Earlier this month, Tivix opened a regional office in Bend, Oregon, staffed by our team members Rex Riepe and Meghan Neff.

The obvious question you might have would be "Huh? What?". 

Bend is mostly known as being an outdoor sports wonderland. The skiing on Mt. Bachelor, the mountain biking through the ponderosa pines, kayaking and flyfishing on the Deschutes River, and the persistant sunshine from being on the dry side of the Cascades have all made Bend a popular destination for outdoor sports enthusiasts throughout the West. 

But what many people don't know is that it's also become a regional tech startup cluster. In recent years many execs from Silicon Valley and Seattle/Microsoft have moved to Bend for the quality of life. Suddenly last year Entrepreneur Magazine featured Bend in a cover story in which is proclaimed Bend to be the next big city for Entrepreneurship in America. The Kaufman Foundation issued a report saying that Bend has one of the highest densities of tech startups in the nation. 

In fact, our friend Dino Vendetti is so excited by the tech startup ecosystem in Bend that he recently founded a new venture capital firm, Seven Peaks Ventures, just to focus on investments in Central Oregon. Last year he hosted the Bend Venture Conference, with Silicon Valley legend Steve Blank as the keynote speaker. There is now a tech incubator in Bend, FoundersPad, plus Apple and Facebook both have large datacenters just north of town. Bruce Cleveland, VC partner at InterWest Partners recently helped sponsor the Big Bend Theory, encouraging tech entrepreneurs to locate their startups in Bend.

Yes, Bend today is a happening place, boasting an amazing quality of life combined with all the ingredients of a regional hub of technology innovation. And now it has Tivix, at 777 SW Mill View Way.