Benson Wins Falling Walls Atlantic

Annika Benson, third from left, captured first prize at Falling Walls Lab Atlantic.

Annika Benson, third from left, captured first prize at Falling Walls Lab Atlantic.

Dr. Annika Benson and her device for improving brain surgery outcomes are heading to Berlin in November.

Benson, a PhD researcher at Dalhousie University, captured the top prize at the Falling Walls Lab Atlantic competition at the Halifax Central Library on Monday evening. Her prize will be a fully paid trip to Berlin in early November, where she will compete against 100 other innovators in the global finals of the Falling Walls competition.

Falling Walls Lab is an international pitch competition that challenges students and early-career professionals to present their ideas in just three minutes. Fifteen people competed in the event on Monday.

The Atlantic Canadian winner has returned from Berlin with a prize in each of the last two years. Last year, Dal student Dina Rogers won the Science Breakthrough of the Year award in the Emerging Talents category with a novel method of deconstructing waste, allowing plastic constituents to be re-used.

Benson pitched a hand-held ultrasound device that can detect tumor tissues during brain surgery, to make sure all of a tumor has been removed during the procedure. She told the audience that there are currently no convenient and precise methods to make sure all of a tumor is removed, but her handheld device has demonstrated it can to do so.

In an interview, Benson said the device has emerged from work at the ultrasound lab at Dalhousie University – the same lab where Jeremy Brown developed Sound Blade, a device that uses sonic energy to cut tissue. Brown’s company Sound Blade Medical  closed a US$16.5 million (C$23.8 million) Series A funding round earlier this year.

“I’m very excited just to be able to talk about this [project] on a larger stage,” said Benson, who has been working on the project for eight years. “I’m used to just talking about it with ultrasound people.  . . . I’m also excited to see what other people are working on.”

The $250 second prize went to Blaine Fiss, also of Dalhousie. Fiss is a postdoctoral fellow working on a process that uses solar energy to break down “forever chemicals”, which are known for their extreme durability due to a strong carbon-fluorine bond.

Jayda Kruger, a Dal student studying marine biology and ocean science, took home the $100 third place prize for her work on eco-friendly concrete. Kruger has developed a method of injecting concrete with micro-organisms, which have captured CO2. The concrete can then be used for marine barriers that can defend against coastal erosion and become a foundation for such sea life as seaweed and barnacles.

 

Disclaimer: Peter Moreira of Entrevestor was a judge at the Falling Walls Lab Atlantic competition.

Genesis Offers Startups 101

St. John’s-based innovation hub Genesis is offering new and aspiring tech founders the chance to put their business ideas to the test in a two-hour, interactive virtual workshop.

The workshop  helps participants shape and refine their concepts, explore how AI tools can support research and validation, and connect them with the resources available to founders in Newfoundland and Labrador, organizers said on LinkedIn.

Sessions are held monthly and provide a starting point for anyone interested in tech entrepreneurship. No experience or fully formed ideas are needed. 

The next workshop will be held this Wednesday, September 17, from 12 to 2 PM or from 6 to 8 PM. It costs $15 for members of the public and is free to Memorial University students.

Register here.
 

2025 Tech Forward Awards Finalists Named

Halifax-based Digital Nova Scotia, the industry association for the province’s tech sector, has announced the finalists for its 2025 Tech Forward Awards. The awards received nearly 200 nominations this year, the most in the event’s history.

Launched in 2016 and rebranded the Tech Forward Awards in 2022, the annual event aims to recognize the people and companies driving innovation, inclusion, and growth in the province.

Across eight categories, the 2025 finalists reflect the breadth of Nova Scotia’s tech sector, organizers said in a statement.

“Choosing finalists from a record number of nominations was no easy task, and that’s a great problem to have,” said Owen Sagness, CEO of Digital Nova Scotia. “It speaks to a sector that is growing in both talent and ambition …"

Winners will be revealed at the Tech Forward Awards ceremony on November 20 at the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront Hotel.

The finalists are:

Talent Champion Award – Sponsored by Humankind Global Recruitment. Recognizing a company or organization excelling in tech talent acquisition and retention, promoting Nova Scotia as a desirable career destination. 

● REDspace Inc 

● BeResponsive Media

● Maplewave 

Tech for Good Award – Sponsored by CGI 

Celebrating organizations that use tech to drive positive social, political, environmental, or economic change. 

● One North End Community Economic Development Society 

● DeepSense 

● iFormit Solutions Inc

Thinking Forward Award 

Recognizing individuals who dedicate their time to mentoring and inspiring future talent, encouraging careers in technology. 

● Titilayomi Damiro 

● Rita Orji

● Arad Gharagozli 

Provincial Spotlight Award – Sponsored by Invest Nova Scotia 

Honoring companies outside of the Halifax Regional Municipality that have made a notable impact on Nova Scotia’s tech landscape. 

● Good Robot Brewing Company

● Nova Social Media & Marketing

● 45Drives

Best of Tech 2024 Award – Sponsored by Compugen 

Recognizing organizations that have achieved remarkable growth, developed innovative products, or secured major deals this year. 

● MOC Bio Technologies Inc

● DeepSense

● Palladium MC

One to Watch Award – Sponsored by Dash Hudson 

Highlighting emerging talent from underrepresented communities who are making waves in the tech industry. 

● Irene Saliendra

● Vansh Sood

● Simran Arora

Role Model Award - Sponsored by BDC 

Honoring individuals from underrepresented communities in tech who are driving diversity and inclusion, inspiring others to overcome barriers. 

● Ezinne V.C Onwuekwe

● Jennifer LaPlante

● Nadia Ivanova

Diversity and Inclusion Champion Award - Sponsored by Nova Scotia Power

Recognizing organizations that lead diversity and inclusion initiatives in Nova Scotia’s tech sector, creating welcoming and equitable workplaces. 

● Tribe Network

● Turtle Island Technology Solutions Inc.

● Sea Change CoLab Consulting Inc.

Tribe Marks First Accelerate Tech Cohort

Halifax-based Tribe Network, a support organization for Atlantic Canadian entrepreneurs who identify as Black, Indigenous or People of Colour, is celebrating the first cohort to complete its Accelerate Tech program.

Twelve ventures completed the 2024 to 2025 cohort of the program for founders and ventures at various stages of development.

Organizers say the program offers:

  • 1:1 milestone-driven coaching with seasoned startup advisors and product experts
  • Workshops and peer learning designed to sharpen your strategy
  • Capital readiness support and curated introductions to investors
  • A national network of founders, funders, and mentors
  • Real accountability to help founders hit key startup milestones

 

The founders and companies in the first cohort are:

Samuel Oladimeji, Vedesi Inc 

An agency focused on web and product design and development, website creation, brand strategy, and digital marketing.

Yasir Gafar, Spokesfan Inc.

Cloud-based analytics platform that integrates with eCommerce sites to collect customer referrals and reviews.

Mukisa Kakembo, Fem Entity 

Creating an interconnected platform to transform the wellness industry.

Ebuka Amaefula, Owlya

An all-in-one AI-powered assessment platform that provides tools for conducting secured online assessments.

Sochukwuma Aham-neze, Kweeqpay

A web-based escrow payment solution designed for secure online transactions.

Rillwan Shokunbi, Cropmind Inc.

AI-powered computer vision models for detecting and analyzing trees, flowers, and fruits in orchards.

Lumi Oyelowo, Paytrybe

A mobile application designed to make remittance and bill payments seamless for African immigrants and international students in Canada.

Kendall Darling, Pilot X

On-demand pickup and moving services connecting customers with drivers and moving companies in under 5 minutes.

Abdul' Onabanjo, iFormit Solutions Inc.

Producing IMID-Connectors that transforms traditional non-AMR meters into smart meters.

Simone Le Gendre, EduHaus Inc.

Educational app that enhances STEM education through generative AI and educational psychology.

Collins Chukwuma, ScanSolve 

Leveraging AI and machine learning to interpret user queries for a personalized learning experience.

Mariah Pelley-Smith, Creative DAM

Meeting clients' need for customized documents after brand changes, overcoming limitations of existing tools.

Blue Charm Closes $4M Seed Round

Blue Charm CEO Greg Patey

Blue Charm CEO Greg Patey

Halifax-based medical data provider Blue Charm Adherence has raised $4 million in a seed funding round to enhance its patient engagement tools and attract more customers.

The financing was co-led by Crédit Mutuel Equity of France and Invest Nova Scotia, both of which are investing in the company for the first time. Blue Charm’s original early-stage investors also participated in the round.

The new capital will support product development, user growth, and expansion of services for pharmaceutical partners, said the company.

“This seed round enables us to expand our capabilities, working toward the goal of making health more accessible, meaningful, and actionable for individuals across Canada and beyond,” said CEO Greg Patey in a statement.

Patey, who founded Blue Charm in 2020, was previously one of the co-founders of STI Technologies, which helped drug companies distribute samples efficiently. It was sold to the American multinational QuintilesIMS in February 2017, reportedly for $200 million.

His current venture helps pharmaceutical companies understand what patients experience when taking their medications, and rewards patients who complete questionnaires. The company recruits people suffering from specific conditions, such as severe asthma or diabetes, who also have valid prescriptions. These volunteers complete surveys over the course of their treatment, and are paid for their participation.

In an interview, Patey said the new funding will help the company build out the product and develop a team that can attract and support corporate clients as well as the people who participate in the surveys. In particular, he mentioned that the company aims to develop cutting edge data analysis so the healthcare industry gains a deeper understanding of patients’ experiences with different medications and why some people neglect to take their meds properly.

“I would argue that in healthcare this is one of the biggest problems in the world in terms of the non-adherence to medication,” he said.

Blue Charm currently employs 14 full-time people, along with seven contractors, and Patey expects to add 10 staff members by the end of 2026. He said this seed round should give the company about two years of runway, after which its board will evaluate its capital requirements.

Patey began to work on this round in March 2023 with a trip to California to meet investors. Unfortunately, it was the same month that Silicon Valley Bank collapsed so the funding environment was terrible. He began efforts again in February 2024, and a contact in Montreal connected him with Crédit Mutuel, which he said immediately became interested in the Blue Charm mission.

When asked if it could help the company’s growth to have a key investor based in Europe, Patey said, “It’s less about having a European investor and more about having a great partner. They understand what we do and that’s why they’ve invested.  . . . The partnership is everything in this situation.”

 Patey is typical of the founders in Nova Scotia who are currently closing seven- or eight-figure funding rounds because he is a serial entrepreneur in the life sciences sector. Asked about how Blue Charm compares with his experiences with STI Technologies, he said the two journeys have been very similar.

“It’s about the same at this point, from a growth point of view,” said Patey. “But I can think of other things that were moments in time when we won a big deal and hit the hockey stick, as they say. That took probably eight or nine years. We’re on the same pace for that now. But we have several things in the pipeline right now that could take place this year and help to take us to the next level.”

CropMind, QuickFacts Accepted into US Programs

Two Atlantic Canadian startups have been accepted into international programs for startups.

CropMind of Fredericton was named this week to the latest cohort of Techstars, joining the Build in Tulsa Techstars program. And Halifax’s QuickFacts has been selected to attend InsurTech NY’s InsurTech Match program in New York on Sept. 17–18.

CropMind was co-founded by Damilare O. Odumosu and Rilwan Shokunbi, both of whom are graduates of the Masters of Technology, Management and Entrepreneurship program at University of New Brunswick. They’ve developed a company that helps farmers of such crops as apples and grapes to predict early in the growing season what their total crop will be.

Earlier this year, CropMind closed a $500,000 funding round, led by the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation and BKR Capital. The company also graduated recently from the Accelerate Tech program offered by the Tribe Network. 

Co-founded by Christy and Jeff Barsalou, QuickFacts offers a platform that lets insurance brokers view packages from competing insurers side by side for easy comparison. The company says it can reduce the time brokers spend searching for information by 10 to 20 times. It also says the platform offers brokers more depth of information than competitors.

“This opportunity means a lot for QuickFacts as we continue to bring our solution to the U.S. market,” said Christy Barsalou, the company’s CEO, in a LinkedIn post. “I’m excited to foster conversations with carriers, brokers, and mentors about how we can support agencies and make their work easier and faster.”

The company, a member of the Atlantic FinTech community, raised $2 million in August 2024, the Barsalous identified New York as the beachhead for their coming U.S. expansion.

Atlantic Canadian AI Ventures Heading to ALL IN

At least 30 Atlantic Canadian companies specializing in artificial intelligence will participate in a trade mission to Montréal later this month, led by Digital Nova Scotia.

The companies will take part in ALL IN 2025, billed as Canada’s largest AI event, scheduled for Sept.24-25. The two-day gathering is expected to attract more than 4,000 participants and over 200 speakers from around the world. The agenda includes workshops, curated content streams, and networking opportunities aimed at connecting companies with potential partners and investors.

Digital Nova Scotia CEO Owen Sagness said the mission is designed to highlight the region’s growing AI sector on a larger stage. “Atlantic Canada is home to some of the country’s most innovative AI talent, but we often don’t get the spotlight we deserve,” he said in a statement.

The trade mission is being organized with support from the Atlantic Trade and Investment Growth Strategy, a collaboration among the four Atlantic provinces and the federal government. Additional backing is coming from Invest Nova Scotia, Opportunities New Brunswick, Volta, Venn Innovation, TechNL, and PEI Business Inc.

The organizers said the trip is intended to help participating companies gain international exposure, seek partnerships, and showcase Atlantic Canada as an emerging hub for AI development.

Applications are open for Atlantic Canadian companies interested in joining the delegation. Details are available here.

The companies that have agreed to attend so far are:

New Brunswick

Urai AI

NorthBound Advisory 

Parados

Nezz  

No Code Engineering    

White Pine Medical  

ISPIRE  

Climative    

the Black Arcs 

Patchell Brook Equity Analytics

TOOL-GO

FITIV 

Nova Scotia

ARKEN

immediac

Kindred AI

Palladium MC

MIMOSA Diagnostics 

LaunchPal 

AI-First Consulting

ResolveHD

Judy Intelligence

Hivo App 

Newfoundland and Labrador

ClearRisk

trophi.ai

Enaimco 

Weevva Systems

NutraForge

Seafair Capital 

atlantiq AI

Sparrow BioAcoustics

RFINE Closes $1.7M Equity Round

In a challenging funding environment, Halifax-based RFINE Biomass Solutions has closed an over-subscribed equity funding round worth $1.7 million.

Creative Destruction Lab Atlantic posted on social media that RFINE – which upcycles spent coffee grounds into nutritious food ingredients – closed the round recently, having originally set out to raise $1.5 million. RFINE graduated from the CDL program in 2024.

“This milestone strengthens RFINE’s position to accelerate commercialization and scale its innovations in sustainable food technology,” said the post from CDL Atlantic. “With the raise complete, the team is now advancing toward new growth opportunities and further non-dilutive funding.”

Founded in 2022 by Quinn Cavanagh and Gordon Neal, RFINE works with coffee shops and other java vendors to retain and reuse their spent coffee grounds, which traditionally would be tossed away. Countless tons of these coffee grounds are thrown out each day around the world.

The RFINE system processes and stabilizes the spent coffee grounds, making sustainable ingredients that have ample shelf-life and can be used in food for humans or animals, the company says.

RFINE was able to close this funding round in a difficult environment, as several funding organizations are reporting that venture capital funding in general has dropped recently, and early-stage financing is especially scarce. The Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association’s most recent report showed that annual pre-seed and seed funding for Canada in the past four years averaged $133 million and $813 million respectively. However, in the first half of 2025, pre-seed funding amounted to $39 million while seed rounds totaled $258 million. Funding in these brackets would have to increase dramatically in the second half to reach the average of the previous four years. 

At Entrevestor, we’ve noticed that young companies are finding it especially hard to raise funds. In calendar 2024, we found that Atlantic Canadian startups launched in 2022-24 raised a mere $6.1 million in equity funding, or 4 percent of the private capital raised by all startups in the region. The recent RFINE raise is an example of one company bucking this trend.

One final thought on this raise: it continues the trend of Nova Scotian companies outside of the IT sector successfully courting investors. According to the CVCA, Nova Scotia is the only province in Canada in which IT is not the most active startup sector in terms of fundraising. The major rounds announced this year have mainly been in life sciences – Mara Renewable landing $9.1 million in funding and Sound Blade Medical raising US$16.5 million. RFINE’s $1.7 million round is another example of a non-digital company finding success with investors.

Crowell, Roisman Imach Finalists in National Competition

Two Atlantic Canadian women are finalists for the 2025 edition of the Top Women in Tech, a national competition presented by Toast and Betakit.

Jane Crowell, who is the CEO of Particle, and Alicia Roisman Ismach, the head of Atlantic FinTech, are among the 25 finalists for the competition, which recognizes female leaders in the Canadian technology industry, according to social media posts.

Roisman Ismach has been the Head of FinTech at Atlantic FinTech since 2021, championing companies throughout the region that produce digital products for the financial industry. After becoming the entrepreneur-in-residence at Moncton-based Venn Innovation in 2018, she began working with fintech companies throughout the region, founding the region’s fintech organization that now works with more than 140 companies.

Halifax resident Jane Crowell is the CEO of Particle, which is developing a platform that helps startups to raise capital through integrated investor outreach. The platform’s features help in such areas as legal onboarding, investor relations, share purchase and compliance.

The Top Women in Tech competition is hosted by: Toast, which is a recruitment group with the mission of overcoming the challenges facing women in the tech community; and Betakit, a news site that covers startups and tech across Canada.

The region is also represented on the Top Women in Tech judging panel. Erin O'Keefe Graham, the CEO of Neighbourhood Consulting and the former head of the Emera IdeaHub, is one of nine judges in the competition.

