TruLeaf Sustainable Agriculture Ltd. has closed an $8.5 million equity financing, which will help expand its vertical farming technology into new markets.

The Bible Hill, N.S.-based company said in a release that the funding round was led by Mike Durland, former CEO and Group Head of Scotiabank’s Global Banking and Markets division, and featured a small group of strategic investors from Toronto.

As the financial and environmental costs of producing meat become better known, Joy Hillier is working to make her new cricket farm in Windsor a business that produces affordable, high-quality insect protein.

Hillier began cricket farming at her Midgard Insect farm in May, after hearing a TED Talk about the need for sustainable protein sources given by ecological entomologist Marcel Dicke.

In a segment that is notoriously slow to get to market, Solid State Pharma Inc. is a two-year-old biotech company that is not only profitable but also is doubling revenue and staff annually.

Founded by CEO Mahmoud Mirmehrabi, the Halifax-based life sciences company has developed expertise at converting liquid medicines into solids — the pharmaceutical industry’s preferred state to transport and

Moncton-based Blaze Studios has launched a new digital administrative product for the advertising industry, and is gearing up to release more products in 2017.

Headed by Jason Lavigne, Blaze Studios is one of Canada’s largest open-source development shops, and also serves as an incubator for online products for advertising and marketing  industry. The latest is Zephyr, founded by Lavigne and

Ghorbani Named Canada Research Chair

Ali Ghorbani, dean of computer science at the University of New Brunswick, has been named Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Cybersecurity. As well as his academic achievements, Ghorbani is a Co-Founder of the Fredericton-based startups Sentrant and EyesOver.

“I’m incredibly excited by the opportunity this Canada Research Chair presents, and grateful for the

Three years after his first attempt at a high-performance electric motorcycle faltered, Michael Uhlarik is back and has launched his latest bike, Suru.

Costing $3,499 , the Suru is priced for the urban consumer and is designed to be a high-performance, environmentally friendly vehicle that can allow city dwellers the ease and affordability to make local trips at a reasonable cost.

Manufactured

Axem, a wearable technology that allows athletes to track their brain activity to enhance performance, has captured the $3,000 first prize at the latest Demo Day of the Collide Program at Dalhousie University.

Founded by Tony Ingram and Chris Friesen, Axem has already received initial commitments for tests from professional and elite sports teams, including the New England Patriots, Winnipeg

Susan Hicks and Jon Manship have to be considered the unsung heroes of the East Coast startup community, and unsung is the way they like it.

Manship and Hicks are the founders of Technology Venture Corp., a Moncton investment fund that over 11 years has built itself into one of the region’s most influential investment organizations.

The people they back speak of Manship and Hicks with

Communitech, the Kitchener-Waterloo startup hub, is calling for applications for its Fierce Founder Bootcamp – a mentorship program for 25 companies led by female founders.

The organization has held the Fierce Founder program for several years, and it is open to companies in and outside Waterloo region.

The next bootcamp, to take place in the winter for the first time, will be held in two

Having traveled the world in their respective professions, the Sayle brothers are back in Atlantic Canada developing a company they hope will revolutionize safety in the workplace.

Bryan and Stephen Sayle are natives of Prince Edward Island and their Halifax-based company, SayleGroup Inc., has developed three products that work together to digitize and improve workplace safety. Two of these