The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency will administer $5.2 million of federal spending to foster youth entrepreneurship in Atlantic Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The money will take the form of grants for 15 community organizations, which will use it to pay for 21 initiatives aimed at supporting young business owners.

The funds will be delivered partly through ACOA’s Regional Economic

Halifax social enterprise website vLife, which helps users locate and support small local businesses, is rolling out the paid version of its service after offering it free since January.

Co-Founders Melanie Little and Riaz Khan started vLife’s parent company, Quantum Link, in 2017 and launched the platform in December 2019. Users can sign up free and search for local ventures, with vLife either

The PEI Business Women’s Association has opened applications for its annual Micro Grant Program, which offers women-led businesses the chance to win $500 of non-dilutive, non-repayable funding.

The competition is open to PEI residents who are members of the Business Women’s Association. In addition to the cash, the winners will receive “business skills support,” although a written statement from

The University of New Brunswick’s TME group has accepted nine Canadian companies into its Summer Institute, and this seventh annual cohort is its biggest yet.

The TME group – whose formal name is the J Herbert Smith Centre for Technology Management and Entrepreneurship – holds its Summer Institute each year, placing less emphasis on innovation than other similar programs.

Though modern

The Ontario government and Ryerson University have launched an online platform to help companies develop export markets, and they’re looking for users in Atlantic Canada.

The Magnet Export Business Portal is now live and helping Canadian businesses find the resources they need to sell products and services in foreign markets. The Export Business Portal is open to companies across the country,

When Innovacorp investment manager for life sciences Lidija Marusic was nominated to the board of the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, she saw it as an opportunity to become a national voice for the Atlantic Canadian innovation economy.

The CVCA represents institutional startup investors across the country. Marusic’s new board seat is not her first – she also serves on

Nova Scotia life sciences industry association BioNova is inviting early-stage health and life sciences companies in the region to apply for its BIC2020 contest.

The BioInnovation Challenge, known as BIC, will give early-stage ventures a chance to compete for a $55,000 prize package during a digital BioPort 2020 event on Nov. 3 and 4.

BIC semi-finalists will receive pitch training from

Fearing the pandemic may be deterring entrepreneurs from founding companies, the regional tech accelerator Propel has announced a new pitch contest that will award $10,000 in cash to a pre-revenue startup.

The Startup Summer Showdown’s winning company will also receive in-kind services that Propel said in a statement are worth about $40,000. These include coaching services, free advertising and

Halifax-based Sona Nanotech has announced that strategic adviser David Regan will replace Darren Rowles as CEO and that it will pursue a listing on the NASDAQ stock exchange in New York.

Sona has been a darling of the Canadian Securities Exchange since it said in March it would use its nanoparticle technology to develop rapid diagnostic kits for diseases that include COVID-19. The share price

The number of graduates from Dalhousie University’s Computer Science program has jumped by more than one-quarter in the past year, driven by rising enrolment and an insatiable demand for tech talent.

The Faculty of Computer Science awarded just over 260 degrees at the recently held convocation for its 2020 Winter Term – a 26 percent increase over same period in 2019.

The rising number of