Planetary Inks C$43M Deal with Frontier

Dartmouth-based Planetary Technologies has signed a US$31.3 million (C$43.2 million) agreement with Frontier to remove 115,211 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere between 2026 and 2030.

Blue-chip companies that back Frontier will pay Planetary to scale up its ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) operations in one of the world’s largest OAE projects to date.

Frontier works with some of the world’s largest companies to encourage the development of carbon-capture technology. By paying for carbon-capture agreements while the technology is still being developed, Frontier helps young companies grow through the difficult stages of getting to market.

“This offtake with Frontier buyers allows us to demonstrate that ocean alkalinity enhancement can safely and effectively remove CO2 beyond small-scale trials,” said Planetary CEO Mike Kelland in a statement. “We’re eager to show how it can be rolled out responsibly.”

Planetary’s process involves adding dissolved alkaline minerals – such as calcium oxide and magnesium oxide – into coastal waters. This accelerates the ocean’s natural carbon cycle by converting dissolved CO₂ into stable bicarbonate ions, which remain stored in the ocean for more than 10,000 years, the company says. The company uses existing infrastructure, including power plant cooling water discharges, to integrate its process without building new large-scale facilities.

In 2023, Planetary signed a smaller deal with Frontier to remove 937 tons of CO2 with its technology. It now has a facility in operation in Tufts Cove in Dartmouth.

The Frontier statement said Planetary this year completed a pilot project verifying for the first time that tons of CO2 could be removed from the atmosphere using OAE. With the new funding, the company aims to initiate its next phase of operations, with deliveries scheduled to begin in 2026.

OAE has drawn interest because of its potential for large-scale, low-cost carbon removal, said Frontier. Scientists estimate it could remove billions of tons of CO2 annually at costs that could fall below $100 per ton. Frontier has funded a range of approaches to clarify the viability of OAE, supporting trials on land, in freshwater systems, and now in a coastal environment through Planetary.

“Ocean alkalinity enhancement can remove CO2 from the atmosphere extremely cheaply and efficiently,” said Frontier Head of Deployment Hannah Bebbington. “But expanding it beyond small-scale trials calls for ironclad measurement and safety protocols, alongside addressing community concerns. . . . This is the right project and team to pave the way forward for this promising pathway.”

One interesting note about Frontier is that its website says it now has more than 50 companies in its portfolio, and three of them are from the Halifax area.

As well as the recent deal with Planetary, Frontier in July awarded a US$1.75 million contract to pHathom Technologies to remove 510 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. The company’s technology captures CO2 emissions from coastal bioenergy plants, which are plants that transform organic material from plants and animals into useful energy like heat, electricity, or biofuels. 

Frontier also signed a deal in 2023 with CarbonRun to remove 57,000 tons of CO2, five tons of which have been delivered. CarbonRun adds crushed limestone to rivers to reduce their acidity, storing CO2 as dissolved bicarbonate in the river and ultimately in the ocean.

Genesis Seeks Founders for Evolve

St. John’s-based innovation hub Genesis is seeking founders to participate in Evolve, a seven-week program for early-stage tech founders.

Evolve is for founders who have an idea but no clear path forward, organizers said on LinkedIn.
The program allows founders to:

* Clearly define the problem their startup aims to solve.
* Understand who their customers are and what they want.
* Refine the idea based on real-world feedback.
* Discover strategies to attract first customers.
* Confidently position the startup for growth.

The program demands about three hours of each week. The cost is $200 but is free for Memorial University students.

Apply here.

Beauceron Releases Tool for Financial Companies

Fredericton-based Beauceron Security has launched its Cyber Wellness Score to help financial companies work with their customers to be more pro-active in preventing cybercrime.

The company in 2017 launched a cyber-risk scoring platform that allowed corporations of organizations to help employees assess their vulnerability to hackers and cybercriminals. That product now helps more than 1 million people understand their risks and take steps to become less vulnerable.

Last week, Beauceron launched its Cyber Wellness Score for financial companies so banks, credit unions, and fintechs can provide digital score cards for their customers and help them reduce their risks.  

“Financial institution fraud and cyber awareness efforts usually involve one-way communications to clients. Whether it’s email blasts, social media posts, website updates, or webinars, these approaches suffer from a lack of meaningful engagement and feedback,” said David Shipley, CEO and co-founder of Beauceron Security in a statement. “There’s a better way to make a more meaningful impact.”

The Cyber Wellness Score is designed to act like a fitness tracker for digital security, showing customers where they are vulnerable and offering steps to strengthen their defenses, the company said. By giving users a measurable score, Beauceron aims to make fraud prevention more tangible and encourage ongoing improvement.

The launch comes at a time when fraud is the dominant form of cybercrime. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that 83 percent of the US$16.6 billion in cybercrime losses in 2024 were due to fraud targeting customers. Shipley said research indicates people who do not believe they are at risk, or who think security is the sole responsibility of banks, are more likely to be victimized.

Unlike traditional anti-fraud tools that typically detect crime during or after an incident, Beauceron says its platform is designed to reduce risk before it occurs. The system combines awareness training, behavioral nudges, and measurement tools to help financial institutions by:

  • Showing customers where they are most exposed.
  • Providing personalized coaching to reduce risk.
  • Measuring the effectiveness of education efforts.
  • Tracking knowledge and attitudes as early indicators of fraud vulnerability.

Financial institutions can embed the Cyber Wellness Score directly into their online banking apps and portals. Customers who opt in receive tailored guidance and feedback, transforming fraud awareness from one-way messaging into an interactive experience.

Beauceron Security was founded in 2016 by cybersecurity professionals at the University of New Brunswick, and raised $3.1 million in equity financing in 2022. Its original platform introduced the Security Culture Score, which helps organizations understand not only what happens in awareness and anti-phishing programs, but why risky behavior occurs and how to improve outcomes.

Ocean Startup Project Names Cohort

The Ocean Startup Project has awarded $350,000 in funding to 15 Canadian startups in its fifth Ocean Startup Challenge, a national competition that supports early-stage oceantech ventures.

The winning companies, drawn from across the country, will each receive non-dilutive funding along with specialized support to help advance the development of their products. The 2025 cohort is tackling challenges in areas including decarbonized marine transportation, renewable energy, sustainable materials, and marine safety.

More than one-third of the companies are from Atlantic Canada. 

“Every year, we see the strength and creativity of Canadian ocean entrepreneurs grow,” said Paula Mendonça, Executive Director of the Ocean Startup Project. “This cohort of 15 companies showcases the breadth of talent across the country, and through the Challenge, we are connecting them with the support, expertise, and networks they need to succeed on a global scale.”

These are the startups selected for the fifth cohort:

  • Alaagi (Nova Scotia): Developing a food-safe, seaweed-based bioplastic film that is compostable, heat- and vacuum-sealable, and engineered for cold-chain seafood and meat packaging.
  • Atalanta Climate (British Columbia): Creating compact, fully electric carbon capture systems that use ocean-derived materials to cut energy requirements by up to 90 percent compared with conventional direct air capture.
  • atlantiq AI (Newfoundland and Labrador): Building on-premise AI agents that integrate into CAD software, helping ship design teams reduce time on manual quality assurance and information-gathering by up to tenfold.
  • CM Marine Safety Equipment (Nova Scotia/Prince Edward Island): Designing a life jacket tailored to the needs of commercial fishers, aimed at reducing drowning fatalities at sea.
  • DeFort Bio (Nova Scotia): Developing biodegradable lobster band alternatives to replace environmentally harmful rubber bands.
  • Equlantic Aquatic Monitoring (Nova Scotia): Combining an automatic water-sampling device with a sensor integration system to deliver lower-cost, higher-coverage water quality monitoring.
  • FieldComplex (Quebec): Building a scalable, real-time underwater communication system that combines advanced modems with intelligent software to deliver secure, long-range data transmission – an “underwater Wi-Fi.”
  • FinShield (Ontario): Creating an AI-powered platform that integrates AIS and open-source intelligence to give NGOs and maritime authorities rapid insight into illegal finning.
  • FlowMotion Hydrokinetic (Ontario): Developing helical screw turbine systems to generate clean, predictable energy from tidal and river currents.
  • Flux Lines (Quebec): Designing battery barges that provide clean electricity to ships at berth or anchor, offering a scalable alternative to traditional shore power.
  • Mostar Labs (British Columbia): Creating LILYPAD, a modular floating charging platform for electric vessels, with advanced battery storage and smart management systems for coastal and nearshore environments.
  • RETSSOP (Nova Scotia): Developing an oil spill response solution that combines advanced imaging with high-performance absorbents capable of recovering more than 80 percent of spilled oil.
  • SeaFoam (British Columbia/Ontario): Producing regenerative building insulation made from seaweed and upcycled waste to help create carbon-negative homes.
  • Subvision Robotics (British Columbia): Building ZIMA, an autonomous UVC subsea rover that prevents ship-hull biofouling, reducing fuel costs and eliminating toxic cleaning methods.
  • Technologies Seanetik (Quebec): Creating robotic solutions for submerged hull cleaning as part of efforts to decarbonize maritime transport.

Launched in 2020, the Ocean Startup Challenge has supported more than 90 ocean-focused startups across Canada.

In addition to funding, participants in the program receive direct support from an executive-in-residence, access to mentors with expertise across multiple fields, curated exposure to market opportunities, and in-kind services. 

On Vacation Until September

As we do every summer, we're taking off the final week of August. 

We find there's little news to write about it in the week before Labour Day. And if something newsworthy does happen, there are few readers around to read about it. 

We're heading to the beach with a stack of good books -- forgive the shameless plug. We will be back in early September with more news. 

Falling Walls Applications Due Sunday

Atlantic Canadian students and researchers still have a few days left to apply for the 2025 Falling Walls Lab Atlantic Canada pitch competition, with the deadline set for Sunday, Aug. 24, at 11:59 p.m ADT.

The event will take place Sept. 15 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Halifax Central Library and will also allow participants to pitch live online. The competition is open to post-secondary students, researchers, and early-career professionals from across Atlantic Canada.

Falling Walls Lab is a world-class pitch competition and networking forum that provides a global stage for breakthrough ideas. Participants deliver a three-minute pitch showcasing their research, business model, or innovative initiative to a panel of judges. The goal is to highlight projects that “break down walls” in science, technology, and society.

Winners of the Halifax competition will not only receive regional recognition but also earn the chance to compete in the global finals in Berlin, Germany, where innovators from around the world come together to share ideas and collaborate.

Organizers are encouraging students to apply now and seize the opportunity to represent Atlantic Canada on the international stage. “High participation benefits everyone,” said Sandra Goodwin of Nava Develop, which is helping MSVU deliver the event. “When your students represent your institutions at competitions like this, the visibility supports recruitment and alumni engagement.”

The event is hosted by Mount Saint Vincent University and supported by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Invest Nova Scotia.

You can find more details and register here.

Tickets, Nominations Open for InnovateNB

Early-bird tickets are now on sale and nominations have opened for the 2025 InnovateNB Celebration and Awards, taking place Thursday, Nov. 27 at the Saint John Trade and Convention Centre.

Now in its fourth year, InnovateNB is the province’s premier celebration of innovation, bringing together entrepreneurs, researchers, business leaders, and public-sector changemakers to recognize the people and ideas shaping New Brunswick’s future.

Presented by TechImpact, the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, the McKenna Institute at the University of New Brunswick, Propel, and economic development partner Envision Saint John, the event begins with a 5:00 p.m. networking reception, followed by a three-course dinner and awards ceremony from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. The program will also honour this year’s InnovateNB Hall of Fame inductee.

“InnovateNB celebrates the people turning bold ideas and technology into real solutions for our communities,” said Cathy Simpson, CEO of TechImpact, in a statement. “We’re shining a light on innovators who build, implement, and make a tangible difference across New Brunswick.”

Nominations are open across nine award categories, including the new Beacon Award for Women in Innovation and Leadership. Other categories include: Emerging Innovator; Inclusivity and Empowerment; Innovative Product or Service; Startup of the Year; Scale-up of the Year; Impact Innovation; Public Sector Transformation; and Innovation in Academia and Research.

Nominations close Sept. 29. You can nominate someone here.

Early-bird pricing for the celebration is available until Oct. 1 for both individual tickets and tables of eight. You can purchase tickets here.

MilAero Embarks on Major Expansion

Debora and Paul Greedy at the kickoff of the MilAero expansion last month.

Debora and Paul Greedy at the kickoff of the MilAero expansion last month.

Preparing for rising demand for its electronic assemblies, Dartmouth-based MilAero Electronics Atlantic is embarking on a major expansion estimated to cost more than $2.2 million.

Co-owners Paul and Debora Greedy announced last month that they were adding 8,000 square feet of manufacturing space to their existing headquarters, doubling the company’s operational facility.

The company’s expansion includes investment in new equipment and production capacity to better serve a growing roster of national and international clients.

“We’re adding 8,000 square feet of new manufacturing space at our existing Dartmouth facility, giving us more room to take on complex projects, invest in advanced equipment, and optimize our production flow, all without leaving the site we’ve called home for years,” said Debora Greedy in an email.

The Greedys were co-founders of the company in 2002 and took 100 percent ownership in 2022. Today, Paul Greedy leads the production, engineering and operations while Debora Greedy oversees compliance and security, administration and business development. MilAero is a CCIB Certified Indigenous Business as Debora is Mi’kmaq with ancestral roots in the Eel Ground First Nation (Natoaganeg) in northern New Brunswick.

MilAero manufactures high-performance electrical assemblies, with a concentration in aerospace and defence. Specifically, it provides build-to-print manufacturing, offering turnkey solutions or using customer-supplied material.

When it first announced the expansion in early July, it employed 50 people. That number has already risen to 55 employees, and the company expects to hire an additional 25 employees.

“Along with adding more space, we’re bringing in new equipment and technology that will let us work more efficiently and take on even more complex projects for our clients,” said Debora Greedy.

Though they have not yet completed the financials for the expansion project, they estimate the total cost in equipment and building expansion will amount to more than $2.2 million.

One of the main reasons for the expansion is the recent commitment by Canada and other NATO members to increase defence spending. The Greedys believe more investment in the sector means more opportunities for companies like theirs, and they want to have the capacity and capabilities to meet that new demand.

On the flip side, the overall environment for manufacturers is getting more challenging due to trade wars and rising tariffs in the U.S. MilAero has already begun to feel the pinch as the cost of materials from the U.S. has been rising.

Said Debora Greedy: “Pricing is beginning to climb, and that puts pressure on our production budgets. While we work hard to absorb what we can and find efficiencies, any sustained increases can affect timelines and competitiveness. It’s something we’re watching closely.”

AI2Market Launches for Region’s Students

Dalhousie University, ShiftKey Labs and Lab2Market are launching a new program called AI2Market to help students across Atlantic Canada develop AI-focused enterprises.

The new program is modeled on Lab2Market, which Dal co-founded with other universities in 2019 and has grown into a national program for research-based innovation. It’s being offered in collaboration with ShiftKey Labs, one of the “sandboxes” set up by the Nova Scotia government to help encourage innovation among post-secondary students.

“Students participating in the AI2Market program will be equipped with both AI fluency, critical thinking, and the entrepreneurial skills necessary to transform their ideas into market-changing innovations,” said Jeff Larsen, assistant vice president of innovation and entrepreneurship at Dal. “These innovators are not just preparing for an AI-driven economy; they will be actively driving the future of AI innovation in Atlantic Canada.”

The organizers stress that setting up an AI-driven company involves a lot more than just adding ChatGPT to a customer support desk. It calls for the use of artificial intelligence across an entire business operation. AI2Market will aim to assess the viability of a business idea then help the student-entrepreneurs to apply AI-driven components to their businesses and get their product to market.

Mirroring the Lab2Market model, the new program involves taking the entrepreneur through three phases of instruction:

  • Discover, in which participants learn the core components of AI and gain a full understanding of how speed is essential to strategy;
  • Validate, in which participants use AI-based tools for competitive research, trend forecasting, and rapid hypothesis testing;
  • And Launch, in which the student employs AI tools, machine learning fundamentals, data strategy, and AI-first product design to build lean, market-ready businesses.

AI2Market is open to students from any Atlantic Canadian university or college. Applications, which can be found here, must be submitted by Sept. 15.

Tribe Seeks Applicants for Out East

Tribe Network is seeking 2SLGBTQIA+ applicants from the BIPOC community for its new Out East program.

Offered in collaboration with the Canadian Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, Out East is a first-of-its-kind entrepreneurship program for members of these two under-represented communities.

“You don’t need to code-switch,” said an announcement from Tribe, a Halifax-based support organization for BIPOC entrepreneurs. “You don’t need a pitch deck. You don’t even need business experience. All you need is the desire to build.”

The program offers Identity-affirming spaces, financial literacy training, practical workshops and tools, monthly office hours and access to a network of regional partners.

You can find out more information and an application form here. The deadline for applications is Sept. 4.

Climative Joins Mission for the Future Program

Fredericton-based Climative, a maker of AI-powered low-carbon plans for buildings, is one of three global cleantech companies named this year to the international LG Nova Mission for the Future program.

Hosted by the South Korean electronics giant LG, Mission for the Future is an international startup program that aims to help impact companies scale their products to help people and the planet. The latest cleantech cohort comprises three companies: Climative, Seattle-based BattGenie and Cleveland-based Proximal Energy.

Founded in 2014 as Simptek, Climative has an AI-powered platform that performs rapid, remote energy assessments of homes at scale. As of last October, the company said the platform had assessed more than 5 million homes in 682 cities, uncovering a potential 55 megatonnes of CO2 savings.

Now the company is one of three companies chosen from among more than 1,000 applicants to enter the cleantech category in the Mission for the Future program. It will give the company access the LG NOVA Mission Partner Network, which is intended to bring participants opportunities for partnership and investment.

