Poda Foods Wins PitchFestNW

Poda was among the 50 tech startups pitching to a panel of veteran investors.

By Peter D’Auria

The winner of the first PitchFestNW contest is Poda Foods, a Portland startup making protein powder from crickets.

Poda was among the 50 tech startups from the Pacific Northwest and Canada selected to pitch their nascent companies to a panel of veteran investors at PitchFestNW, an event presented by WW.

That field was narrowed this afternoon to five finalists:

  • StandTall Desks, a company founded by three high-school students who want to bring standing desks to the classroom.
  • TripGrid, a platform for greater efficiency and organization in trip planning.
  • Cartogram, advertised as “Google maps on steroids.”
  • Chroma, a new fund model for people to make small-scale, local investments.
  • Poda Foods, which raises “healthy, happy, GMO-free crickets” on a farm in Molalla.

Here is Poda's pitch video:

The 50 startups each made five-minute pitches to investors over the past two days. They competed for a prize package that includes cash, consultations with investors, $120,000 in software services, hotel rooms in San Francisco and a Shinola watch.

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