As African Heritage Month draws to a close, we’re highlighting a quartet of companies led by Black entrepreneurs from the Atlantic Canadian startup community.

People of African descent are under-represented in the Atlantic Canadian startup group. For example, our research shows that only 1.2 percent of the startups active in 2021 in the region were founded or led by Black entrepreneurs, born and

The Dartmouth-based Clean Foundation has opened Internship applications for its annual Clean Leadership Summer Internship Program, which offers Nova Scotia youth aged 15 to 30 paid summer work in the clean sector.

In a statement, organizers said over 100 jobs are available that offer meaningful work with opportunities for professional development.  

The program matches interns with employers

TrojAI, the Saint John maker of cybersecurity software for artificial intelligence systems, is the latest in a small-but-growing list of Atlantic companies to join the Canadian iteration of Google for Startups, the tech giant’s accelerator.

This year, TrojAI is the only Atlantic company among the 12 startups in the cohort. Halifax-based Talkatoo, which makes specialized transcription software

The federal government announced Friday it will spend $27 million on upskilling programs for workers in the province, to be administered by industry group TechNL.

In a statement, TechNL said it will work with the feds and educational institutions, such as Memorial University and the privately operated Keyin College, to bolster the technology sector workforce and make the industry more welcoming

Halifax-based Tribe Network, a group that offers support and training to Black-owned companies, is inviting Black entrepreneurs to join workshops that aim to improve both sides of the mentorship experience and boost diversity in mentorship.

Tribe is working with mentorship group Mindframe Connect, on two sessions that will be held this Thursday, March 2, with Principles of Menteeship being

Female-focused venture capital  fund Sandpiper Ventures has invested an undisclosed amount in Halifax-based QuickFacts, a customizable software platform for insurance brokers that promises to be more user-friendly than competing software.

The QuickFacts platform lets brokers view insurance packages from competing companies side by side for easy comparison, which the company says can reduce the

Kraken Robotics, the St. John’s maker of underwater drones, was the top performing technology sector company on the TSX Venture in 2022, according to the exchange’s yearly Venture 50 rankings, which consider movements in businesses’ share prices, market capitalizations and trading volumes.

Shares in Kraken rose 52 percent over the course of the year to end at 56 cents, and have since rallied

Halifax-based Scient is soft launching its technology for analyzing mining core samples by setting up its equipment for a limited time at a facility in the town of Stellarton, NS.

The Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources Core Library stores rock cores collected by geologists — long tubes of rock that mining companies drill to gauge the location of mineral reserves.

The provincially owned

Almost two-thirds of the entrepreneurs supported by Fredericton entrepreneurship hub Planet Hatch last year were new immigrants, a little under 40 percent were female and just over 10 percent were Indigenous, according to the organization’s annual Diversity Report.

The report surveyed 246 founders of 148 companies that had dealings with Planet Hatch between Oct. 2021 and Sept. 2022 on a range of

Atlantic Canadian startups raised $230 million in venture capital in 2022, showing greater resilience than other parts of Canada amid the global slowdown, according to data from the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association.

In releasing its annual report on the VC market, the national association for private capital investors showed the Atlantic Canadian VC totals declined 10