Climative posted an opening this week for an operations manager. Anyone interested can learn more and apply here.

CVCA Data Shows Region Raised $25M in Q2

Atlantic Canadian startups raised about $25 million in venture capital in the second quarter of 2025, says Canada’s main VC body, largely because of an undisclosed deal in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, known as CVCA, on Wednesday released its VC data for the first half of the calendar year. It showed the four eastern provinces amassed a total of $61 million in VC funding in the January-June period. We subtracted the $36 million reported in the first quarter to come up with the second-quarter total of $25 million.

The report shows there was a single funding round reported in Newfoundland and Labrador last quarter, and it was worth $20 million. The CVCA released no information about the target of the investment other than that it was an ICT company. It’s obviously a stealth round as there was no public announcement of such a big round in recent months.

The other provincial totals for the second-quarter were: one deal worth $3 million in Nova Scotia; three deals worth $2 million in New Brunswick and no VC rounds in Prince Edward Island.

The numbers overall are disappointing. First, the region as of Canada Day was on track to raise $122 million for 2025. That would be the lowest VC total since the $90 million mark in 2020. According to the CVCA data, Atlantic Canadian VC funding peaked for the first five years of this decade in 2021 at $256 million, and has declined each year since, hitting $176 million in 2024.

Annual VC funding in the 2020s, according to the CVCA

Annual VC totals in Atlantic Canada, according to the CVCA

There have been a few bright spots on the funding front in the second half of 2025. Halifax-based Mara Renewables raised US$9.1 million (C$12.6 million) from S2G Investments in July. And in the public markets, St. John’s-based Kraken Robotics closed a $115 million funding exercise on the TSX Venture Exchange, hitting the top of a range it outlined in June.

The second disappointment is how few companies are receiving venture capital. According to the CVCA data, only five companies received venture capital in the second quarter. The problem created by so few companies receiving VC dollars is compounded by the weak angel funding the region has experienced in the past few years.

The CVCA report also mentioned a couple of Atlantic Canadian funding bodies. Invest Nova Scotia was named among the most active “government funds” as it was involved in two deals worth a total of $27 million. It participated in funding rounds by Halifax companies Sound Blade Medical and 3DBioFibr. Also, the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation was named among the most active investors in pre-seed rounds, investing in two such rounds.

For Canada overall, startups raised a total of $2.9 billion in the first half across 254 deals, marking the lowest first-half total since 2020, said the CVCA. It was a 26 percent decline in dollars invested compared with the previous first half.

Information technology dominated the league tables in terms of sectors, accounting for $1.4 billion in first-half VC funding or 48 percent of the national total. It was the most active sector in eight provinces, and Nova Scotia was the only province that did not have a single IT venture capital deal in the first half.  

“We are seeing more selective deployment of capital, especially at the critical earliest stages of investment,” said David Kornacki, Director of Data and Product at CVCA. “What stands out is the continued strength in life sciences, a rise in large venture debt transactions and the utilization of secondaries to provide liquidation for early investors. These shifts point to evolving investment strategies across a maturing ecosystem.”

MLS, Reaction Dynamics Outline Orbital Project

Maritime Launch Services has agreed to sell a stake to Montreal-based Reaction Dynamics Lab Inc. and collaborate on an all-Canadian orbital launch set for the summer of 2028.

MLS, which has built a commercial rocket launch pad in Canso, N.S., issued a statement Tuesday saying the agreements, which have a total value of $1.7 million, will lead to a rocket designed and built in Canada being fired into orbit from Canada for the first time. The two companies began collarating with each other last year. 

Under the agreements, Reaction Dynamics will buy $1.03 million of MLS shares over the next three years and in return will receive a discount on using the Canso facility to launch its orbital rocket.

“This is more than an investment or commercial launch agreement — it affirms that Canada’s space launch capability is real and ready,” said MLS President and CEO Stephen Matier in the statement. “With Reaction Dynamics, Canada is joining the ranks of our NATO allies and other nations that can launch their satellites to orbit, from their soil, on their terms.”

MLS went public on the TSX Venture Exchange in 2021 and finalized the land lease for its Spaceport Nova Scotia facility in Canso a year later. In August 2023, the company completed its first suborbital launch from the Canso facility a collaboration with York University students.

Reaction Dynamics manufactures hybrid rocket engines and launch vehicles, focusing on small satellite deployment. It has developed proprietary hybrid rocket fuel and engine technology that it says simplifies design and reduces costs.

Under the agreements announced this week, both companies have committed to a multi-year facility usage agreement granting the Reaction Dynamics project the exclusive use of a designated launchpad at Spaceport Nova Scotia. They intend to collaborate on regular launch operations, assuming the first orbital attempt is successful.

The details of the share sale call for Reaction to buy about $85,000 of new MLS shares on Sept. 30, and make similar purchases in each of 11 quarters after that. It will pay five cents a share in the first tranche and pay a price based on average market prices in the subsequent purchases. MLS shares on Tuesday rose 29 percent to 9 cents, giving the company a market capitalization of $42.2 million.

“Securing this Pathfinder launch is Canada’s bridge to true sovereign launch,” said Bachar Elzein, CEO of Reaction Dynamics. “With Aurora-1 flying this winter and our Aurora-8 orbital system coming online, Canada is not only entering the launch market—it is shaping the future of rapid, distributed, and allied-ready space access.”

IdeaBUILD Seeks Deep-Tech Applicants

The Emera IdeaHUB is looking for early-stage, deep-tech startups to apply for the coming cohort of its 10-month ideaBUILD program.

The next IdeaBUILD program will accept as many as 10 teams that are working on a physical product and start with a 12-week bootcamp. Its advisers and engineers will spend almost a year helping these teams assess their market and validate and build their first operational prototype.

Each team will receive $10,000 for prototyping materials.

Applications for the program, which can be found here, close Aug. 29, and the program begins in October. The accelerator is based in the Emera IdeaHUB on Dalhousie University’s Studley Campus, but participants do not need to be affiliated with Dal to apply.

SmartSkin Secures $7.5M Line of Credit

Fredericton-based internet-of-things venture SmartSkin Technologies has secured a $7.5 million line of credit with CIBC Innovation Banking and intends to use the access to funds to expand its market reach.

SmartSkin and CIBC issued a press release announcing the credit facility last week.

“This financing fuels our ambition to become the essential intelligence layer for pharmaceutical and beverage manufacturing,” said SmartSkin CEO Evan Justason. “We’re no longer just solving individual problems—we're building the digital foundation these industries will depend on to operate efficiently, safely, and with zero defects. With the trust of global leaders and a presence across every major market, SmartSkin is positioned to be not just a solution—but a standard.”

SmartSkin Technologies, led by Justason and CTO Kumaran Thillainadarajah, uses industrial internet-of-things technology to improve the efficiency of production lines in the bottling industry. Its main clients are in the pharmaceutical and beverage industries.

Its technology uses pressure-sensitive sensors and AI-driven analytics to provide global manufacturers with actionable data on the forces their containers experience during the filling, packaging and transporting process.

SmartSkin’s equity investors include the Business Development Bank of Canada, the New Brunswick Innovation Fund, East Valley Ventures and Schott Pharma.

 

Correction: The original version of this article said SmartSkin "borrowed" the money from CIBC. In fact, the agreement is a line of credit, which the company can draw down. 

Sound Blade Medical Names Barman CEO

Halifax-based Sound Blade Medical, which has developed a handheld, ultrasound-powered tissue-cutting tool (histotripsy therapy), has appointed Neil Barman CEO.  

The company, which raised US$16.5 million (C$23.8 million) in a Series A round in January, says its technology focuses ultrasound to liquify targeted tissue without thermal damage, allowing for truly non-invasive surgical solutions.

Barman, a physician-executive with more than two decades of medical technology leadership experience, previously served as the company's chief operating officer and will steward Sound Blade through its next phase of clinical development, the company said in a statement.

"Neil brings an exceptional combination of leadership, clinical insight, and medtech expertise," said executive chairman Tony Natale. 

Prior to joining Sound Blade, Barman served as chief scientific officer at ReCor Medical, where he played a key role in securing the first FDA approval for ultrasound renal denervation therapy. He also co-founded May Health, which develops novel treatments for PCOS-related infertility, and has held senior leadership roles at multiple medtech companies that were later acquired by industry leaders including Medtronic and Stryker, the company said.

Sound Blade Medical also revealed that Jeremy Brown, company founder and inventor, will continue to serve as chief technical officer. 

"Jeremy's groundbreaking work in handheld histotripsy established the scientific foundation of Sound Blade," said Barman. "His leadership has been instrumental in transforming the company from an innovative concept to a platform positioned for meaningful clinical impact."

Brown founded Sound Blade with the aim of developing a non-invasive therapeutic platform using focused ultrasound to replace traditional surgical approaches across multiple medical conditions. Under his leadership, the company developed its histotripsy technology into a compact, handheld form.

Melamoon Seeks Black Founders

The national Melamoon pitch contest is offering Black founders the chance to win $200,000 in prizes, mentorship, and national exposure.

Melamoon is a national opportunity for Black founders who are ready to scale, Halifax-based Tribe Network, a support group for founders who identify as Black, Indigenous or People of Colour, said in its newsletter.

Backed by FACE Coalition and Black Ambition, Melamoon is an upcoming two-day event in Toronto. Judges will select 50 founders to participate in virtual workshops, exposure to investors and mentors and opportunities to pitch for non-dilutive cash prizes.

The event will take place September 26 to 27 at Toronto's Globe and Mail Centre.

Applications are open until August 15.

NB Report Calls for New IT Strategy

TechImpact CEO Cathy Simpson

TechImpact CEO Cathy Simpson

TechImpact, the New Brunswick-based IT advocacy group, has laid out a 10-year plan to increase the province’s tech revenues to $1.7 billion from under $1 billion today.  

Working with economist David Campbell of Jupia Consultants, the organization last week released a report titled Building NB’s Future: How a Thriving Tech Sector Can Lead the Way. It called for government and the private sector to work together to ensure this growth sector increases its contribution to the New Brunswick economy.

As well as proposing for a more detailed strategy, the report calls for increased investment in IT startups, an artificial intelligence adoption plan for public and private sectors, and for the government to become an early adopter of technology developed in the province.

“We have had tremendous success in the past 20 years at growing our tech sector and demonstrating the economic impact that comes when you are building and scaling companies from New Brunswick.” said TechImpact CEO Cathy Simpson in a press release announcing the report. “There is much more potential and a 10-year tech industry plan, more public and private sector collaboration and investments in technology are critical steps for New Brunswick to achieve its economic potential.”

The report outlines a goal to increase tech sector revenues by 5 percent annually, which would increase them from $931 million in 2023 to about $1.7 billion in 2035. If successful, the report says it would increase the tech workforce in the province to 15,375 fulltime-equivalent positions from the current 8,990. It would also boost provincial government revenue from the sector from $273 million in 2024 to over $466 million in 2035.

New Brunswick now has about 275 IT companies, with about 9,000 people working in IT roles across all sectors, said the report. However, the province has suffered “a decline in new startups, slower scaling, and increased failures due to economic uncertainty.”

To rebuild momentum, TechImpact is calling for a detailed 10-year growth plan involving the public and private sectors. As well as boosting technology adoption across the economy, it would focus on generating exports, leveraging existing assets and incentivising innovation.

A cornerstone of this strategy would be increasing investment in new technology, startups and R&D. “We must set a long-term goal to increase investment in research, innovation, and new company formation from under 2 percent to 4–5 percent of GDP over the next decade,” says the report.

TechImpact also called for greater adoption of AI, data, and cybersecurity solutions across sectors, and for the provincial government to “lead by example” by establishing a structure that would make it an early adopter of New Brunswick-built technology.

“This is just the beginning of a larger conversation on the role of tech in shaping New Brunswick’s economic future,” added Simpson. “We invite business leaders, policymakers, and community partners to review the findings and join us in building the next decade of growth.”

PEI BioAlliance Names Lauren Ledwell CEO

Lauren Ledwell new CEO, PEI BioAlliance

Lauren Ledwell new CEO, PEI BioAlliance

Charlottetown-based PEI BioAlliance has appointed Lauren Ledwell its new Chief Executive Officer.

Ledwell brings extensive experience in business transformation, venture capital, and system innovation to the sector, the industry group said in a press release.

She will succeed founding CEO Rory Francis who announced that he would retire in 2025.

“Lauren Ledwell’s leadership in the innovation economy as a tech entrepreneur, investor, and mentor is a significant asset for the continued growth of our sector,” said Charmaine Noonan, Chair, Board of Directors.

The Board of Directors appointed Ledwell, who recently returned to her home province, after conducting a six-month search to find the next leader of the group. 

“I’m thrilled to join the PEI BioAlliance and to build on the tremendous momentum of this respected bioscience cluster organization,” said Ledwell.

“I’m looking forward to working alongside the talented BioAlliance team, regional and national cluster organizations, and with all partners that have shaped PEI’s thriving bioscience sector to date. Together, we’ll continue advancing innovation, accelerating growth, and championing leadership in the bioeconomy.”

Most recently Ledwell worked with Sandpiper Ventures, spearheading Seed and Series A investments in inclusive, high-growth Canadian tech companies. She previously held senior roles at Manulife, RBC, and Maple Leaf Foods, and served as CEO of discoverygarden..

She co-founded the Atlantic chapter of Women’s Equity Lab and serves as founding Chair of the Board for the PEI IT Alliance. She is a mentor with Creative Destruction Lab and Emergence and was also recently appointed a Board Director of Venture for Canada. Ledwell holds an MBA from the Rotman School of Management and has completed executive education at Ivey Business School and BI Norwegian Business School, the statement said.

The PEI BioAlliance celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

In February, the group announced island bio sector revenues rose 84 percent in five years. The study of 50 bioscience sector companies based on 2023 business performance showed the sector making impressive progress.

“Through the aligned efforts of business, academia, research, and government partners, the P.E.I. bioscience cluster has surpassed 2025 growth targets and is well on its way to becoming a billion-dollar industry by 2030,” the BioAlliance said at the time.

Outgoing CEO Rory Francis is credited with being a catalyst in PEI’s bioscience industry, nurturing a cluster of 50 companies that combined generate $612 million in annual revenue and $460 million in exports, the group said this week.

“Rory’s vision and tenacity have transformed the bioscience landscape in Prince Edward Island and across the region,” said Charmaine Noonan, Chair of the Board of Directors. “He built not just an organization, but a model for what regional innovation and collaboration can achieve. His legacy of economic leadership and deep community impact will carry on—and we are incredibly grateful for his service.”

The group is planning an event to celebrate Francis’s contribution. Details will be announced at a later date.

TLT Backs Eigen Innovations

Erin Barrett, left, with NBIF exec Heather Libbey

Erin Barrett, left, with NBIF exec Heather Libbey

TLT East Ventures, a new Atlantic Canadian venture capital fund, has invested in Fredericton-based Eigen Innovations, an industrial AI company that uses thermal imaging and AI to enhance real-time quality control in manufacturing.

TLT is led by Michael Brown, a New Brunswick-born investment banker whose career has included a stint as a mentor with TechStars in New York. He closed a fund of more than $1 million earlier this year, and has since invested in the Fredericton companies Profitual and SnapTrade.

The fund posted on social media this week that it has now backed Eigen, though it gave no specifics on the amount of the funding.

“Eigen’s OneView platform uses cutting-edge computer vision and machine learning to help manufacturers detect defects and optimize production processes with precision–improving yield, reducing waste, and enabling better decision-making,” said TLT.

“We are proud to back [CEO] Erin Barrett and the team at Eigen Innovations as they scale mission-critical infrastructure that makes industrial operations more intelligent, efficient, and globally competitive.”

Barrett said in an email that the investment is the final tranche of the funding round announced last year. The company last October announced a $2.6 million round with investment from the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, BDC Capital’s Women in Technology Venture Fund, and Swiss impact investor Momenta Ventures.

Barrett said the funds will be used to generate growth in key markets like plastics/automotive, building and construction, and metals.

Falling Walls Set for Sept. 15

Dina Rogers, centre, with other Falling Walls winners at last year's summit.

Dina Rogers, centre, with other Falling Walls winners at last year's summit.

Falling Walls Lab Atlantic Canada will host a pitching event at the Halifax Central Library on Sept. 15, offering Atlantic Canadians an entry into the international Falling Walls competition.

Falling Walls Lab is an international pitch competition that challenges students and early-career professionals to present their ideas in just three minutes. The winner will join 100 finalists participating at the global finale in Berlin in November.

Last year, Dalhousie University student Dina Rogers won the Science Breakthrough of the Year award in the Emerging Talents category with a novel method of deconstructing waste, allowing plastic constituents to be re-used.

The event is hosted by Mount Saint Vincent University and supported by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Invest Nova Scotia.

You can find more details and register here.

Mara Raises US$9.1M from S2G

Mara Renewables, the Halifax company that produces omega-3 products from algae, has raised US$9.1 million (C$12.6 million) from S2G Investments to expand its production, sales and R&D capacity.

The company issued a press release last week announcing the funding – the company’s first funding announcement since it raised $39.5 million in 2022. It said the latest investment would support Mara’s expansion of its sustainable omega‑3 platform, deepen R&D capacity, and further scale its ability to address critical gaps across global nutrition supply chains.

Founded in 2012, Mara was originally the brainchild of Clearwater Seafoods co-founder John Risley. It produces food ingredients from algae that are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, the oily substance found in salmon that benefits the heart.

“In our view, Mara is solving a fundamental supply chain challenge with precision and scale,” said Larsen Mettler, Managing Director of S2G’s oceans strategy. ​“They have built an end-to-end platform that delivers consistent, clean, and high-quality omega-3s without relying on depleted fisheries.”

