GrowthWorks Atlantic Venture Fund, a labour-sponsored VC fund based in Halifax, issued the following press release:

GrowthWorks Atlantic Venture Fund Provides Update on Sales and Redemptions

November 20, 2014, Halifax, Nova Scotia – GrowthWorks Atlantic Venture Fund Ltd. (“Atlantic Fund”) reported today that it has suspended until further notice sales and weekly redemptions of its Class A Shares (the “Shares”), specifically the Balanced Series and the GIC Series.

The Fund’s Board of Directors considered several factors in determining to suspend redemptions and sales of Shares,

ViTRAK Systems Inc., a Charlottetown startup commercializing a pressure-sensitive floor tile system, has raised as much as $2 million in funding from P.E.I. investors.

The company said in a press release yesterday the investors included the Regis Duffy Bioscience Fund and associated companies, but gave few other specifics of the funding round.

Founded by CEO Crystal Lavallée, the company has developed Stepscan, a patented electronic floor tile system that can be used to analyze people’s gait when they walk across it. The system can analyze the mobility and balance in patients or

Cracking the global marketplace is tough. Jean-Paul Deveau, president of Nova Scotia-based Acadian Seaplants has done it. He advises investing in research and development to create value-added products that clients will want to buy.

Founded in 1981, Acadian Seaplants is based in Dartmouth and exports value-added seaweed-based products to over 80 countries.

The company operates five

Island Water Technologies is tackling environmental and financial problems that are troubling homeowners today and looming large for small Canadian towns in 2020.

Based in Montague, P.E.I., the company uses patented technology to treat water in septic systems serving people’s homes or small communities. While the focus in water treatment usually is on big plants in urban areas, there is an acute need for affordable solutions in rural areas and small towns.

 “The thinking up to now has been, ‘We need a big, shiny waste-water treatment plant,’” said Patrick Kiely, the company’s Irish-born

A Nova Scotian panel reviewing tax policy has recommended the province double the ceiling for investments eligible for the equity tax credit to $100,000, and pays faint homage to the idea of a regional investment tax credit.

The Tax and Regulatory Review, conducted by former Ontario cabinet minister Laurel Broten, is garnering headlines for its recommendations that the province shift the burden of taxation toward consumption and carbon use and away from income. It would introduce a carbon tax, broaden the Harmonized Sales Tax while lowering the income tax rate for corporations and top

First Angel Network, the Halifax-based organization for angel investors, has formally announced a partnership with the Wilmington Investor Network of North Carolina, under which the members of each group will be invited to invest in the other’s portfolio companies. 

FAN said in a statement today that most major cities have organized networks of angel investors, but this alliance creates Canada’s first formalized partnership with a U.S. network of angel investors. 

“This partnership is exciting because it opens the door for shared deal flow between our accredited investors from Atlantic

Timbre Cases, the Fredericton startup making upmarket guitar cases, is launching its product with a Kickstarter campaign aimed at raising $30,000.

Though the minimum pledge in the crowdfunding drive is one dollar, the goal of the campaign is to get early purchases of its Dreadnaught guitar cases, which will ship in May.

Founded by music aficionado Peter McMath, Timbre Cases is a startup dedicated to making the best guitar cases available.

“The Big Idea with Timbre Cases is to provide guitarists with the ultimate solution to eliminate all those challenges associated with moving,

Southwest Nova Scotia -- November 19, 2014 – It’s Global Entrepreneurship Week, a worldwide series of events celebrating innovators, job creators, and business startups. What better way to participate than by registering for Mashup Weekend, Southwest Nova’s biggest ever business creation weekend?

Mashup Weekend is for anyone interested in doing something to bring new ideas to life, regardless of age, background, and experience. It’s really quite simple: Teams of enthusiastic and committed people spend two days together identifying real-world problems and coming up with inspired solutions.

Having resettled in Nova Scotia in May, Charlotte and Isak Rydlund wasted no time in starting their company, PACTA, and placing it among the hottest new startups in Atlantic Canada.

The partners in life and business got the idea in July for an online product that helped manufacturers manage their contracts. They joined the entry-level phase of the Launch36 accelerator in September and last week were chosen as one of the seven companies (selected from a pool of 18) to pitch at the accelerator’s Demo Day in Fredericton.

They’re not slowing down, as they soon hope to beta-test the

Two co-founders of Fredericton-based Ara Labs Security Solutions are the first successful Atlantic Canadian applicants to the Startup Visa Program, the federal government announced last week.

They were also the first successful applicants in the country under the program using the sponsorship of a venture capital fund, New Brunswick Innovation Foundation.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander visited Fredericton last week to announce the award for Ehsan Mokhtari and Hadi Shiravi Khozani. The two natives of Iran helped to found the company when they were doing their PhDs