H.I.G. Closes BioVectra Purchase

The American private equity group H.I.G. Capital said it has completed its US$250 million purchase of Charlottetown-based Biovectra, which makes ingredients for drugs.

The private equity fund, which has $34 billion under management, issued a statement on Monday saying one of its affiliates completed the purchase from Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, of the U.K. Mallinckrodt said in September it had

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Passiv Eyes US with Alpaca Deal

Passiv, whose technology helps passive investors manage their portfolios, has partnered with Silicon Valley-based Alpaca, which should help the Fredericton company expand in the all-important U.S. market.

Alpaca is a stock brokerage that operates an application program interface, or API, that allows users to program their own “robo-advisor”, or a program that will automatically balance a passive

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Startup Failures & Zombies in 2018

When we produce our annual Atlantic Canada Startup Data report, there are two sets of statistics that people usually find interesting because they're stark reminders of the perils of entrepreneurship: zombies and failures.

We found that 66 Atlantic Canadian startups failed in 2018, and we estimated there are the same number of zombies.

To put that in perspective, we were following 486 startups

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Cove Kombucha Backed by $1.2M

Halifax-based Cove Kombucha has closed a $1.2 million equity funding round, which the maker of healthy drinks hopes will go toward upgrading its facility, increasing production and reaching new markets.

The company said in a press release last week it attracted the investment from Vancouver-based Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management, after a one-month search.

Cove is now selling its kombucha – a

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32 Named to Propel’s Incite Phase 2

Propel has named 32 companies to Phase 2 of its Incite program – its biggest intake yet in the virtual tech accelerator.

The chosen companies span Eastern Canada.  Eleven companies are from Nova Scotia, nine from Newfoundland and Labrador, seven from New Brunswick, and four from P.E.I.  There is also one company from Quebec.

Because the Incite curriculum is delivered online, there are no

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Swarmio Plans TSX Venture Listing

Sydney-based Swarmio Media, which helps reduce lag times in video gaming, has begun the process of listing on the TSX Venture exchange and raising about $6 million in development capital.

Formerly called Ubique, Swarmio earlier this month filed documents with regulators outlining how it will gain the listing through a capital pool company, or CPC, transaction. Swarmio will do a reverse takeover

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Bill Gates Backs CarbonCure in Blog

Bill Gates has thrown his support behind CarbonCure Technologies, the Nova Scotia company that is reducing carbon emissions in the production of concrete.

The Co-Founder of Microsoft on Monday posted a blog that highlighted Dartmouth-based CarbonCure, including a video that features interviews with CEO and Founder Robert Niven.

Last year, CarbonCure was one of nine companies in the world to

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