The funding round deepens S2G Investments’ relationship with Atlantic Canadian companies. The Chicago-based venture capital firm, which specializes in food, agriculture and oceans sectors, already invests in Dartmouth-based ReelData as well as Irish marine robotics company XOCEAN, which maintains an office in Dartmouth.

The other interesting aspect of the funding is it further demonstrates the importance of life sciences companies in the race for venture capital this year. Though we recently highlighted the drop in life sciences equity funding in the past two years, the sector has led funding from private markets this year in Atlantic Canada. Halifax-based Sound Blade Medical has raised US$16.5 million and Dispersa, a Quebec natural products company with a development team in Sydney, closed a $5.8 million funding round. 

The cornerstone of Mara’s business is the demand for Omega‑3 DHA, a vital nutritional lipid that plays a key role in maintaining overall health. Though it has been scientifically proven to support cognitive function, vision, cardiovascular performance, and prenatal development, 85 percent of the global population remains deficient in omega‑3, the company said.

Conventional omega‑3 production relies on a long food chain, with fish eating zooplankton, which has consumed microalgae. But Mara offers a fish-free alternative that avoids reliance on vulnerable marine ecosystems and goes straight to the original source: microalgae, it stated..

The company uses a patented process of precision fermentation and other techniques that enable microalgae to grow efficiently in controlled environments. This ensures a reliable, high-quality supply of omega‑3, while providing a sustainable solution that alleviates pressure on marine ecosystems, the company said.

In 2024, Mara supplied enough algal DHA to offset an estimated 6.7 billion anchovies from the supply chain.

“At Mara, we are committed to transforming the way the world sources vital nutrients like omega-3s,” said Mara CEO Harry Boot in the statement. ​“Our partnership with S2G strengthens our ability to meet growing global demand with reliable, high-quality alternatives that protect aquatic ecosystems, reduce reliance on wild fisheries, and support the health of people and animals alike.”

Life Sciences, Medtech Showed Resilience in 2024

Atlantic Canada’s life sciences and medtech sectors demonstrated resilience in 2024 with notable revenue growth, though equity funding for life sciences companies has fallen in recent years.

Today we’re highlighting the section of our 2024 Atlantic Canada Startup Data Report that looked at these two inter-related sectors. In our databank, we track 146 life sciences companies, which include a range of biology-based enterprises. We also track 88 medtech companies, most of which make digital products for the medical community. There is, of course, some overlap and 47 companies are members of both sectors.

Life sciences companies raised a total of $31.2 million in 2024 after a weak showing the previous year, and the total for both years remains depressed by historical standards. From 2019 to 2022, funding in the life sciences sector averaged $92.3 million, and was never below $74 million.

The loss of major publicly listed companies such as IMV and Appili Therapeutics in recent years has clearly dampened funding volumes. Still, some impressive private raises highlighted the sector’s potential in 2024.

Sparrow BioAcoustics, a St. John’s-based medtech firm behind the Stethophone, led the way with a $10 million tranche in a $13 million seed round. Halifax’s Sperri, which produces plant-based meal replacements, secured over $4 million in a round led by Nàdarra Ventures. Meanwhile, Dieppe-based Triple Hair raised $4 million to advance its treatment for genetic hair loss.

The life sciences sector posted a surprising 68.6 percent increase in revenue last year, more than triple the growth reported by the region’s IT startups. This spike is particularly notable given the sector’s lengthy regulatory timelines and product development cycles. Entrevestor's data shows 146 active life sciences companies in the region, including 18 newcomers, employing 1,427 people—a 6.5 percent rise in employment.

While some of the companies reporting strong growth work with natural substances and are not strictly involved in traditional medical product development, the scale of the revenue boost signals a broader market traction. That said, the sector has continued to struggle with public market fundraising since key players like Appili Therapeutics and IMV—both publicly listed drug discovery firms—shuttered or restructured. As a result, public equity funding in 2024 dropped to just $1.6 million, all of it raised by Sona Nanotech. This marks a sharp decline from the $54.7 million raised through stock markets as recently as 2020.

Looking ahead, 2025 is already off to a promising start. In January, Halifax-based SoundBlade, which has developed an ultrasound-powered tissue-cutting tool, raised US$16.5 million (C$23.8 million) in a Series A round, generating significant buzz in the sector.

Entrevestor began tracking medtech—a sub-sector focused on digital products for healthcare—a few years ago. The category now includes 88 companies employing 778.5 people. Though the job count grew 10.3 percent year-over-year, the number of active companies actually declined slightly, from 89 in 2023 to 88 in 2024, with only nine new entrants compared to 15 the previous year.

Still, medtech outpaced life sciences in job growth, and its revenue rose by 14.4 percent. It also stands out for its leadership diversity: 39 percent of medtech companies are led by women, tying life sciences for the highest proportion of female leadership among Atlantic Canadian startups.

Sparrow BioAcoustics’ $10 million raise was a highlight here as well, underscoring the growing intersection of medtech and life sciences. Many medtech companies also appear in the IT or advanced manufacturing sectors, showing the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of innovation in this space.

Perhaps the most promising sign for both sectors is the emergence of scaleups. Ten of Entrevestor’s 25 identified Scaling Companies in Atlantic Canada—defined as startups with proven traction and growing revenues—are life sciences or medtech firms. This 40 percent share demonstrates that a significant portion of the region’s most promising startups are solving healthcare challenges.

Weevva Accepted into IFH Lab

Weevva CEO Matt Creese

Weevva CEO Matt Creese

Weevva, the Newfoundland and Labrador startup that helps landlords and tenants manage rentals with confidence, has been accepted into the 2025 cohort of the Innovate Financial Health Lab.

The IFH Lab is a national accelerator that supports startups that aim to improve the financial conditions of Canadians. The organization named six fintech startups to the latest cohort earlier this month, and Weevva was the only startup from the Atlantic region.

The accelerator will hold its virtual showcase Thursday from 5:30 to 7 pm Newfoundland time. You can register here.

Founded by CEO Matt Creese, Paradise, NL-based Weevva has developed AI-supported software that provides independent landlords with tenant verification, fraud protection, lease management tools, and guidance. It offers tenants a free and secure way to find housing, eliminate rental scams, and access expert guidance.

Creese recently told Entrevestor his own experiences as a renter and landlord made him realize that landlords receive many applications but lack the tools to identify the best tenants. Good rental candidates often lack a way to stand out in the crowds of applicants who can number in the hundreds.

Weevva tackles the issues by assessing potential tenants in areas such as credit score, income to rent ratio, and criminal behavior. The system provides landlords with lists of the top ten applicants for their properties. The system can help create a lease, allow payment of rent, enable tenants to request repairs, and more.  Weevva will also help to access government arbitration, if needed.

Last month, the company was a top-20 finalist in Profitual’s No-Pitch Competition, which assessed Canadian startups not by their pitches but by an analysis of their financials.

A Genesis Enterprise company, Weevva is also supported by such groups as Propel and Atlantic Fintech.

Dispersa Says Expansion is Under Way

Dispersa Founder and CEO Nivatha Balendra

Dispersa Founder and CEO Nivatha Balendra

Dispersa, a Laval, Que.-based cleantech company with a development team in Sydney, has posted that it is proceeding with expansion plans after closing a $5.8 million funding round earlier in the year.

Dispersa is developing “biosurfactants” derived from food waste. Surfactants are the active compounds in many everyday cleaning and cosmetics products, such as detergents, creams and hand soaps.

The company has had a development team working in Sydney, first attracted by the fermentation facilities at the Verschuren Centre. Earlier this year, Founder and CEO Nivatha Balendra told Chemical & Engineering News that Dispersa is in the process of moving from its pilot plant to a new facility that can produce 100 tonnes of product per year.

“We have been rapidly scaling, and the transition to commercial scale is officially under way,” Balendra posted on LinkedIn last week. “We are moving into over 100 tonnes of annual production capacity, serving customers in the HI&I [home care, industrial and institutional cleaning] segment.”

In January, Dispersa closed a $5.8 million funding round, led by Nàdarra Ventures, the VC fund set up by Charlottetown-based Natural Products Canada.  The other investors in the round included BDC Thrive Lab, Cycle Momentum, The51 Food & AgTech Fund and Fonds d'investissement Eurêka.

Dispersa had last raised capital in 2023, when it closed a $3 million equity-and-debt round led by Invest Nova Scotia.

Dispersa's technology combines synthetic biology and precision fermentation to create cost-competitive and high-performing surfactants that are totally derived from waste. Using waste oils and sugars, the process reduces costs and boosts surfactant sustainability. Dispersa says its flagship ingredient, PuraSurf M is the world's first fully waste-derived biosurfactant.

"Circularity is central to Nàdarra's thesis – revolutionizing the way we produce and use materials derived from nature," Nàdarra General Partner Mary Dimou said at the time of the funding. "Having invested in their pre-seed round and now again, in the seed round, we're thrilled to continue supporting Nivatha and her team in their mission to create healthier communities and environments."

Dispersa has grown its presence in Nova Scotia and in April was one of the private companies committing money to the new biomanufacturing centre in Dartmouth, the Neptune BioInnovation Centre.

Aruna Revolution Wins Big at StartupFest

Aruna Revolution’s Rashmi Prakash

Aruna Revolution’s Rashmi Prakash

Dartmouth-based Aruna Revolution, a women-led company that makes compostable sanitary products from plants, has won the $100,000 Impact Investment Prize at Startupfest 2025.

In Montreal last week, the well-known event that brings together entrepreneurs, investors and ecosystem builders, presented almost $900,000 in investmnent prizes and grants to founders working in diverse sectors. 

Back in January, Aruna raised money by pitching on the popular television show Dragons’ Den. Dragons Michele Romanow and Manjit Minhas partnered up and offered $300,000 for 25 percent of the company, which was accepted.

Aruna is tackling the environmental impacts of traditional hygiene products, which contribute to global waste, water pollution, and soil degradation, the company said at the time.

In North America alone, 20 billion menstrual products and their packaging end up in landfills annually, the company said.

“Our mission is deeply rooted in inclusivity, sustainability, and innovation,” said CEO Rashmi Prakash.

“We are building a future where healthcare solutions not only reduce environmental harm but also foster equity and accessibility for all.”

Prakash, previously an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia’s School of Biomedical Engineering, launched the company in 2020 with fellow UBC graduate Lanna Last.

“The (menstrual) products on the market don't meet our needs,” Prakash once told an audience of conference-goers. “They contain harmful chemicals that are known to cause cancer, and they last on this planet for over 500 years…"

The company’s name, Aruna— symbolizing a new dawn—reflects a commitment to holistic solutions inspired by Indian traditions, the company said.

In 2024, Aruna participated in Accelerate, Invest NS’s program for pre-market startups that comes with $40,000 of funding.

Evolve Seeks Tech Founders

St. John’s-based innovation hub Genesis is seeking founders to participate in Evolve, a six-week program for early-stage tech founders. Entrepreneurs can join virtually or in person and will be helped to: 

* Clearly define the problem the startup aims to solve.
* Understand who the customers are and what they want.
* Refine the idea based on real-world feedback.
* Discover strategies to attract first customers.
* Confidently position the startup for growth.

The next cohort starts in August and will demand about three hours of each week, organizers said on LinkedIn. The cost is $200 but is free for Memorial University students.

Apply here.
 

7 Startups Join Scale-up Cambridge Phase Two

Bounce Health Innovation, the Newfoundland and Labrador life sciences and medtech organization, has named seven companies that have graduated to Phase Two of the Scale-Up Cambridge program.

The program is designed to help leading Atlantic Canadian digital health companies expand in the U.S. market, leveraging the region’s contacts in Cambridge, Mass.

Ten companies participated in Phase One, which included orientation and training sessions. Seven of these companies are now moving into the second phase, which features extended time in Cambridge to help each company develop its own network of U.S. contacts.

“These companies have completed Phase One and are now working with expert U.S. consultants to advance their market strategies and expansion plans,” Bounce said on LinkedIn.

The participants in Phase Two are:

BreatheSuite, St. John’s

Provides a fully virtual pulmonary rehabilitation (vPR) program designed to help people with chronic respiratory conditions, like COPD, breathe easier, move more, and live better from the comfort of their home.

HealthEMe Inc., Halifax

Offers a scalable, self-help mental health and addictions platform, designed for youth but adaptable to adults, that supports clinical decision-making before, during, and after intervention to reduce care bottlenecks and improve outcomes across mental and physical health.

Kardio Diagnostix, Halifax

A cloud-based platform using proprietary AI to detect pediatric heart defects with greater accuracy than human specialists, helping reduce unnecessary referrals and healthcare costs.

MedReddie, Saint John

An AI-powered platform designed to help medical buyers save time and money by streamlining procurement with a value-based, healthcare-specific approach.

Parados Cerebral Solutions, Fredericton

An AI-powered platform that delivers functional biometrics for physical therapy and training, enabling health and movement professionals to automate intake, assessments, and monitoring—boosting efficiency, retention, and outcomes from any device, anywhere.

ResolveHD, Halifax

An AI-powered software platform that modernizes public health and compensation systems by autonomously ingesting, cleaning, and analyzing complex health data to streamline care delivery, billing, and compliance.

TxtSquad, St. John’s

A patient engagement platform that empowers healthcare providers to connect with patients through professional, automated texting, improving communication, boosting efficiency, and enhancing health outcomes.

ASETS-CA Closes Funding Round

ASETS-CA Founder and CEO Ashwini Oke

ASETS-CA Founder and CEO Ashwini Oke

Fredericton-based ASETS-CA Inc. has closed a funding round from strategic investors, and plans to use the money to enhance its engineering design software and increase sales.

The company, whose technology improves workflow for people involved in 3D computer-assisted design, or CAD, issued a statement last week saying the “Pre-Series A funding round” was led by venture capital firms Accel and Quantum Edge as well as the Indian phenol and acetone producer Deepak Group.

ASETS-CA last raised capital in late 2023, and has not revealed the total value of either funding round.

“This milestone is more than just capital—it’s a strong validation of our belief that the future of engineering lies in intelligent, automated, and adaptive workflows,” said CEO and Founder Ashwini Oke in a statement.

Founded in 2023, the company is a graduate of the Energia Ventures accelerator, which is affiliated with the University of New Brunswick.

ASETS-CA’s lead product is a web application called Integrated Design Suite, or IDS, which automates much of the process of designing a new structure. This includes checking whether it is compliant with local building codes and regulations.

ASETS-CA uses proprietary vision-language models and spatial graph AI to convert legacy engineering documents into structured, decision-ready data. Users of the technology have found that they reduce data extraction time by as much as 85 percent and make gains in design coordination and accuracy, said the company.

The latest round came about after the company signed engineering contracts in India and Canada and lined up additional pipeline projects in the European Union. ASETS-CA said in the statement that the funding comes at a pivotal time as it is accelerating deployment of IDS.

ASETS-CA plans to use the new capital to enhance the IDS platform to enterprise-grade performance and reliability; hire top-tier AI and engineering talent with deep domain expertise; and accelerate its go-to-market efforts and expand partnerships within software ecosystems.

The company now employs 12 people and intends to raise the headcount to as many as 18 employees.

“Modernizing engineering is critical to unlocking the next wave of growth in India’s manufacturing sector,” said Meghav Mehta, CEO of Deepak Chemtech. “Our strategic investment in ASETS-CA is a step towards supporting and adopting emergent AI technologies that enhance design intelligence and make Indian manufacturing globally competitive.”

MULLI Wins MTME Event at UNB

Last week’s MTME pitching event at University of New Brunswick was won by golf swing solutions company MULLI. DeepREM, a company developing a sleep solution, placed second. The new ventures won $1,500 and $1,000 respectively.

The winners were among four student teams from the UNB’s Master of Technology Management and Entrepreneurship program. The MTME program, managed under UNBs J. Herbert Smith Centre, offers students training in how to commercialize technological innovation. The fledgling entrepreneurs competed in MTME: NEXT, their degree’s concluding demo day.

MULLI  Swing Solutions is a golf tech startup aiming to make the sport more accessible to beginners and enhancing performance for seasoned players. Founded by a team of engineers passionate about golf, the company aims to integrate advanced technology into sports training. Its flagship product is a golf grip training aid that combines custom force sensors, Bluetooth connectivity, wireless charging, and motion tracking to provide real-time feedback. Now in the advanced prototyping stage, the team is refining the product to bring it to market while exploring applications for other sports like hockey and tennis.

Second-placed DeepREM, is developing a mobile app to measure users' biometric data during their sleep, either from a connected wearable device or by recording their breathing sounds from their phone. The app will then analyze the live sleeping patterns and play a sleep-enhancing soundtrack through the user’s headphones or speaker that is specifically designed to target the current sleeping pattern.  The soundtrack will use research-backed sleep-enhancing frequencies contrasting with other sleep solutions that often play static, non-adaptive soundtracks, which don’t enhance every stage of sleep and may interfere with sleep, the company said..

The market for sleep tech products is large and growing, founder and CEO Alex Tree said. In 2025, the global sleep tech market is estimated to be worth US$29.3 billion and is predicted to grow to US$134.6 billion by 2034/5, he said. Initially, the company will focus on acquiring customers from two key stressed demographic groups: Millennials (28 to 43 years old) and Gen Xers (44 to 59 years old).

Also presenting: Kura, which is creating an escrow-powered platform to secure peer-to-peer transactions through trust scores, identity verification, and a structured dispute mechanism, ensuring both parties have the confidence to engage safely even without prior relationships. By holding funds securely, evaluating user behavior, and enforcing accountability, Kura aims to become the standard infrastructure for trusted digital interactions across marketplaces, freelance platforms, and direct peer transactions, the company said.

