Six startups from Western Nova Scotia will be dividing a total of $200,000 in prize money from the first Spark West competition, held by Innovacorp and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.
Modeled on the Spark Cape Breton competition, Spark West awards a handful of companies development capital with the goal of helping them get their project started. Innovacorp and ACOA have held four Spark Cape Breton competitions.
The winners of Spark West are:
Midgard Insect Farm Inc. – Joy Hillier – Windsor
Amount: $45,000
Midgard Insect Farm breeds and processes crickets to create insect-based protein powder for use in various industries.
Integrated HACCP Solutions Inc. – Douglas Armour, Mitchell Kane, Matthew Winchester – Wolfville
Amount: $45,000
Integrated HACCP Solutions’ software helps food processors meet changing regulatory requirements more efficiently and affordably.
Annapolis Orchards – Craig Nichols, Alan Fisher – Lawrencetown
Amount: $45,000
Annapolis Orchards applies proprietary techniques to Honey Crisp apple nursery trees, significantly reducing the time required for the trees to mature and yield fruit.
Neck Tronics Inc. – Bill Smith, Peter Haase – Conquerall Mills
Amount: $25,000
Neck Tronics is developing medical device technology that precisely measures neck range and strength, to improve assessment, diagnosis and treatment of neck injuries such as whiplash.
Tenderithm – Dave Thomson – Mahone Bay
Amount: $25,000
Tenderithm’s software helps companies win new business more efficiently and affordably through its tender alert service.
Medivirtual Consultation – Ken Buchholz, Jennifer Murdoch – Annapolis Royal
Amount: $15,000
Medivirtual offers a suite of tools for healthcare providers and virtual teams to build capacity and improve accessibility of healthcare services.
Innovacorp and ACOA each contributed $100,000 to the awards. This money must be used to complete prototypes or prepare to take a product or service to market. In addition to the funding, winners will receive guidance from seasoned business people.
The competition attracted 32 submissions, and 10 companies were invited to pitch to judges last week. The shortlisted companies also participated in several business acceleration workshops.
"We introduced Spark West after four rounds of a similar competition in Cape Breton. We wanted to energize innovative entrepreneurs in western Nova Scotia," said Innovacorp CEO Stephen Duff in a statement. "We were absolutely thrilled with the overall buzz in the community about the opportunity and the submissions we received."
