Tapajyoti Das has put his Masters degree in computer science on hold so that he can focus all his (considerable) energy on the demo and launch of his young lead-generation company, LeadSift.

LeadSift can scan the tweets of people in a geographic location and automatically find those who are intent on making a purchase. The purpose is targeted marketing, so an auto dealer, for example, could find a person who’s looking for a certain make of car, track that person down and help him or her find a suitable vehicle. What’s more, LeadSift can rank the people tweeting about a purchase so the

After growing 250 percent in each of the last three years, Charlottetown-based ScreenScape Networks is planning a major change this year on the presentation of its public video screens.

ScreenScape provides software that allows companies and organizations to broadcast messages on TV screens in public places. CEO and founder Mark Hemphill said in an interview last week that its oldest code is the three-year-old system it uses for the displays themselves. Now, these displays are getting an upgrade, probably in August.

“We’re beefing up the technology to have the best-looking displays in

Equals6, the Halifax-based social network that links students and prospective employers, has secured a $250,000 seed round of financing from Innovacorp, the Nova Scotian innovation agency.

We last featured Equals6 in September, when the company had signed up about 5,000 students and 75 employers to its site. In the ensuing eight months, it has almost tripled the number of students registered on its site to 13,000, and the number of employers has risen to 125.

Now with its first external funding – the founders have financed the project themselves and bootstrapped thus far – the company

Fredericton-based Zaptap is on the threshold of closing a round of funding as it prepares for the North American launch of its system by a handful of luxury product makers this autumn.

Headed by founder and CEO Yan Simard, Zaptap’s software allows consumers to ``zap’’ a product label in a store with their smartphones, and immediately receive information on the product such as technical specifications, warranty information, etc. The system allows a retailer or maker of a consumer product to design and produce a label, control the information it delivers to consumers, and track the

My latest column for Progress Magazine looks into the myths and realities of exits, arguing that they are good for the economy and society. Some economic development experts tend to wonder why government should back startups when the likely outcome is they sell out and the jobs vanish. This article points out correctly that often the companies and the employees remain in the area after an exit. More important, the investment capital base expends and other people are encouraged to start knowledge-based businesses.

I'd encourage everyone to jump over to Progress and give it a read, as this

The tech community in New Brunswick has organized a bus tour of the tech world in the Boston area from May 22 to 24 with the aim of exposing entrepreneurs to people, processes and capital in the second-largest tech centre in the U.S.

The tour is sponsored by the Moncton Cybersocial Committee, Propel ICT, the McKenzie Accelerator at McKenzie College and Speilo, the Moncton-based maker of gaming cabinets, equipment and software.

“The purpose of the trip is to help develop relationships and linkages with other companies and suppliers for export and development, and to inspire and motivate

Adfinitum, the St. John’s-based advertising data bank, has learned that it is one of six companies invited to participate in the Canadian Technology Accelerator, or CTA, program in New York this summer.

The CTA is a three-month program organized by the Canadian Consulate in New York that will help six Canadian tech startups learn from the digital industries that have clustered in the largest U.S. city. The program offers communal office space for all the qualifying entrepreneurs, introductions to potential mentors and investors,  and support from the Trade Commissioner Service.

Two weeks from today, Jordan Smith will be in New York to present his startup OneLobby at the Plannertech conference, a leading event for conference organizers.

OneLobby is a young tech company based in Halifax that provides a social platform for attendees of large conferences, helping them to make meaningful connections with other attendees and presenters before, during and after the conference.

Having launched the company last year, Smith’s social media platform has already been used by six different events, and the feedback from the conference and participants has been great, he

Mather Carscallen’s SABRTech Inc. won gold in Innovacorp’s CleanTech Open last week, but I’d like to unofficially award silver and bronze medals to the Atlantic provinces and Innovacorp.

The entire region (I was tempted to say Nova Scotia but prefer to take a regional view) is a winner because this international competition has developed stronger links with scientists, environmentalists, and, most importantly, sources of finance around the world. And it wouldn’t have happened if Innovacorp didn’t have imagination and courage.

A few years ago, the Nova Scotia government decided that

Three Maritime companies – GoInstant, TitanFile and VidCruiter -- that have yet to see their second birthday have been named to Branham Group Inc.’s list of Top 25 Canadian Up and Coming ICT Companies.

Ottawa-based Branham is a strategic consulting firm focused on technology, and it ranks hundreds of Canadian ICT companies, including 25 young companies that are ascending.

Listing its top newcomers alphabetically, it highlighted: GoInstant, the Halifax startup that allows users on different computers to work on one-another’s screens; TitanFile, the Dartmouth-based collaboration and