Innovacorp 2019-20 Funding Down 60%

Innovacorp, the Nova Scotia government’s early-stage venture capital agency, invested a total $2.5 million in 19 companies in 2019-20, a drop in dollar terms of 60 percent from the previous fiscal year.

The provincial Crown corporation, whose fiscal year ends March 31, released its annual Accountability Report recently outlining its activity, which was impacted by three deals being delayed until

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Sonrai Closes US$20M VC Round

Cloud security company Sonrai Security has closed a US$20 million (C$26.4 million) venture capital round led by Menlo Ventures of Silicon Valley, the largest fully disclosed VC deal in Atlantic Canada this year.

The round also drew the backing of returning investors Polaris Partners and Ten Eleven Ventures.

Based in New York and Fredericton, Sonrai burst on the scene in late 2018 when its first

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Innovacorp Names 9 Sprint Winners

Innovacorp has named nine winners for its fall Sprint competition, each of whom will receive $25,000 in prize money and mentoring.

The Nova Scotia government’s venture capital agency said Wednesday it selected the nine startups after receiving and reviewing 60 applicants for the semi-annual competition.

The agency said the goal of Sprint is to find and support high-potential, early-stage

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Welcome to our Redesigned Website

Welcome to the new-and-improved Entrevestor.com.

We hope this redesign is more than just a new look for our site. It actually is intended to reflect how our business has evolved by emphasizing the range of information on our site. That’s why our redesign emphasizes our Ecosystem Roadmap – which has been updated for 2020 – and our Atlantic Canada Startup Data reports.

For years, Entrevestor was

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Corps, Non-Profits Invited to Connect

A digital event focusing on creating impactful partnerships between corporations and non-profit organizations is being offered by Venture 2 Impact, a Halifax-based group that facilitates skill-based volunteering for global tech companies.

The event is being run with Google, Salesforce, Workday and Aryaka, among other partners.  The interactive event will allow organizations virtual facetime with

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Marketswell Accepts 10 Members

Marketswell Solutions has accepted twice as many companies as expected into its first CMO Accelerator Program due to strong demand.

The program launched by David Alston, one of the most experienced marketing execs in the region, had expected to accept about five people into its accelerator for chief marketing officers. However, the demand was strong enough that it has accepted 10 CMOs.

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Island Capital Eyes Fund 2

With 10 portfolio companies backed by its $4.25 million first fund, Island Capital Partners is preparing to raise a larger second fund next year.

The Charlottetown-based group was formed in 2017 by a group of Islanders with deep backgrounds in international business and entrepreneurship to provide early-stage financing and mentorship. It intended at that time to build up a portfolio of 12 to 13

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Tranquility Studies Caregiver Mental Health

Halifax-based Tranquility Online, a web-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (iCBT) program, has partnered with Maritime researchers and government to investigate how the pandemic is impacting the mental health of caregivers.

The research will look at the implementation and evaluation of e-mental health care for parents and caregivers struggling with anxiety and depression arising from the

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Superclusters Lagging, Says PBO

Canada’s innovation superclusters are lagging behind their intended goals, and the poorest results so far have been produced by Canada’s Ocean Supercluster, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

The PBO this week filed a report on the five superclusters, saying that as of March they had funded fewer projects than expected when the program was announced. The government had projected $104

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