Charlottetown-based drug-discovery company Neurodyn Inc. tapped an unlikely source of capital when it announced its $1.5-million to $2-million funding round last week. It raised money from something called a “home office.” It also revealed a new trend among Atlantic Canadian biotech companies.

Regional biotechs are becoming creative in their fundraising and seeking sources beyond venture capital firms and Canadian angels. Because of the philanthropic nature of biotech, they’re able to find money from charitable foundations, family funds, and wealthy people in emerging markets.

This

ViewPoint Realty Services, a Bedford,N.S.,-based online property data and brokerage site, is reviewing its strategy with the goal of leveraging its highly successful website to draw more customers to its brokerage business.

ViewPoint is best known for its interactive online map, from which consumers can draw massive amounts of free information about the real estate market — what properties are for sale or have sold, asking and selling prices and assessments, to name a few. The business model relies on brokerage and advertising revenue.

 “A significant portion of our users see us as a

Sitting in a coffee shop on the St. Mary’s University campus, Dawn Jutla is almost dwarfed by the stack of pamphlets promoting the new program she is launching – the Master’s of Technology Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

The MTEI program at the Sobey School of Business is an accelerated graduate program that teaches people within organizations or those intent on starting their own businesses how to improve productivity through technical innovation. The program will admit 50 students when it launches in September, and will be the first of its kind in Atlantic Canada and only the third in

Strengthening its finances and team, Cape Breton healthcare administration company Health Outcomes Worldwide has landed $1.5 million in follow-on funding from Nova Scotia Business Inc. weeks after it hired Ted Maclean as Chief Executive Officer.

The company, which received $250,000 in funding from Innovacorp in 2011, will use the new funding to roll-out of the next version of its How2Trak healthcare outcomes measurement software, as well as other products.

Founded by original CEO Corrine McIsaac, Health Outcomes helps healthcare providers improve their service for patients while

Becky Davison sees a massive market for her line of clothes for people with arthritis, and she is now trying to execute a strategy for selling it to consumers.

The MBA student at Saint Mary’s University is the CEO of DressEase, an adaptive apparel company whose clothes fasten with magnets, so rheumatoid arthritis sufferers can dress and undress with ease. 

Having designed the clothes and settled on a business strategy, Davison is now seeking $400,000 in capital to fund a direct sales distribution network with 10 locations in the U.S. and Canada. 

Existing products have Velcro

Neurodyn Inc., the Charlottetown biotech developing early treatments for neurological diseases, has closed a $1.5-million round of funding from a range of U.S. and Canadian investors and could bump the total up to $2 million.

The company will use the money to push forward with its two top candidates: NeuroPro, a dietary supplement for early-stage Parkinson’s disease, which will begin sales in Canada this year; and Progranulin, a novel therapeutic compound being developed as a treatment for ALS, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.

The headline investors in the round were the Regis

Now that its first mobile game Wraithborne has been downloaded by 200,000 users, Alpha Dog Games is looking for as much as $1 million to help develop its next game.

The Bedford, N.S., game developer launched Wraithborne for mobile devices running on iOS (Apple’s operating system) in November, having developed the action-adventure game with only a three-man team in about six months. Focusing on the quality of the graphics and storyline, they created a low-budget game that generated enough buzz to keep going to work on the sequel.

“Real success would be 1 million downloads, but some games

Entering its fourth year of existence, G2 Research is branching out from GPS analytics for law enforcement to new sectors such as fleet management, security for companies using shippers, and high-risk offender monitoring.

The Dartmouth company has been successful in its core market, never raising equity financing and selling to law enforcement agencies in five countries on three continents. More than 90 per cent of its sales are outside Canada.

 “Currently, it’s for investigating bad guys,” said CEO Tom Gilgan in an interview. “Police will put a tracking device on a vehicle and we can

When Brian Lowe was a young man looking to sell his Nova Scotia environmental services companies, he had two offers on the table.

In the end, he sold to Laidlaw Environmental Services of South Carolina because Laidlaw was able to offer cash and, as Lowe’s mentor, John Lindsay Sr., advised, “Cash is king.”

Working alongside Lindsay, the man behind Halifax’s Purdy’s Wharf development, Lowe

Dylan Mitchell’s creation of PlanAheADD illustrates all that is good in the Atlantic Canadian start-up community. His is the story of someone turning a personal challenge into a business, of a mentor and an angel giving generously to a young entrepreneur, and of a venture with the potential to help millions.

PlanAheADD is a software-as-a-service aid that helps those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) plan their lives and organize their work. Its creation dates back to 2011 when Mitchell, then a 24-year-old strength-and-conditioning coach in Fredericton, was diagnosed