The fourth presenting venture, Peptok, intends to match retired executives with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The founders said SMEs are facing a growing challenge: high employee turnover and declining training budgets, with 40 percent of new SME employees leaving due to inadequate training, and training budgets dropping by 18.5% in recent years.

This results in significant operational and financial losses, the founders said. And over 43 percent of Canadians aged 60 to 79 are at risk of social isolation.

Peptok intends to close the gap between these problems by connecting SMEs with retired professionals for expert coaching. The platform will allow professionals to provide structured, on-demand support to growing businesses, helping them guide and upskill employees efficiently, while offering coaches meaningful ways to stay engaged, valued, and socially connected, the company said.

New Fund in Pond’s Name To Foster Sales Skills

Gerry Pond

Gerry Pond

Led by the McKenna Institute and Mariner Partners, an effort is under way to raise $250,000 to $500,000 to endow the Gerry Pond Professional Sales and Business Development Experiential Learning Fund.

It’s intended the endowment will uphold the legacy of Gerry Pond and create learning opportunities for MBA students at University of New Brunswick, organizers said on LinkedIn.  The fund will provide learning opportunities for students in the UNB Saint John MBA program and senior undergraduate students interested in sales and business development with grants of $8,000 to $10,000 for full-time applied work terms.

The fund’s endowment will support two student grants per year. Each work term will provide nine to 13 weeks of experience, linked with industry partner-hosted projects, co-op experiences, capstone projects, UNB Saint John-led digital sales research projects or case studies, or UNB Saint John-led business community outreach initiatives with a digital sales component.

Global sales capacity is known to be a challenge in Atlantic Canada, one that has long concerned Pond. As a leader at NBTel, Pond fostered growth in emerging digital industries. Since then, his commitment to nurturing talent and his experience in building and scaling companies has catalyzed the growth of over 50 startups across Atlantic Canada, said organizers, who also produced a short video on Pond’s legacy.

Pond advocates for equipping business students with skills to navigate future sales challenges, including AI.  

Organizers said that by contributing, businesses and individuals can:

  • Incentivize students to pursue or further careers in professional sales and business development.
  • Provide networking opportunities and meaningful work experiences.
  • Bring university and industry partners together to foster digital sales.
  • Support research initiatives exploring effective sales strategies in digital and international contexts.
  • Facilitate student-led problem-solving efforts focused on digital sales.
  • Support students in acquiring skills to sell digital technologies in international markets.

More information on donating to the fund can be found here. 

Frontier Inks Deal with Halifax’s pHathom

Halifax-based carbon capture venture pHathom Technologies has struck a deal with Frontier to remove 510 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere using the startup’s technology.

Frontier works with some of the world’s largest companies to encourage the development of carbon-capture technology. By paying for carbon-capture agreements while the technology is still being developed, Frontier helps young companies grow through the difficult stages of getting to market.

Earlier this week, the group announced it had made US$1.75 million (C$2.4 million) worth of carbon removal commitments on behalf of Google, Shopify and Stripe. The three companies, including pHathom, have promised to remove a total of almost 3,000 tons of carbon dioxide under these contracts.

The announcement marks a significant milestone for pHathom, which was co-founded by CEO Kimberly Gilbert and COO Andrew Ray two years ago.

The company is developing technology that captures CO2 emissions from coastal bioenergy plants, which are plants that transform organic material from plants and animals into useful energy like heat, electricity, or biofuels. The startup uses a slurry of limestone, seawater, and biocatalysts inside a weathering reactor to form a stable bicarbonate solution that can be safely discharged into the ocean.

The company’s website says it plans to commercialize its technology fully by 2030, adding that it has the potential to capture one billion tons of CO2 each year.

“Frontier’s investment in pHathom sends a strong market signal, highlighting our approach’s ability to combine ambitious climate goals with strong commercial potential,” said pHathom in a LinkedIn post. “By transforming sustainable forestry into a valuable market product, we directly support local economies and ecosystems. We are dedicated to collaborating closely with local communities, fisheries, and Indigenous partners, ensuring inclusive and sustainable outcomes.”

One interesting note about Frontier is that its website says it now has 50 companies in its portfolio, and three of them are from the Halifax area.

As well as the recent deal with pHathom, the organization signed a deal in 2023 with CarbonRun to remove 57,000 tons of CO2, five tons of which have been delivered. CarbonRun adds crushed limestone to rivers to reduce their acidity, storing CO2 as dissolved bicarbonate in the river and ultimately in the ocean.

CarbonRun and pHathom earlier this year captured the top prizes for companies at the inaugural 2025 Atlantic Canada Cleantech Awards, organized by Foresight Canada.

Frontier also signed a contract in 2023 under which Planetary Technologies would capture 937 tons of CO2. Planetary, which earlier this year won a US$1 million XFACTOR prize, has already removed 556 tons under that contract.

Planetary’s process reduces ocean acidification by releasing alkaline rock or sand into the water, accelerating a chemical reaction that already occurs naturally and enhancing the ocean’s ability to act as a carbon sink.

Shoelace Learning Named a Top 30 EdTech Startup

Shoelace Learning CEO Julia Rivard Dexter

Shoelace Learning CEO Julia Rivard Dexter

Halifax-based edtech venture Shoelace Learning has been named one of the Top 30 Startups globally in the inaugural Global EdTech Prize and will now enter the finals.

In a post on LinkedIn, CEO Julia Rivard Dexter said Shoelace is the only Canadian company being considered for the prize in the Startup category of the competition, which recognizes the most innovative, impactful tools reshaping education for students, teachers, and communities.

Shoelace delivers science-backed literacy instruction through the use of games that are proven to accelerate reading gains in just eight weeks, Rivard Dexter said.

In an interview with Entrevestor early last year, Rivard Dexter said that, like many similar companies, Shoelace expanded rapidly during pandemic lockdowns, as educators turned to digital solutions. Following the pandemic, the company has focused on educating teachers about the research underpinning its products.

As of early 2024, she said that children in more than 160 countries were playing Shoelace’s Dreamscape reading game, with 85 percent of the company’s business coming from the U.S.

“In the States, traditionally, teachers have had more agency to innovate and try new things,” said Rivard Dexter. “And so, it was easier for us to go to the U.S. market.

“Now that we have an established product with legitimacy, we’re looking at building relationships with the Canadian school districts to really move the needle for Canadian kids.”

Last autumn, Shoelace assessed the efficacy of its games through a pilot project in Michigan. Taking place over eight weeks with 300 students, the study found that 42 percent of the students experienced three months of growth in their reading skills in just eight weeks. Some 99 percent of the students activated the games and 52 percent of them continued to use the game throughout the eight-week program. Shoelace added that the industry average for students continuing to use such educational games is 5.2 percent.  

Youth literacy in Canada has declined in step with a global downturn, according to a study of 12 member nations from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, released by the international group late in 2023. Canada posted its worst results since the OECD started tracking reading scores in 2000, though the country’s students still scored better than the OECD average. About four-fifths of Canadian 15-year-olds have achieved the minimum level of reading proficiency necessary to synthesize a text of moderate difficulty.

Of the new, global recognition, Rivard Dexter said: “To be recognized on the world stage is an incredible honour and a testament to our commitment to teachers and students, everywhere.”

Finalists will be announced July 31. The winners in three categories -- Majors, Startups, and Non-Profits -- will be announced at the World Schools Summit in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 16.

SMU Sustainable Business Advances in Global Contest

Alaagi Founder Sheheryar Khan

Alaagi Founder Sheheryar Khan

Halifax-based Alaagi, a sustainable packaging startup created by Saint Mary’s University graduate Sheheryar Khan, has advanced in the global Hult Prize competition.

Launched in July 2024, Alaagi produces a fully compostable bioplastic made from seaweed, SMU said in a statement. The material can be used for grocery bags and sandwich wraps and can be heat-sealed to preserve freshness.

The company is now developing what it says is the world’s first bioplastic film to meet the industry-standard 10K Oxygen Transmission Rate, suitable for meat and seafood packaging.

On its website, the Hult Prize competition says the annual event is the world's largest student startup contest, attracting more than 200,000 annual participants.

During the latest round of the contest, Khan’s teammates Vaishali Sachdeva and Tyler MacLean helped him compete against 56 international teams. The startup was among 22 chosen to move forward, following their recognition as National Champions after beating 19 other Canadian teams.

Next month, Alaagi heads to London for Stage 4 of the competition: the Global Accelerator. The team will receive mentorship, guidance, and networking opportunities. Of the 22 competing teams, eight finalists will be chosen to pitch to a panel of judges for the US$1 million prize in September.

The company is currently taking part in Collide Launch. Run by Dal innovates, it is a summer accelerator program for undergraduate and non-research-based graduate students launching a business.

“Being a part of the Hult Prize Global Accelerator is a dream come true," said Sachdeva, a SMU arts student. “I am so excited to represent Alaagi and Saint Mary’s University in London this August.”

Ocean Sector Continued Growth in 2024

In examining Atlantic Canada’s oceantech sector, one fact that is often overlooked is how tantalizingly close it is to boasting its first unicorn – a company valued at $1 billion.

While this article is largely a summary of the oceantech sector in 2024, we can’t overlook the biggest development in the marine innovation industries in the past six months. And that is the continued growth of the largest company in the sector: St. John’s-based Kraken Robotics.

Kraken last week announced that it raised $115 million by selling new shares on the TSX Venture Exchange, a funding exercise that was oversubscribed by 15 percent. The addition of new stock took place as the Kraken share price has continued to grow, rising 34 percent already this year. As a result, Kraken’s market capitalization (the total value of its shares) sat at $917 million as of Friday’s close – just $83 million shy of unicorn territory.

We’re not going to predict the direction of Kraken shares. But we do want to highlight what it would mean for this company, whose products include 3D imaging sensors, power solutions, and robotic systems, to become a bona fide unicorn.

It would add prestige to a sector that Atlantic Canadian decision-makers long ago decided would be a cornerstone of our innovation sector. Atlantic Canada has been identified by Startup Genome as a top-10 oceantech ecosystem in the world, and having a unicorn in the sector could only help.

Kraken Robotics is becoming so big that its metrics tended to dominate this segment in our 2024 Atlantic Canada Startup Data report.

Kraken in 2024 raised $71.8 million through two transactions on the TSX Venture Exchange, comprising about four-fifths of the capital raised by Atlantic Canadian ocean companies.

Overall, the ocean segment continued to expand throughout 2024. In addition to the huge funding from Kraken, another startup closed an eight-figure round without disclosing it. Revenues (which do not include the information Kraken released) increased 46 percent, outperforming the overall startup community.  (This figure came from a modest sampling, with nine companies reporting total revenues of $6.6 million in 2024.)

Seven ocean companies had Indigenous leadership. It’s the only sector with enough Indigenous participation that it merited mention in our report.

We recorded 26 new oceantech startups, though at least 15 of these are Lab2Market projects in which researchers assess whether there is a commercial application for their work. Some of these will undoubtedly not progress into companies. But they are an indication of the activity in the ocean sector.

The ecosystem continued to develop, with the COVE facility in Dartmouth being named an official accelerator for NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic, or DIANA.

Canada’s Ocean Supercluster continued to fund research projects, and they included such Atlantic Canadian startups as Marine Thinking of Halifax, SeafarerAI of Saint John and Halifax's Global Spatial Technology Systems.

Some of the leading stories in the sector in 2025 have also involved the Supercluster.

Dartmouth-based DeNova, which makes sustainable feed ingredients for aquaculture, was chosen in June to lead a $7.2 million Microbial Protein for Sustainable Aquaculture Project. DeNova has developed a sustainable alternative to conventional aquafeed ingredients like fishmeal and soy, which are major contributors to aquaculture’s environmental footprint.

In January, Marine Thinking was selected to lead two research projects with a total value of almost $5 million.

The largest of these projects was the $3.9 million AI-Powered Vessel, Automation Toolkit Project. It aims to deliver an AI-powered vessel automation toolkit, intended to transform existing vessels into smart vessels that have autopilot capabilities and improved operational efficiency.

SnapTrade Partners With US Futures App

A month after drawing investment from TLT East Ventures, Fredericton-based fintech company SnapTrade has partnered with Tickblaze Partners to help the Houston-based futures-trading app to expand into equities and cryptocurrencies.

SnapTrade – the main product of the company whose corporate name is Passiv – is an API, or application programming interface, that allows app developers to connect their software to clients’ brokerage and crypto accounts. The company is a graduate of the Y Combinator accelerator in Silicon Valley. 

Tickblaze said in a statement that by partnering with SnapTrade, it is taking a major leap forward in its mission to expand into the equities and crypto markets, building on its established strength in futures.

“Rather than integrating with a single broker, we partnered with SnapTrade to unlock the full retail landscape,” said Sean Kozak, CEO of Tickblaze. “This enables our users to trade with the broker of their choice while benefiting from our superior technology.”

Through this integration, Tickblaze now supports real-time trading and account connectivity with leading global brokers, said the statement. It added that the result is a seamless experience that allows users to link their brokerage accounts, sync data, and place trades directly within the Tickblaze platform.

The Tickblaze deal is the latest in a series of partnerships sealed by SnapTrade. Last month, the company said it struck a partnership with BrokerBotics, an AI-powered platform that helps investors to monitor and optimize their portfolios. BrokerBotics selected SnapTrade to power their portfolio aggregation layer, providing easy, high-quality connectivity to major U.S. brokerages, said the Fredericton company.

Amid the new partnerships, SnapTrade received an undisclosed amount of investment from Saint John-based TLT East Ventures. It is a new fund led by Michael Brown, a New Brunswick-born investment banker whose career has included a stint as a mentor with TechStars in New York.

After closing its first fund earlier this year, TLT announced its investments in SnapTrade and another Fredericton company, Profitual.

“We’re excited to back Brendan Wood and the SnapTrade team as they scale mission-critical infrastructure for the future of digital finance,” said TLT last month, referring to the SnapTrade CEO and Co-Founder. “This investment reflects our continued focus on backing high-potential ventures in Atlantic Canada that are driving scalable innovation and long-term economic growth.”

Kraken Closes $115M Funding Round

St. John’s-based Kraken Robotics has completed a $115 million funding exercise on the TSX Venture Exchange, hitting the top of a funding range it outlined last month.

Kraken, which specializes in next-generation sonar systems and unmanned platforms to carry them, said in June it was raising $100 million in a share sale. It added that the underwriters, led by Desjardins Capital Markets, had a $15 million overallotment option, meaning they could sell extra shares if there was demand for them.

“This successful equity offering shows strong support from investors and reflects confidence in our vision and strategy as we scale our business,” said Kraken President and CEO Greg Reid in a statement Monday. “With a fortified balance sheet, we are well-positioned to pursue strategic acquisitions, expand our global footprint, and deliver even greater value to our customers and shareholders.”

Kraken expects to use the proceeds from the offering to support its growth into a scalable global prime contractor. As well as general corporate expenditures, this could include buying companies, especially in the U.S. and Europe, to expand its global presence, and “demonstrating a stronger balance sheet when bidding for larger governmental and commercial contracts.”

Founded in 2012 via a spin-off from another company, Kraken Robotics offers a range of products, including 3D imaging sensors, power solutions, and robotic systems.  Its synthetic aperture sonar, sub-bottom imaging, and LiDAR systems offer best-in-class resolution, providing critical insights into ocean safety, infrastructure, and geology, says the company.

The company last year raised $71.8 million via share sales on the TSX Venture, the largest funding by any innovation-driven company in the region in 2024.

Kraken has recently released regular announcements of successful sales. In May, for example, it said it had received new orders totaling more than $3 million for its Kraken Synthetic Aperture Sonar in Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America. A month earlier, it revealed $11 million in orders for its SeaPower pressure-tolerant batteries for uncrewed underwater vehicles.

According to Google, the company’s stock was up 3.2 percent in afternoon trading at $3.46, for a market capitalization of $911 million.

ACOA Lends 3 Firms $2.5M for AI

The federal government last week announced loans totalling $2.5 million to three Halifax companies – Liveable Cities, Oberland Agriscience and Kindred AI – to help them adopt artificial intelligence.

The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency is providing the funds through its Regional Economic Growth through Innovation program and the Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative.  

Liveable Cities, a division of LED Roadway Lighting, is receiving $2 million over two years to develop an AI-powered streetlight controller and camera. The system will aim to reduce energy use by up to 30 percent and provide real-time data to improve public safety, said the ACOA statement. LED Roadway makes LED highway lights and Liveable Cities’ key innovation is selling internet-of-things-enabled add-ons that can be installed in most streetlights to improve efficiency.

“At Liveable Cities . . . we’re committed to creating smart, sustainable technologies that help communities become safer, more efficient, and more livable—and this support from ACOA plays a critical role in making that vision a reality,” said LED Roadway Co-CEO Ken Cartmill in the statement.

Oberland Agriscience will receive $250,000 to install AI-driven software and equipment that will boost production, improve efficiency, and reduce waste. ACOA said the technology would enhance product quality, support new product development, and optimize formulations.

Oberland’s technology uses AI, robotics, and predictive analytics to convert black soldier fly larvae into premium products for animal nutrition, agriculture, and soil health.

Kindred AI  is receiving a $206,250 loan and $50,000 grant to advance its real-time emotional intelligence software. The economic development agency hopes the funding will support product development, engineering, and commercialization. The company’s tools help users track and grow emotional intelligence and can be embedded into other products.

HealthEMe Broadens Health Management Scope

HealthEMe co-founders Faten Alshazly and Ashwin Kutty

HealthEMe co-founders Faten Alshazly and Ashwin Kutty

Halifax-based health-monitoring venture HealthEMe has re-focused its attention to monitor the management of all chronic diseases as well as mental health.

