The past year has been one of significant change for the East Coast startup ecosystem, as a tumultous global economy made its presence felt in Atlantic Canada. Here’s a look back at some of the biggest innovation stories of 2022:

Many top-performing startups raised big.

One of this year’s top funding stories was the same as last year: Dartmouth-based advanced materials startup Meta Material

Industry group TechNL has announced the creation of a new innovation hub in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland and Labrador, for companies with remote operations.

The project is funded jointly by the federal government via the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency with $2.5 million over the next three years and the provincial government providing $7.1 million over the next six years. The hub will include

We launched Entrevestor Live last year to showcase the best and the brightest of Atlantic Canadian startups, and now we've produced a video to highlight some of these companies. 

If you didn't have an opportunity to join us on October 20, this is your chance to check out some of the leading innovation-driven scale-ups in the region. 

Our program centred around fireside chats with three of the

Canada’s Ocean Supercluster, or OSC,  has announced its Two-Eyed Seeing initiative, which aims to promote Indigenous participation in Canada’s ocean economy.

The national group, which is based in Atlantic Canada, said in a statement the initiative will further collaboration with Indigenous organizations and communities and foster inclusion and participation in its projects and activities.

OSC,

Bedford, N.S.-based Ashored Innovations has raised US$1 million (C$1.36 million) from the Californian  Builders Vision impact fund as part of a larger seed round.

The funding comes as Ashored, which sells fishing gear designed to reduce accidental harm to marine life, eyes scaling up its production and business development activities to learn more about how its technology performs in real-world

TrojAI, the Saint John maker of cybersecurity software for artificial intelligence systems, has become the only Atlantic Canadian startup to make the Toronto-based Vector Institute’s inaugural AI20 for 2023 -- a list of startups to watch next year.

TrojAI’s inclusion in the list deepens a relationship with the Vector Institute that began with the AI-focussed non-profit incorporating the

Having doubled its staff to 200 in the past year, Moncton-based recruitment software company VidCruiter is now unrolling a two-track strategy in which most customers will use its platform for either automated recruitment or for interviewing.

VidCruiter started in 2009 by producing a tool that recruiters could use to conduct interviews online to streamline the hiring process. The company still

A new artificial intelligence centre at Memorial University, an expansion of Cape Breton’s Verschuren Centre bioprocessing hub and millions of dollars for two New Brunswick universities’ computer science programs are some of the innovation-related projects funded this year by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.

ACOA spent about $316 million on 1,500 projects in 2022, according to its

Prince Edward Island’s bioeconomy has already surpassed its 2025 growth targets, posting a gangbusters $575 million in revenue in 2021, exceeding 2020’s figure by about $200 million.

Survey data from industry group the PEI BioAlliance of more than 65 companies of varying ages indicates the sector now employs more than 2,300 people, having added 400 new jobs since the beginning of the pandemic.

Halifax-based Tribe Network’s Black Startup Project hosted its first pitch competition Tuesday as part of its AYA Day event celebrating Black entrepreneurs, with startups from all four Atlantic Provinces participating.

Fifteen shortlisted companies pitched to a panel of BIPOC judges and five winners were awarded $500 apiece. Another company also received $500 as an audience choice award, and