues, hours, badge pick-up and more for all attendees.

The WA Dept. of Commerce's event press kit is available HERE.

Seattle National Cybersecurity Summit Open House

The Seattle National Cybersecurity Summit Open House will be held on February 13 from 8:00 AM -­-2:00 PM at the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission, Cascade Building Auditorium, 19010 1^st Avenue South, Burien, WA 98148.

Parking is available on-­-site, follow the signs for the Cascade Building and proceed to the Lobby.

If you plan to attend please register at HERE by February 11.

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Tacoma Biotech's New Product

Tacoma biotech firm Revalesio is highlighted in The (Tacoma) News Tribune for its new products promising a revolutionary breakthrough in the treatment of several illnesses.

In addition to the potential for the firm, the potential for Tacoma is also explored in the article here.

TechCafe Merges with Seattle Angel

Josh Maher is working to merge TechCafe with Seattle Angel to help focus his efforts more directly on the capital component of the equation.

One of the things he will be doing as a part of that is transitioning his monthly newsletter to focus specifically on angel investing and raising capital in the Seattle area. He’d like to highlight other people and organizations working on the capital part of the equation.

The end goal is to raise the level of participation in all angel activities through conversations and awareness.  http://about.me/JoshMaher

Tacoma Law Firm Facilitates Payments by Bitcoin

MerchantCoin announced recently a partnership with Dickson Law Group who will begin accepting payment for bitcoin in exchange for its legal services.

“Our decision to use the MerchantCoin ecosystem to accept bitcoin for legal services supports our ongoing commitment to our customers – we want to make it as easy as possible for businesses to work with us by accepting as many forms of payment as possible,” said Rob Dickson, Partner at Dickson Law Group. “Secondly, we want to support the tech savvy nature of the Puget Sound business community by participating in cutting edge innovation.”

As a Registered Merchant, Dickson Law gains access to MerchantCoin’s Marketplace, launching September 30, 2014. This Marketplace provides an end-to-end solution facilitating digital commerce for both consumers and merchants. The Marketplace is an open-source ecommerce ecosystem that includes a web portal, website, storefront, content management system, shopping cart, payment gateway/point of sale solution, wallet and exchange platform, providing a one-stop-shop for both consumers and merchants interested in exchanging digital currency for goods and services.

“We welcome Dickson Law Group to our group of Registered Merchants,” said Kirk St. Johns, MerchantCoin Co-Founder. “Dickson Law will now enjoy greater visibility to consumers and businesses interested in paying for services with digital currencies. Consumers simply need to go to the MerchantCoin Marketplace and select “professional services.”

They will then see Dickson Law highlighted as a MerchantCoin vendor and can use a MerchantCoin wallet to transact with the law firm.”