The company was spun out of Halifax ad agency WeUsThem in early 2023 as a separate software business unit. Its first product imTEEN was originally released by WeUsThem and allowed youth to track and manage their mental health by self-monitoring for signs of common mental illnesses. Much of the platform was based on the research of Dr. Stan Kutcher, a professor emeritus of psychiatry at Dalhousie University.

HealthEMe now uses a business-to-business revenue model, selling subscriptions to organizations like government agencies, healthcare institutions and the post-secondary sector including universities and colleges. Insurance companies have also shown interest, part of a broader trend towards digital healthcare in the insurance industry for risk management, the company said.

Recently, following requests from users, the founders have re-developed their platform as a white label SaaS product that allows users to focus on managing a wide range of health problems.

“Our users saw the product as supporting patients over a long time and asked if we could change the rubric of the platform to suit different needs,” co-founder and president Ashwin Kutty told Entrevestor.

Kutty, who co-founded both businesses with CEO Faten Alshazly, said HealthEMe is now in use in six countries: Canada; the U.S.; India; South Korea; Costa Rica and Panama.

The venture recently attended the international tech conference WebSummit Vancouver in order to cultivate interest from potential clients.

“We stand out internationally because our platform is extremely modular and flexible, bringing patient-focused cultural context,” said Kutty. “We offer so much applicability that most competitors don’t have. Our eventual and long-term focus is the whole of healthcare, supporting patients across various levels of care.”

The company is taking a two-pronged approach to sales, focusing both on North America and emerging markets. In Costa Rica, the platform connects rural-dwellers to the health system, and allows access to their health records. The challenge in North America is that the sales cycle takes so long.

“Emerging markets are easier to convince and get to but the number of introductions and meetings can be challenging,” said Kutty.

The founders originally noticed a structural problem facing healthcare globally: a worker shortage. The medical labour force worldwide, including for mental healthcare, is failing to keep pace with population growth, with the World Health Organization projecting a shortfall of 10 million workers by 2030.

“We are at a place where we need to find a solution that actually meets the unmet need (for services), even here in Nova Scotia. We can continue investing in recruiting and training more healthcare providers, but to meet our immediate need, alternate sources of support are required and technology has to be that intermediary until we balance the supply and demand equation,” Kutty told Entrevestor in a previous interview.

In 2020, Alshazly and Kutty won the Nova Scotia Health Authority's Health Challenge pitch competition, which bagged them $100,000 and a commercialization deal with the province.

To date, the venture has been bootstrapped by the two founders, and currently has five staff. A business development person will soon be hired.

WeyMedia Eyes Even Faster Growth

Stephen and Maria Weyman

Stephen and Maria Weyman

Less than a year after being named to the Deloitte Fast 50 of Canada’s fastest-growing companies, WeyMedia is setting the audacious goal of actually accelerating its revenue growth – by a lot.

The Dieppe, NB-based personal finance company is best known for its highly successful creditcardGenius product, and has recently expanded its suite of products with the development of moneyGenius.

The company is now hiring a Director of Marketing to help increase the use of these products and has set a target of having 1 million users by the end of 2026. That would reflect 100X growth from the current user base of 10,000.

“Sometimes you have to shoot for the moon and it’s definitely a very ambitious target,” said Co-Founder and CEO Stephen Weyman in an interview. “But sometimes if you don’t have an ambitious goal, you end up focusing on minutiae than don't matter.”

The husband-and-wife team of Stephen and Maria Weyman founded their company in 2017 with creditcardGenius, which compares the features of credit cards so consumers can find the card best suited to their individual needs. The product now tracks more than 256 Canadian credit cards, analyzing 126 data points on each card.

The success of the product became apparent last year when WeyMedia was named to Deloitte’s prestigious Fast 50 for the first time, and to the Globe and Mail’s list of fastest-growing Canadian companies. According to Deloitte, WeyMedia was the 46th fastest-growing company in the country over the four-year period to 2023 with revenue growth of 431 percent.

“I think it’s a validation of the past work we’ve done,” said Maria when asked what the awards meant for them. “Entrepreneurship involves a lot of hard work and sacrifice, and ups and downs, and we’ve seen our fair share of them. Winning those two awards was a validation of the work that we’ve done.”

The WeyMedia team – which now amounts to 21 employees – has recently been focusing on building out moneyGenius, which helps consumers understand finances and find the best deals in a range of financial products. First launched in 2021, moneyGenius has grown over the years to offer users educational material and special deals, often in partnership with large institutions.

In March, WeyMedia launched the GeniusCash mobile app, which offers many of the features of moneyGenius and gamifies financial education to help encourage the growth of financial literacy.

“We’re billing it as the Doulingo of personal finance,” said Stephen, referring to the popular language-education app. “We look at GeniusCash as a way to get better at money to have fun doing it. . . . We have a quest system, so you can complete quests as you learn more about money. There’s something there for everyone. You can be a beginner or someone more experienced with finances.”

The company’s focus now is on gaining more users within Canada. While the Weymans won’t rule out international expansion, they foresee more room for growth within the Canadian market, where they have deep knowledge and data on available financial products.

The new Director of Marketing will work with them to devise a plan to aggressively grow the user base, and probably to finance the expansion through revenues. WeyMedia so far has never raised equity capital, and the Weymans would prefer to use their time attracting new customers rather than pitching to investors.

“We’re not actively seeking funding now,” said Maria. “I think we’re in a good place to do what we’re doing and growing at a consistent rate. Never say never is what I would say. If we accelerate our growth, then maybe we’ll pursue other avenues.”

Core Halifax Startups Show Strong Growth

Reflecting broader trends across the Atlantic Canadian landscape, Halifax’s startup community is evolving into two distinct tiers: a high-performing group of growth-stage ventures, and a larger pool of startups facing mounting challenges in a tough economic climate.

These are the trends we outlined last week at the Halifax Partnership’s launch of the Halifax Index. The Index is the economic development group’s annual monitor of progress in the city, and for the past few years Entrevestor has contributed an analysis of the startup and innovation community to the report.

Though the number of startups in Halifax is falling for the first time since we began tracking them a decade ago, the core of elite companies has performed well.

Leading the charge in 2024 were a number of high-potential companies launched before 2020 that have successfully scaled into international markets. This core of Halifax-based innovators is achieving strong revenue gains, securing growth capital, and demonstrating encouraging signals of improved productivity — a key metric for the Halifax Partnership this year.

Though we lack detailed productivity data, survey insights from founders suggest many of Halifax’s top tech firms are increasing earnings at a faster pace than they’re adding employees. In our most recent survey of local startup leaders, respondents reported a 27 percent average revenue jump in 2024, while headcount on average grew by just 5.4 percent.

Digging deeper into the data, 12 of the surveyed companies surpassed $1 million in revenue in 2024. Eleven of those saw year-over-year revenue growth, and nine managed to scale without adding staff — further supporting the argument that productivity is rising among the city’s elite ventures.

While confidentiality agreements prevent us from naming the companies surveyed, some prominent examples illustrate the strength of Halifax’s top performers. Dash Social — the social content platform formerly branded as Dash Hudson — was recently crowned Business of the Year at the 2025 Halifax Chamber of Commerce Awards. Meanwhile, Dartmouth-based Site 20/20, which creates automated traffic control solutions for work zones, cracked Deloitte’s Fast 50 for a second year running, ranking 31st with an impressive 686 percent revenue surge over four years.

Site 20/20 also landed one of the biggest venture capital deals in the region in 2024, closing a multi-million-dollar investment from two New York-based VC firms. Though the company kept the round’s value under wraps, data available online suggests it was the largest private raise by an Atlantic Canadian company last year.

Other notable Halifax fundraises included Novagevity, developer of the plant-based nutrition beverage Sperri, which secured more than $4 million, and NovaResp, which raised $3 million to support clinical trials of its AI-powered sleep apnea device.

Overall, startups in the Halifax metro area attracted $81.6 million in equity capital in 2024 — a steep decline from the $167 million raised the previous year.

A major pain point is emerging: early-stage startups are struggling to access angel or seed funding. Our research found that companies launched in 2022, 2023 or 2024 in Halifax raised a total of only $1.2 million in 2024, and $489,000 of that total came from the companies’ founders. The total investment in early-stage, innovation-driven companies for the year was $700,000 – just above the average price of a single-family detached house in the city.

This mirrors a trend we’re seeing across Atlantic Canada, where one- to three-year-old companies raised $6.2 million, with almost one-third coming from founders.

The ongoing decline in seed-stage funding poses a serious threat to the long-term sustainability of Atlantic Canada’s tech-led economic development. Despite significant ecosystem gains over the past two decades, a capital bottleneck is making it harder for new ventures to gain traction.

And the effects are starting to show. For the first time in the 11 years of tracking startup data in the region, the Halifax innovation community has contracted. In 2024, our dataset included 285 active companies employing a total of 3,300 people — down from 310 firms and 3,700 workers a year earlier. Some 35 innovation-led companies shut down, including formerly high-profile firms like Meta Materials, which at one point had a valuation in the billions.

One outcome of the funding crunch is a strategic shift among founders, who are now encouraged to launch leaner and move faster to market — generating revenue instead of chasing early capital. The growing influence of generative AI and automation tools has sparked a new breed of solo founders, or “solopreneurs,” who are building and iterating without hiring full teams. These one- or two-person startups can now use AI agents to develop software and hit the market quickly, cutting time-to-revenue and boosting efficiency.

Accelerate Tech Applications Open

Accelerate Tech organizers are seeking applicants for the program that offers coaching, capital connections, and a founder community to BIPOC entrepreneurs.

The program is run by Halifax-based Tribe Network, a support organization for Atlantic Canadian entrepreneurs who identify as Black, Indigenous or People of Colour.

Whether you’re validating your first idea, building your MVP, or gearing up to scale, the program will push you to go further, organizers said in their newsletter.

The program offers:

  • 1:1 milestone-driven coaching with seasoned startup advisors and product experts
  • Workshops and peer learning designed to sharpen your strategy
  • Capital readiness support and curated introductions to investors
  • A national network of founders, funders, and mentors
  • Real accountability to help founders hit key startup milestones

The program runs July 28, 2025 to March 31, 2026.

Applications close July 21, 2025.

Learn more and apply here.

Eastern Edge Robotics Excels at World Championships

A multi-disciplinary team of undergraduate students from Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Marine Institute have taken home various prizes from an international robotics contest.

Since being founded in 2002, Eastern Edge Robotics has designed and built Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) to international standards to model real-world ocean-workplace scenarios.

This year, the team competed at the 2025 MATE ROV World Championship in Alpena, Michigan in a competition organized into five competition classes – Scout, Navigator, Ranger, Pioneer and Explorer. 

This year’s tasks involved measuring and identifying shipwrecks, collecting eDNA data of invasive marine species and maintaining marine renewable energy infrastructure and monitoring its environmental impact.

The team was awarded third place in the most advanced category, Explorer. Team CEO Martha Snelgrove also received the Martin Klein MATE Mariner Medal, and ROV pilot Kaitlin Healey took home the Oceaneering Co-Pilot Award.

Western Wave Robotics, with a team comprised of students from Memorial’s Grenfell Campus and College of the North Atlantic, competed in the Pioneer class for the first time. They placed fourth and received the Engineering Presentation award.

In the Ranger category, Labrador Straits Academy received the Technical Documentation Award and placed within the top 15 teams. Clarenville High School placed within the top 10 and Holy Heart of Mary finished within the top 20.

“It’s incredible to see five provincial teams competing on a global scale,” said Joe Singleton, head, School of Ocean Technology and Regional Coordinator for the MATE ROV Newfoundland and Labrador regional competition.

“Eastern Edge has now placed within the top three at the competition 13 times, which is a major accomplishment. This was also a fantastic showing for our Pioneer team Western Wave and our three Ranger teams.”

Next year, MI will host the 2026 MATE ROV World Championship.

This will be the third time the Marine Institute has hosted the World Championships; first in 2007 and again in 2015. To date, the Institute has been the only venue to host the World Championships outside of the U.S.

“With a strong showing at this year’s World Championships, we’re excited to see how our teams perform on their home turf next year,” said Singleton.

ImmigrateAI Global Targets Those Seeking Permanent Residency

Halifax-based ImmigrateAI Global has launched PR Compass, a platform geared toward immigrants already in Canada – particularly those in healthcare, construction, and other high-demand sectors – who are attempting to gain permanent residency. 

“If you’re a nurse, your time is better spent caring for patients,” founder and CEO Max Medyk said in a press release.

PR Compass is the latest solution from the venture which launched last year with an AI platform designed to simplify immigration paperwork for healthcare professionals, skilled tradespeople, and international talent. The initial lawyer-designed platform is said to streamline visa applications, provide cost competitiveness, and cut refusal rates.

In an interview with Invest Nova Scotia,  Medyk said he has navigated immigration systems in Ukraine, the U.S., Canada and New Zealand and saw the challenges for himself. 

“Only a small fraction of applicants use lawyers or consultants,” Medyk said. “Not because they don’t want help, but because it's either unaffordable or they don’t realize how risky it is to go it alone.”

Medyk began his venture in 2020 through content creation, accruing 400,000 followers across YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. He then built a platform explaining complex policies and procedures.

“There’s a disconnect between the support people need and what’s realistically available to them,” he said. “That’s where we saw an opportunity to bring in AI.”

The company said it now has 30,000 users across 140 countries.

“Instead of paying $2,000 for a lawyer, an immigrant can pay $100 for this AI software,” Medyk said.

He said that a client in Mexico experienced two failed student visa applications, one solo and one through a consultant, but succeeded on their third attempt using ImmigrateAI Global.

The company’s software helps users prepare applications by checking their profiles against immigration regulations, noting red flags, and creating a list of supporting documents.

The innovation is particularly useful in the post-secondary education sector, he said, as universities lose millions of dollars because of student visa refusals.

Medyk recently presented at Web Summit Vancouver, where the company signed two memoranda of understanding. The first was with Quebec-based education platform CanApply, the second with Ritika Saraswat, CEO of Re-Defined, a career success platform serving immigrants and international students. Partnerships with governments, educational institutions, and private companies are fundamental to ImmigrateAI Global’s growth strategy. 

2025 Atlantic Technology Summit in Two Provinces

This year’s Atlantic Technology Summit will be held in Dartmouth, N.S., and Dieppe, N.B. at the same time. The event will take the theme "The Atlantic Edge: Talent, Growth and Sustainability".

Writing on LinkedIn, organizers said the theme covers:  

  • Growing Atlantic Canada’s tech ecosystem on a global scale;
  •  Strengthening AC’s talent pipeline and workforce innovation;
  •  And building sustainable businesses that balance profit and purpose.

Corey Yantha, founder and CEO of Halifax-based Dispension, a company working on secure distribution technologies, will participate in a panel discussion exploring why Atlantic Canada is the best place to build a tech company.

Now in its seventh year, this is the first time the event has been held in two locations. Early bird tickets for the first 25 attendees who want to listen in on both the Dartmouth and Dieppe locations are available for $99, instead of the regular $225.

The event will be held November 19. Tickets here.

Invest NS Accelerate Opens Applications

Invest Nova Scotia is looking for early-stage tech companies to take part in Accelerate, its milestone-based program that helps Nova Scotia founders get investment-ready.

The program is delivered virtually over five months. Organizers are looking for startups with proprietary tech, customer-validated solutions and the potential to scale globally.

Participating companies each receive up to $40,000 in non-dilutive, non-repayable funding to address key technical and business milestones.

Companies are eligible for participation in one cohort of the program which focuses on five sectors:

  • Agriculture Tech: startups addressing global food production challenges while reducing dependency on fossil fuels or petrochemicals;
  • Clean Tech: startups addressing climate change and clean air, water and soil;
  • Health Tech: startups developing new therapeutics, medical devices or digital health technologies solving large unmet healthcare needs;
  • Ocean Tech: startups developing solutions in ocean health, fisheries and aquaculture, offshore energy, shipborne technologies, and marine bioresources;
  • And software: startups working on solutions leveraging artificial intelligence, computer vision, blockchain, or data network effects to solve large unmet market needs.

The program also offers meetings with advisors, workshops on a variety of investment-readiness topics, and a perks program offering discounts to 100+ vendors such as Hubspot, Google Cloud, Zoom, and Slack.

Applicants must be a Nova Scotia-registered business in good standing, have a permanent establishment, and have most of the workforce and the majority of senior leadership residing in Nova Scotia. They must have less than $1 million in cumulative sales and less than $250,000 in equity investment (including convertible debt) raised to date.

Applications are due by July 22 at 5PM AT. The program begins October 1, 2025. 

Invest Nova Scotia investment portfolio companies are ineligible.

Learn more and apply here.
 

Spark Nova Scotia Winners Named

Spark NS Southwest first place winner Ethan Doucette with chair Angelique LeBlanc of Western Regional Enterprise

Spark NS Southwest first place winner Ethan Doucette with chair Angelique LeBlanc of Western Regional Enterprise

Spark Nova Scotia has announced this year’s winners. The contest for rural and coastal high-potential, knowledge-based businesses is run in three regions — Cape Breton, North, and Southwest — and offers winners up to $50,000. Each geographical region functions independently, with its own applicant pool and local judges.

It was a tight competition, with a record number of applicants from across the province. Each event had a judges’ chair, always female. They were: Angelique LeBlanc of the Western REN; Shelley Hessian of Springboard Atlantic; and Danielle Patterson of Anchored Ideas..

Here are the results:

NS Southwest

$50k First place: Ethan Doucette of Valley Finder -- has developed a tool that increases the accuracy and efficiency of installing sheet metal roofing. 

