PitchBlack

February 1, 2023

OregonLive / The Oregonian

When PitchBlack, the “Shark Tank” style competition where Black entrepreneurs pitch their businesses and compete for cash prizes, returns next week, it will be at its biggest venue yet.

About 70 people attended the 2015 inaugural pitch competition, held at the Village Ballroom in Northeast Portland. Seven entrepreneurs competed for a prize pool of $900 that was divided among the top three competitors.

This year, eleven Black-led companies will deliver a five-minute pitch of their ideas to a sold-out crowd of more than 500 at the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts in Beaverton. The top three contestants will split a prize pool of up to $60,000, and organizer Stephen Green says that figure will continue to rise as the Feb. 7 competition approaches.