Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:

Best Portland coffee shops, cafes for coworking - oregonlive.com

A good coworking spot has space to sprawl out, reliable Wi-Fi, easily accessible outlets and a decent enough food menu to keep you satiated through the afternoon.

Dorkbot: February Edition, Mon, Feb 9, 2026, 6:30 PM | Meetup

Along with the usual freewheeling chaos, the quick talks continue this month with Jim Snow, presenting "Designing and building the Mosaichord, an expressive music keyboard for just intonation."

Portland Area Robotics Society (PARTS) Monthly Meeting » Calagator: Portland's Tech Calendar

Join us for an interactive, behind-the-scenes look at cutting-edge optical technology with Geoff Rhoads, founder of Transformative Optics Corporation. Rather than a traditional slide deck, Geoff will lead a show-and-tell style presentation featuring images of array cameras, sample outputs, and the company’s unique lens designs. The format is intentionally informal and conversational, with plenty of opportunities to ask questions as the visuals unfold. We’ll wrap up with an open Q&A session (about 5–15 minutes) for deeper discussion.

6 Trends In Tech And Startups We’re Watching In 2026, From An IPO Boom To More Huge AI Deals

All that sets the stage for what the industry insiders we spoke with expect will be another robust year for startup investment, acquisitions and new public-market listings. At the same time, there’s growing concern about capital concentration as venture dollars accumulate in a relatively small cohort of companies, many of them based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Fundability Trap - by Euclid Ventures - Euclid Insights

The danger arises when VCs conflate the two — or don’t recognize the difference. We assume that because a deal is fundable (e.g., a central-casting founder, a hot market), it is investible.

How do We Quantify Progress in Robotics? - by Chris Paxton

Simulations are getting more powerful and easier to use all the time. But few of these simulations rise to the level of a usable benchmark, i.e. something like Chatbot Arena, Humanity’s Last Exam, or SWE-Bench Verified.

Startup News Digest 01/30/26 — ENGINE

Today, Engine published the 2026 Startup Policy Playbook and Startup Policy Agenda, highlighting the policy issues coming up this year that will impact startups. There are startups building innovative companies and contributing to U.S. competitiveness in every community across the country, and policymakers’ decisions across a wide range of policy issues will help decide whether and how they can succeed.

Let's be Measured by What We Build Together in 2026 - SourceLink

With so many crossroads converging in 2026, now is the time our SourceLink network must lead. We are approaching a reset of what economic development can be. A recognition that people want to own their future, shape their communities, and find joy in the places they live and work. Entrepreneurship has always been the most direct pathway for upward mobility, and the field is finally beginning to say it aloud.

Bluesky 2025 Transparency Report - Bluesky

Bluesky grew nearly 60% in 2025, from 25.94M to 41.41M users. This includes accounts hosted on Bluesky's infrastructure, as well as the thousands of Personal Data Servers operated by people across the federated AT Protocol network, with the majority hosted independently by third parties. This decentralized architecture remains core to our mission of transitioning the social web from platforms to protocols, giving users genuine control over their data and experience.

Stop Telling Junior Devs to Avoid AI - by Sam Keen

Every major abstraction layer in computing history has redefined what “fundamentals” means. When high-level languages replaced assembly, programmers worried the next generation would never understand registers and memory management. They were right about the atrophy. They were wrong about what it meant for the profession.

ESS, Oregon flow battery maker, raises $15M, lands $10M contract - Portland Business Journal

In its filing of preliminary results, ESS said it expected to report $22 million on hand as of Dec. 31, 2025, up from less than $4 million one quarter earlier. It has also paid down 81% of a $30 million promissory note that helped rescue it last July.