$40k Second place: Allen Whittaker and Kristen LeBlanc of Rink Fries  -- has created a mobile-first food ordering platform for rinks, arenas, and pop-up food spots. .

NS North

$50k First place: Athar Omidi of NetMethane -- the company's Integrated Methane Management Platform is a digital solution for landfill methane management.

$40k Second place: Isaac Hierlihy and Morgan MacKinnon of Athlete Aid – has created a real-time injury management platform enabling athletes, coaches, and therapists to log, verify, and track injuries, assign rehab plans, and access analytics. 

Cape Breon

1st $50k – Porrima Technologies -- transforms abundant grass waste into high-performance, transparent, compostable laboratory consumables, including tubes, syringes, and containers.

2nd $25k - ComplianceGuard AI -- is an AI agent that monitors Canadian federal and provincial regulations, executes compliance checks (GST/HST, payroll, PIPEDA), generates audit‑ready reports, and alerts SMEs to risks in real time. 

3rd $15k - AceLign Golf -- is a credit card-sized golf tool aimed at helping new and experienced golfers with two of the biggest issues at tee-off: precision and alignment.

Top 7 Over 70 Coming to Halifax

Aging Proactively President Ed Leach

Aging Proactively President Ed Leach

The Calgary-based non-profit Top 7 Over 70 will hold its fifth awards ceremony in Halifax in May next year. The group runs an awards program that celebrates the new successes of adults over 70 and it is the first time the awards will be held in Atlantic Canada.

The group, which also raises funds for partner organizations, hosts an increasingly well-known biennial celebration, which began back in 2017.

“These awards highlight that there’s lots of gas left in seniors’ tanks,” said Ed Leach, who is the local president of Aging Pro Actively and chapter ambassador of Aging2.0 Nova Scotia. Leach is leading the local effort along with Rick Emberley, founder of Seasoned Pros.  

“Many people think that the thing to do is to help older people, but it’s the other way around: older people need to help. This gives them self-respect and a place in society,” Leach told Entrevestor.

"The Feds and the provinces are beginning to look upstream at the root causes of the increasing load on the healthcare system by seniors. Witness the recent announcement by the province (Nova Scotia) to pay for shingles vaccine for those over 65. It is far less expensive to pay for the vaccine than the healthcare costs related to shingles." 

He stressed including older people in the workforce is not just about being kind and lessening pressures on the healthcare system.

“It’s being smart. It’s not about diversity and inclusion. With aging societies and labour shortages, it’s also economic.”

Leach said the awards organizers will soon be seeking nominations for noteworthy nominees who live and work in Atlantic Canada. It is already raising money to cover the costs of staging the event.

The whole thing began as the idea of senior Jim Gray, a Calgary-based businessman and philanthropist who wanted to shatter stereotypes and recognize the work being done by seniors across sectors. Other award programs often celebrate lifetime achievements but this one aims to highlight new ventures started by seniors.

In Calgary, the group works with partner organization InterGen, a talent development platform that matches experienced individuals with younger entrepreneurs to form multigenerational teams. High-potential companies are also supported with training.

The group said that Statistics Canada figures show that Canada now has more people aged 65-plus than children under 15. And, by 2036, seniors could number between 9.9 million and 10.9 million. Half of the people born after 2007 will live to be 103, according to a 2009 article in The Lancet, led by Danish epidemiologist Professor Kaare Christensen. 

The 2023 award recipients included:

    *  Ron Ghitter: A former senator who has created a new human rights forum. He has also raised millions to build the Osten & Victor Alberta Tennis Centre in Calgary.

    *  Dr. Benno Nigg: An 85-year-old biomechanics expert whose knowledge of athletic shoes has been sought by everyone from Nike, Adidas and David Beckham. He’s also started his own sports research company.

    *  John Scott: An 83-year-old rancher and leading Canadian stunt expert who recently received a “location of the year” award at the Cannes film festival.

    *  Janice McTighe: An 82-year-old educator who is opening a $30-million junior/senior high school for Calgary kids with disabilities.

    *  Tania Willumsen:  A 76-year-old Calgary woman who has been helping Ukrainian refugees re-settle in Canada.

    *  Mogens Smed: A 75-year-old Calgary entrepreneur and innovator who created a business and within four years is employing almost 500 people in the new enterprise.

    *  Tom Jackson: A 74-year-old award-winning actor. He’s working on the series Sullivan’s Crossing, while also creating a detective drama and continuing his philanthropic work.

“These awards have the potential to create change, increase health span and contribute to the economic prosperity of the region,” said Leach.  

"Having purpose in one's life is one of the most powerful social determinants of health that leads to increased health span.”

Cashew Wins Profitual’s No-Pitch Competition

Calgary-based Cashew Research, a startup offering AI-driven market research, has won Profitual’s first No-Pitch Competition, which was designed to assess companies based on their fundamentals, not their verbiage.

Profitual is a Fredericton-based company whose software assesses young Canadian companies’ prospects by analyzing their financial models and performance. It recently launched its No Pitch Competition so startups could seek a $10,000 first prize based simply on the financial information they input into the application form.

The competition attracted 120 qualified submissions from across Canada, and each of these companies received an assessment of their financial model. Profitual’s list of 20 finalists included eight startups from Atlantic Canada.

“We launched the No-Pitch competition with a simple idea: what if founders were judged on the strength of their financial models, not their pitch decks?” said Profitual in a statement. “In a startup ecosystem where storytelling often overshadows substance, and not an ounce of ‘dry powder’ in sight, we wanted to shift the spotlight back to the fundamentals.”

Cashew has developed a platform that tells users what their customers want, quickly and affordably, through an AI-guided research process that fields thousands of surveys to real people and turns those responses into an interactive report. The company is preparing to raise capital soon.

Asked why the company entered the No Pitch Competition, CEO Addy Graves said, “The competition stood out because it emphasized the operational discipline behind building a company, not just a big pitch or the ultimate vision. The focus on real business fundamentals really resonated with our team and where we are in our journey.” 

You can find the complete list of finalists on the Profitual website, and learn about be Atlantic Canadian finalists here:

Aeon Blue

Sydney, NS

Aeon Blue makes a drop-in replacement for fossil fuel while capturing and storing carbon from air. The team is developing an integrated hydrogen and carbon capture technology that uses wind energy, seawater, and captured carbon dioxide from air to make cost-efficient eFuel.

What’s happening at Aeon Blue? 

Aeon Blue is currently raising US$10 million to build their sustainable fuel and carbon removal pilot facility in Cape Breton.

 AI-First Consulting

Halifax

AI-First consulting helps Atlantic Canadian SME’s effectively integrate AI into daily operations. They combine expertise in generative AI, productivity systems, and behavioral science to transform how teams operate, collaborate, and excel, making AI adoption practical, meaningful, and human-centered.

CandidateHub

Riverview, NB

CandidateHub is a Candidate Relationship Management platform that helps companies solve the problem of identifying top candidates for their open roles. Through a series of marketing campaigns, CandidateHub tracks each click a candidate makes across the company's online footprint and predicts when the right time is for a recruiter to call that candidate, saving companies up to 40 percent of their time advertising to the wrong candidates.

What’s happening at CandidateHub? 

CandidateHub is currently seeking investors to participate in their open $250,000 round.

Dispension

Dartmouth

Dispension is a robotics engineering company redefining the distribution of canned beer and ready to drink products with secure, trusted, intelligent self-service kiosks. The goal is to reduce wait times, concourse congestion, and line-ups at large-scale venues by providing consumers with an alternative consumer experience. 

What’s happening at Dispension? 

Dispensation is currently raising $3 million to grow their team, and for scaling operations to build a small fleet of SmartServ beer robots. These robots will be used to capitalize on immediate opportunities within MLB, NBA, and NHL stadiums. 

NDITIVE Technologies

St. John’s

NDITIVE (which was chosen for Techstars ‘24) specializes in real-time environmental and industrial monitoring, leveraging the power of digital twins and AI to deliver transformative insights to diverse sectors like offshore energy and advanced manufacturing.  

What’s happening at NDITIVE? 

NDITIVE is currently raising a US$250,000 round, with US$150,000 already secured. The team is seeking investors to close the remaining US$100,000 gap. 

Parados Cerebral Solutions

Fredericton

Parados offers on-demand physical training and therapy tools for health and movement experts. Their client success platform automates repetitive data collection, administration, and analysis tasks to make high quality care more accessible and engaging from anywhere, at any time, from any device.

What’s happening at Parados? 

Parados is actively seeking more mission-aligned resellers and distributors to partner with as they scale.

Serenity Vet

Saint John

Serenity Vet connects high-performing relief veterinarians with clinics and hospitals, and offers dual-sided financial tools that support wage transparency and budget optimization between both. Their business suite supports flexible schedules, fosters a healthy work-life balance, and ensures predictable financial outcomes for all parties.

What’s happening at Serenity Vet? 

Serenity Vet is in the middle of raising a $1 million round seeking aligned investors and strategic partnerships. They are actively hiring for key positions including a Director of Sales and a Senior Software Development team to build out their AI-powered predictability tool. 

Weevva Systems Ltd.

Paradise, Nfld.

Easy Renting. For Everyone. Weevva is an innovative, all-in-one rental platform simplifying the rental process for private landlords and tenants. With tools for tenant verification, lease management, and streamlined communication, Weevva transforms renting into a secure, efficient, and hassle-free experience.

What’s happening at Weevva? 

Weevva is currently preparing for their national launch and looking to connect with a lead investor for their $500,000 round. Building on existing traction with the platform, funds will be used to accelerate growth across Canada and strengthen their AI infrastructure.

Propel Welcomes 12 Startups to Traction & Growth

Propel, Atlantic Canada’s virtual accelerator for tech-enabled companies, has announced the latest cohort joining its Traction & Growth Program. This group of founders represent a range of industries, from AI and health tech to retail, education, and clean technology.

“This cohort demonstrates the strength and creativity of Atlantic Canada's startup ecosystem,” said Kathryn Lockhart, CEO, Propel, in a statement. “From health diagnostics for bees to AI-driven parenting tools, these founders are solving real-world challenges with bold, scalable innovation.”

For the next seven months, the founders will receive intensive virtual support through Propel’s framework, including mentorship, strategic coaching, and access to a growing network of peers and investors. The Traction & Growth Program is tailored to help startups accelerate customer acquisition and prepare to scale.

The companies in the Spring 2025 Traction & Growth cohort include:

AgroGene Solutions - New Brunswick

Founders: Pascale Michaud, Luc Boudreau, Nicolas Pichaud, Gilles Robichaud

Supporting beekeepers with diagnostics and hive health monitoring.
 

Bubbles Haircare for Kids - New Brunswick

Founder: Alex Weaver Crawford

Making kids’ haircuts fun and stress-free for families in Saint John.
 

MAMAN AI – New Brunswick

Founders: Milad Pira, Samira Pira, Kasra Esmaeili

“ChatGPT for parenting,” offering tailored support tools for caregivers and organizations.

 

atlantiq AI – Newfoundland and Labrador

Founders: Nurul Ibrahim, Joe Verdecampo

Building the world’s first CAD Compliance Companion for ship designers using agentic AI.

 

CAKEYHAND DESSERT FACTORY INC. – Newfoundland and Labrador

Founders: Suren Margaryan, Anna Paytyan

Specializing in custom cakes and desserts for every occasion.
 

NutraForge – Newfoundland and Labrador

Founders: Garreth Kippenhuck, Jager Cooper

Using AI to help health professionals personalize dietary plans for Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
 

Refined Solutions Systems (Study4As) – Newfoundland and Labrador

Founder: Olubunmi Odeyinka

Developing AI-powered mobile LMS tools for educational and training institutions.
 

Weevva – Newfoundland and Labrador

Founder: Matt Creese

A smart rental platform that simplifies leasing for landlords and tenants while ensuring legal compliance.
 

Dispension Industries Inc. – Nova Scotia

Founder: Corey Yantha

Building self-serve kiosks for canned and ready-to-drink beverages.
 

ImmigrateAI Global – Nova Scotia

Founder: Max Medyk

“TurboTax for immigration” using AI to streamline visa applications.
 

Stellar RHL Inc (Stellar Futures) – Nova Scotia

Founders: Gary Stairs, Gayle Grin

A real-time 3D digital twinning tool for emergency preparedness in rural coastal areas.
 

SudDrop Laundry Services – Nova Scotia

Founder: Jayrell Diggs

Providing next-day laundry pickup and delivery for homes and businesses.
 

Scotiaderm Gains Funding from Natural Products Canada

Port Williams, NS-based Scotiaderm, which produces a natural skin barrier formulation that protects against skin damage caused by exposure to urine, feces, sweat and chaffing, is one of five Canadian companies to receive funding from Natural Products Canada.

The company, led by CEO Johanna Mercer and CMO Dr. Ann Gordon, is launching early adopter marketing trials while conducting Class III studies. Scotiaderm will receive $139,000 from NPC for a total project budget of $347,000, NPC said in a statement.

The NPC contribution is part of a broader investment of around $1 million in five early-stage Canadian companies to help the companies address challenges in their go-to-market journeys.

"NPC's strategic investments aren't just funding companies—they're actively building Canada's competitive edge in the global bioeconomy," said Shelley King, CEO, Natural Products Canada.

Scotiaderm earlier received $30,000 through Invest Nova Scotia’s GreenShoots program. And in  November last year, Scotiaderm won $20,000 in the second Innovation Den contest.

NPC said the latest round of investment brings the group’s total investment to $11 million into 92 Canadian startups.

Dispersa, which has operations in Cape Breton, also received $96,000 through the program. Dispersa’s biosurfactants are natural replacements for key ingredients in many everyday products like detergents and personal care products.  NPC said its funding would support a new hire to lead the commercial scale-up operations and supply chain management.

NPC’s Commercialization Programs are designed to accelerate the path to market, which can be more time-consuming and resource-intensive for deep tech, high-innovation companies within the bioeconomy, the group said. NPC focuses on three areas that are conducive to companies attracting the partners and investors required for growth: product validation and scaling, talent, and competitive strategy.

NBIF’s White Sees Startup Rebound

Jeff White, the CEO of the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, has posted a blog saying his organization is noticing a rebound in the startup community in the launch of new ventures and fundraising by portfolio companies.

The article highlights a resurgence in New Brunswick’s startup community, which White outlined last month at the New Brunswick Innovation Outlook event in Fredericton. Entrevestor released its 2024 Atlantic Canada Startup Data report at the event, which highlighted falling numbers of startups and employment in the community.

In the blog, White notes that NBIF in 2025 is receiving more approaches from new companies than it has in several years, and five or six of its portfolio companies are now raising capital.

“This combination of new pipeline activity and portfolio momentum represents the most encouraging environment we’ve seen in several years,” says White.

You can find his blog, which includes a suggested path forward, here.

Kraken Robotics Raising About $100M

St. John’s-based Kraken Robotics, which specializes in next-generation sonar systems and unmanned platforms to carry them, is in the process of raising about $100 million by selling shares on the TSX Venture Exchange.

The company issued a statement on Tuesday saying Desjardins Capital Markets is leading a syndicate of underwriters for the deal. They will buy 37.6 million shares at $2.66 each, and will sell most of this stock on to other investors. The underwriters have a 15 percent over-allotment option, which means they could buy as many as 5.6 million additional shares, worth $15 million, if there’s sufficient demand from the market.

Kraken expects to use the proceeds from the offering to support its growth into a scalable global prime contractor. As well as general corporate expenditures, this could include buying companies, especially in the U.S. and Europe, to expand its global presence, and “demonstrating a stronger balance sheet when bidding for larger governmental and commercial contracts.”

Founded in 2012 via a spin-off from another company, Kraken Robotics offers a range of products, including 3D imaging sensors, power solutions, and robotic systems.  Its synthetic aperture sonar, sub-bottom imaging, and LiDAR systems offer best-in-class resolution, providing critical insights into ocean safety, infrastructure, and geology, says the company.

The company last year raised $71.8 million via share sales on the TSX Venture, the largest funding by any innovation-driven company in the region in 2024.

Kraken has recently released regular announcements of successful sales. In May, for example, it said it had received new orders totaling more than $3 million for its Kraken Synthetic Aperture Sonar in Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America. A month early, it revealed $11 million in orders for its SeaPower pressure-tolerant batteries for uncrewed underwater vehicles.

Kraken expects to close the sale of shares on July 7. According to Google, the company’s stock has risen 192 percent in the past year, closing Tuesday at $2.86 a share for a market capitalization of $751 million.

Axis Accelerator Seeks Applicants

The Axis Accelerator at University of New Brunswick Saint John has seats available for its six-month program for business-to-business startups from across Atlantic Canada looking to grow their revenues and prepare to raise capital.

The program will begin in September and require three to five hours per week from participants. It is aimed at positioning the founder of a company as its lead salesperson, as well as bolstering lead conversion and developing a scalable sales strategy. For 12 months after the end of the accelerator, participants will continue to have access to coaching, mentorship and office space.

Launched as a pilot through the Faculty of Business in Saint John in early 2023, the accelerator currently has places for 10 founders. A select number of teams are invited into full-time residency in the Axis Accelerator space where they receive custom coaching and mentorship for an additional one to three years.

The program is funded by the provincial government and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency,

 

Apply directly, or email Matt George at matt.george@unb.ca to express interest.

B. Corp Status Fuels Ethical Swag

Tara Milburn

Tara Milburn

Cape Breton–based sustainable promotional products company Ethical Swag is navigating the current economic chaos through the B-Corp certified systems it already had in place.

The Sydney company helps organizations make their values visible through ethically made, branded merchandise.  Over the last few years, the company has had strong revenue growth operating throughout Canada and the U.S. Even during the pandemic, Ethical Swag was able to increase its revenues 30 percent year on year in 2020-21, Founder and CEO Tara Milburn told Entrevestor at the time. Clients on its website today include Greenpeace, Google, Microsoft and Stanford University.

