Oregon AI Accelerator Launches Cohort 2 With 14 AI-Native Startups From Across the Region

Founders building in healthcare, infrastructure, government, technology, and the future of work begin an 11-week program culminating in Demo Day on December 17.

PORTLAND, OR, UNITED STATES, October 6, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — The Oregon AI Accelerator (OAIX), hosted by Propel PSU at Portland State University, today welcomed 14 AI-native startups into its second cohort. Selected from more than 50 applications, the Fall 2026 companies began an 11-week program on October 1 that ends with Demo Day on Thursday, December 17, 2026.

OAIX’s inaugural cohort drew 175 applications and graduated 19 companies; 14 were generating revenue by Demo Day and 4 raised capital. Participation is equity-free.

“This cohort is proof that the talent to build serious AI companies is already here,” said Jack Phan, Founding Director of OAIX. “These founders include a former Intel general manager, a CPA who ran SOX audits for twenty years, an elementary school principal, and engineers whose software already runs at enterprise scale. They’re applying AI to problems they know firsthand, from keeping vaccines viable on remote delivery routes to kids going unaccounted for after school. Our job for the next eleven weeks is to help them move faster, sharpen their story, and put them in front of the people who can help them grow.”

“OAIX shows what Portland State can do when we open our doors to founders from across the region,” said Joe Janda, Associate Vice President for Innovation at Portland State University. “Hosting this cohort at Propel PSU connects these companies to the university’s research, talent, and partners, and connects our community to the companies shaping Oregon’s AI economy.”

Healthcare and digital health

– CareCost Estimate (Portland; Erin Rose) – software that produces cost estimates and insurance clearance requirements for physician-administered drugs in minutes rather than hours.

– Cloud Ten (Portland; Ian Rowan) – an adaptive sleep environment that learns how each person sleeps and adjusts light, sound, and temperature accordingly.

– Cold Connect (Ashland; Mark Morrison, Eli Anderson-Justis, Mickey Fishback) – delivers intelligent, off-grid vaccine refrigeration backed by predictive AI that converts cold-chain data into rapid action.

– SENSE Family Autism Care (Portland; Steven Rauner and Matthew Elliott) – a platform that equips parents to deliver a research-backed somatic therapy for autistic children at home while families wait for services.

Enterprise and AI infrastructure

– Airbrx (Portland; Ben Tallman, Amit Beria, Michael Bissell, and Abram Erickson) – a caching gateway that reduces cloud data warehouse costs by serving repeat queries without re-architecture.

– Agile Integrations (Portland; Jonathan Klinshaw) – a quantum-inspired optimization engine for complex scheduling, routing, and control problems on standard hardware.

– Turtledown PBC (Portland; Indy Leonard) – Crema, a governance layer that brings version control and human approval to the product specs that AI coding agents build from.

– Vantage Compute (Bend; James Beedy and Kyle Bizon) – a cloud-agnostic platform that automates the setup and operation of GPU and high-performance computing environments.

Finance, compliance, and government technology

– ControlBridge.AI (Vancouver, Wash.; Casey Atwater) – control infrastructure that uses AI agents to run financial controls and produce auditable evidence for SOX compliance.

– Manifest (Portland; Mohamed Mohamed and Abdullah Yahya) – one system for government software contractors to pursue technical RFPs and deliver the work they win.

Workforce, education, and industry

– Caliko (Portland; Sarah Verducci) – strategic org design software that helps leadership teams turn business goals into workforce plans, including where work can shift to AI.

– enrops (Portland; Dr. Arielle Hammond) – an operating system for after-school and youth enrichment programs covering registration, payments, attendance, and staffing.

– Helm (Portland; Sam Speed) – decision intelligence for apparel and footwear brands to model product and merchandising decisions before committing to them.

– Premisys (Portland; Prabhat K Gupta) – an agentic AI platform that connects factory and business data to improve quality, uptime, and production decisions for manufacturers.

Investors, mentors, and partners interested in Demo Day can learn more at oregonaix.com.

About the Oregon AI Accelerator (OAIX)

The Oregon AI Accelerator (OAIX) helps AI-native founders across Oregon and the Pacific Northwest go from idea to investor-ready through a cohort-based program with equity-free participation. Hosted by Propel PSU at Portland State University, OAIX connects founders with mentors, investors, and industry partners, with Google as anchor sponsor. Learn more at oregonaix.com.

Jack Phan
Oregon AI Accelerator
press@oregonaix.com
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