B-Corp Status requires companies to demonstrate values of sustainability and community. For example, it means Ethical Swag was already sourcing products close to consumers partly in order to keep its carbon footprint and costs low. Ethical Swag also knows, or can easily find out, where the component parts of products it sells originate, which enables an easier untangling of the complexities of tariffs.

“Canadian products, for example, may have inputs from other places,” Milburn said in a recent interview. ““We have a system that gives us insight into where our suppliers are located at the click of a button. We are very nimble because of the way we set up our systems.”

She said less than one percent of companies in her industry in North America have B-Corp status. Tariffs are impacting everyone and the B-Corp approach makes them easier to handle. Many competitors, in contrast, may not know where the components of a product they buy are sourced.

“It often feels like extra work when you’re setting things up, digging into the social and environmental implications of the products we source, but we found the hard work we did prior to Covid set us up for Covid, for example we have always allowed staff to work remotely,” Milburn said. “With tariffs, we already prioritized people and planet with the products we source, which is making us resourceful in this time of turmoil.”

Milburn, a former executive with Nova Scotia Business Inc. (now Invest Nova Scotia), began working on Ethical Swag full-time in 2018 and received B Corp certification in 2021. The company has both Canadian and U.S. clients. Clients in both nations are keen to avoid tariffs, and Canadians want to show national pride by buying Canadian-made products. Ethical Swag’s site states a product’s country of origin.

“We make those choices easy, so that’s also a competitive advantage,” Milburn said.

The company now has 13 full-time staff, located across Canada, Nairobi and Thailand. Milburn is currently seeking a Director of Operations.

In the spring, Milburn was featured in Canadian SME Small Business Magazine, highlighting her conviction that sustainability and profits can support one another rather than act as a trade-off. In the interview, she highlighted the importance of transparency and trust, as well as partnering with like-minded organizations to scale impact.

In the Entrevestor interview, Milburn said she is bullish about the potential of Ethical Swag.

“Lots of organizations are talking to us, and we are seeing opportunities, both from our clients and from people interested in how we are doing things in terms of partnerships or acquisition.”

Toward Prosperity Sets Out New Economic Plan

For the first two-thirds of Toward Prosperity, the reader could be forgiven for thinking they’d picked up the wrong book.

In the title, this superb new analysis of the Atlantic Canadian economy by economist David Campbell and retired pollster Don Mills promises a path to affluence. Even the subtitle, The Transformation of Atlantic Canada’s Economy, makes it clear that things are changing in a region that stubbornly remains a have-not corner of Canada.

But the place they describe in the first 200-or-so pages of their book seems neither prosperous nor transformed. The reader is left to wonder what sorcery they’ll conjure to bring about the conversion of this – dare I say it? – backwater.

But Campbell and Mills deliver, laying out a plausible plan for the four eastern provinces to reverse a century and a half of economic under-performance. They offer a road map, but not a guarantee that policy makers will follow the route they’ve chosen. There would be difficult, indeed unpopular, choices.

 

Campbell and Mills are best known these days for their Insights podcast, in which they discuss economic and policy issues with a range of politicians and business leaders. (I’ve appeared to discuss Entrevestor’s startup data.) Campbell, the CEO of Moncton-based Jupia Consultants, is also the author of the excellent “It’s the Economy, Stupid!” blog. Mills retired after selling his business Corporate Research Associates, now Narrative Research, in 2018.

They have transformed the content of their podcast, backed up with a library of economic statistics, into a book that will soon be found dogeared and bookmarked on the nightstands of every policy wonk in the region. It’s peerless in its analysis of the economic forces at play in Atlantic Canada.

Pulling no punches, they say there are two main factors (whether they’re causes or symptoms isn’t clear) determining the economic underperformance of the region. Atlantic Canada has more people working for government than other parts of Canada; and a greater proportion of the population lives in rural areas than is the case west of Gaspé Bay. (Some 40 percent of Atlantic Canadians live in rural areas, far greater than the national mark of 15 percent.)

The authors are methodical in detailing why this matters. Obviously, a workforce dedicated mainly to government is expending a jurisdiction’s wealth, whereas private sector workers are generating wealth. The problem with having so much population in rural areas is that a broad swath of the workforce depends on seasonal labour, supplemented by employment insurance, or EI. This deprives rural areas of steady, full-time workers, which makes long-term investment and economic strategy difficult.

These are just two of the reasons that Atlantic Canada’s GDP has gone from 6.8 percent of the Canadian economy in 1983 to 5.3 percent 40 years later. It also helps to explain why Atlantic Canada’s employment growth has lagged the national rate by 48 percent in the ten years to 2023.

Toward Prosperity is absolutely packed with this sort of economic data (too much to relay here) that backs up this analysis. It is especially strong in matters of population and demographics. The authors are sometimes repetitive, but they give a clear indication of how and why our region has underperformed.

The solution to these economic ills, as Mills and Campbell see it, is a multi-faceted approach supported by the central pillar of energy development. The opportunity of offshore wind power is a big part of it, but so is nuclear power in New Brunswick and hydrogen production in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. The authors call for a full buy-in to energy mega-projects that, while requiring billions of dollars of capital, have the power to transform the regional economy. “The question is whether or not Atlantic Canada can seize this transformational opportunity that would likely lead our region to becoming a ‘have’ part of Canada,” they write.

The economic medicine includes implementing a more competitive tax structure, and establishing “economic hubs” in medium-sized towns throughout the region. And Mills and Campbell call for continuing support for entrepreneurship and the startup community.

 It’s interesting to note – given that I’m writing in a startup publication – that startups in this book are given far less attention than energy megaprojects. Startups have been all the rage in economic development circles for the better part of a decade, which explains the proliferation of business accelerators and incubators. It seems we may now be entering a phase in which wind power and hydrogen production will capture the attention.

Mobile App Brings Bloomsday to Halifax

By Andrew Burke

By Andrew Burke

This Saturday through Monday, Haligonians can experience 1904 Dublin and 2025 Halifax in an app-based self-guided tour of the novel Ulysses. Billed as part literary excursion, part scavenger hunt, and part pub crawl, the app is the work of Andrew Burke, a partner in Halifax-based BeanCountertech.

Joyce's Ulysses is said to be one of the greatest novels of the 20th century although many find it unreadable. The events of the novel take place on a single day, June 16th, in 1904 in Dublin, Ireland, and the book follows characters, Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus, as they wander around Dublin, meeting people both real and imaginary.

Every episode in the book parallels an incident from Homer's Odyssey. For example, a funeral is linked to Odysseus' trip to Hades. Because many of the locations still exist, literature enthusiasts retrace the steps of the main characters across Dublin every year, organizers said on the website for the Halifax event.

Bloomsday is also marked around the world. Often there are readings, screenings, reenactments, and musical performances. Halifax, with its ocean-side location, similar architectural traditions, and large academic and artistic population, seems like a natural place to celebrate Bloomsday, but nobody has done it before, Burke told Entrevestor.

People can participate at various locations and times around the Halifax Peninsula. The app will guide people to the locations and provide activities to do on arrival. Each location will have extra features, app interactions, collectible real or virtual objects, or other surprises. Users will learn about this part of Halifax, its matching location in Dublin, and what happens in this chapter of the book. .

Burke said it is not necessary to have read the novel to enjoy Bloomsday.

He explained his motivations for creating the app last year in a blog:

“Before I was a computer nerd I was a literature nerd, and I had always wanted to do a Bloomsday thing in Halifax, since we share so much architecture and history with Dublin (starting with Martello Towers!), and even street names, not to mention lots of Irish pubs.”

Find out more and sign up for free here.

Halifax Will Host 2026 Annual Invest Canada Conference

The Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA) has announced that Halifax will host the 2026 edition of its annual conference, Invest Canada, from May 26 to 28.

New Brunswick Innovation Foundation CEO Jeff White, who was recently appointed to the CVCA board, will be the official host of the conference. 

This return to Halifax recognizes the region’s expanding influence and growing significance within Canada’s innovation and private capital ecosystem, the group said in a press release. 

Dartmouth-based marine innovation hub COVE will be a presenting sponsor for the event and will be key to showcasing the city’s strengths to the national private capital community, the group said.

 CVCA Chief Executive Officer Kim Furlong said Halifax is a symbol of how far Atlantic Canada has come in terms of investment readiness, innovation capacity, and scale-up potential.

The region has attracted significant venture capital, produced globally competitive startups, and is drawing increasing private equity interest across a diverse range of industries including ocean technology, life sciences, health innovation, and industrial services. 

Major investment milestones include Verafin’s acquisition by Nasdaq for USD $2.75 billion, one of the largest technology exits in Canadian history. Halifax’s ABK Biomedical secured USD $30 million to advance its novel cancer treatment technologies. Companies like CoLab Software and Mysa Smart Thermostats, both based in St. John’s, have raised multi-million-dollar rounds and continue to expand across North America. Kraken Robotics also completed a $71.8 million raise on the TSX Venture Exchange last year to support the growth of its marine technology platform. 

Organizations including NBIF and Invest Nova Scotia have helped build a resilient early-stage ecosystem while strengthening the pipeline for growth-stage investment. 

The event will reflect a mix of national market insight, global investment themes, and regionally grounded programming.

DeNova To Lead $7.2M Aquaculture Feed Project

Dartmouth-based DeNova, which makes sustainable feed ingredients for aquaculture, will lead a $7.2 million Microbial Protein for Sustainable Aquaculture Project outlined this week by Canada’s Ocean Supercluster.

The project was the largest of five projects worth a total of $18 million unveiled by the Supercluster Monday at the H20 Conference in Halifax. Each of the five projects features prominent participation by at least one Atlantic Canadian company.

Led by founder and CEO Brianna Orr Stratton, DeNova has developed a sustainable alternative to conventional aquafeed ingredients like fishmeal and soy, which are major contributors to aquaculture’s environmental footprint.

“As aquafeed remains one of the biggest barriers to the growth of sustainable seafood, this project directly addresses a critical challenge in the ocean economy,” said a statement issued by the Supercluster. “By advancing responsible food production technologies, the initiative supports the expansion of Canada’s aquaculture industry while reducing environmental impact.”

As well as DeNova, the partners in the project are The Verschuren Centre in Sydney, and Neptune Properties in Dartmouth. The Supercluster is providing $2.5 million in funding with the rest coming from the project partners.

The other projects announced this week are:

  • The $4.5 million Cleaner Smoother Natural Ship Bearings Project, led by Hydro Tech Inc. of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.

This project aims to reinvent lignum vitae wood stern tube bearings – a durable, naturally lubricated material once used in marine applications – to meet today’s maritime demands for performance, efficiency, and sustainability. 

Dartmouth-based Canadian Maritime Engineering Ltd.  is also involved in the project, which is receiving $1.8 million from the Supercluster.

  • The Enhancing Aquaculture Productivity with Environmental Genomics Project, led by St. John’s-based eDNAtec.

The Supercluster says this project will increase the use of environmental genomics technologies in Canada’s $1.3 billion salmon aquaculture industry. The aim is to address two critical challenges: improving environmental stewardship, particularly in relation to assessing biodiversity; and enhancing pathogen detection and mitigation efforts.

Mowi of Campbell River, BC will also participate in the $2.9 million project, which is receiving $944, 800, from the Supercluster.

  • The $1.4 million Maritime Emergency Response Systems project led by Halifax-based B-Side Group.

This pilot project is designed to enhance Canada’s maritime emergency preparedness with an AI-powered system that integrates real-time data, analytics, and coordination tools. Designed for scalability, the solution has strong commercial potential across emergency services and the broader maritime industry, aiming to improve safety, resilience, and operational efficiency in ocean-related activities.

The other partners are: Halifax-based ResolveHD; Scott Ramey, Assistant Fire Chief, Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency; and Moriah Greenhaw, Chief Innovation Strategist for Canadian Emergency Services Collaborative Innovation Lab in Halifax. The Supercluster is contributing $727,500 to the project.

  • The $1.1 million Uncrewed Surface Vehicle (USV) Enhanced Offshore Fishing Project led by Lunenberg, NS-based ABCO.  

This project is led by Lunenberg, NS-based ABCO, in partnership with Clearwater Seafoods, also in Lunenberg., with the balance of funding coming from project partners. 

In partnership with Clearwater Seafoods, ABCO aims to improve the collection of crucial benthic habitat data to support the sustainability of Canada’s commercial bottom fishing industry using USVs. With a total project value of $1.1 million, the Supercluster is contributing $459,200.

Dal Innovates Announces Teams for Summer Accelerator

A total of 20 student teams will take part in Dal Innovates’ Lab2Market Launch and Collide Launch summer accelerator programs.

Comprising 33 students and recent graduates from 10 post-secondary institutions, the students will develop their ventures over 12 weeks. The two accelerators will offer students entrepreneurial training and access to $10,000 in funding.  Lab2Market Launch is primarily for graduate-level researchers committed to building a scalable business. Collide Launch is primarily for undergraduate and non-research-based graduate students eager to launch a business.

Companies that have previously taken part in the programs include Aruna Revolution, Integrative Nanotech, and Pucktive,.organizers said in a statement.

This year’s cohort includes teams that incorporate advanced AI, develop new software, and use emerging satellite technologies to enhance industries, protect the environment, and offer solutions for the aging population.

“We know college and university campuses are incubators for incredible ideas,” said Jeff Larsen, assistant vice president, innovation and entrepreneurship at Dalhousie University.. “I’m excited to see this exceptional group of student founders harness the mentorship, funding, and networking opportunities of the Launch program offered through Dal Innovates, to turn their ideas into thriving ventures.”

Since 2020, more than 1,200 post-secondary students, postdoctoral fellows, and researchers from over 50 Canadian academic institutions have participated in the Lab2Market and Collide programs. In Atlantic Canada, over 65 founders have graduated from the programs, and 63 have incorporated their startups, the group said.

The 2025 Lab2Market Launch Cohort Includes:

Beta Carbon - Transforming wastepaper biomass into high-value carbon-based products to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, reduce deforestation, and alleviate pressure on landfills, contributing to a sustainable circular economy and net zero targets. Japhet Machipisa University of Prince Edward Island, Stephanie Shaw, Ph.D. University of Prince Edward Island

Equlantic Inc. - Developing a modular, autonomous sensor system that delivers real time, high-precision carbonate system data to support accurate, cost-effective measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) for marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) and other ocean based industries. Isaac Bahler Dalhousie University, Caliyena Brown Dalhousie University

Malus Ecolife Inc. - Developing a sustainable waste-to-energy solution that converts poultry manure into biofuels and biochar, addressing environmental and disposal challenges while promoting carbon sequestration. Ben Kiehbadroudinezhad, Ph.D. Dalhousie University, Ghazaleh Afrahi Dalhousie University

Outport - Boosting customer acquisition with Outport, a new technology that automates 5-star reviews, creating lead magnets, and signaling nonstop activity to drive a flood of customers. Bennett Newhook Memorial University of Newfoundland

Qalam Health Solutions Inc. - Empowering surgeons to detect bone cancer tissue on bone margins during surgery to prevent bone cancer relapse. Dr. Haitham Shoman, Ph.D., MD McGill University, Maryam Ejaz, McGill University

3 SMART-HAB - Detecting harmful algal blooms through a new reporting tool that incorporates satellite monitoring analysis. Catherine Evans Dalhousie University, Christopher Whidden, Ph.D. Dalhousie University.

Tangify Farming Solutions - Developing an automated, non-invasive, and reliable cattle weight-monitoring system to provide real-time weight tracking for free-range beef cattle, enabling farmers to optimize feeding, improve herd management, and reduce inefficiencies in traditional weight monitoring methods. Mariana Toro Ramirez Concordia University, Manuel Sandoval Concordia University

2025 Collide Launch Cohort Venture

Alaagi Inc. - Tackling global plastic pollution by creating innovative and sustainable seaweed based bioplastics with the potential to revolutionize packaging. Sheher Yar Khan St. Mary's University, Zain Ali Khan Mount Saint Vincent University

Being there - Redefining how seniors age at home by developing holistic, evidence-based programming that prioritizes prevention, ensures they receive the support needed to maintain their well-being and independence. Stuti Sandhu St. Mary's University, Kris Ram St. Mary's University

Clarify Student Resources - Bridging the gap between how students learn and how teachers teach through an AI-powered education platform that offers personalized learning and automates admin work for educators. Jeremiah Philips Dalhousie University, Kavin Kadam British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT)

CM Marine Safety Equipment - Developing an innovative lifejacket designed to offer commercial fishermen comfort, safety, and protection as they handle heavy traps and nets in a physically demanding job. Ben Collings Mackay St. Francis Xavier University, Jayden Barker St. Francis Xavier University

EnergyIntelligence - Making sustainable energy transition more accessible, affordable, and impactful with an AI-driven platform that provides remote energy assessments by analyzing energy bills, smart meter data, and satellite imagery to deliver energy efficiency recommendations and automatic rebate matching. Dipak Timalsina Memorial University of Newfoundland ,Anusheel Chapagain Memorial University of Newfoundland

4 Ez Breathe Heat Pump Cleaning - Developing advanced cleaning technology to enhance HVAC maintenance, improve energy efficiency, and set new industry standards for system cleanliness and air quality. Ben McQuaid University of Prince Edward Island, Brett McQuaid University of Prince Edward Island

LimbRise Recovery Solutions – Engineering a patent-pending, spring-loaded mobility device designed to provide a safer, hands-free recovery from leg injuries—offering an alternative to crutches and other mobility aids. Richard Hetherington University of Prince Edward Island, Noor Abdelhamid University of Prince Edward Island

Mector - Enhancing independence for individuals with early-stage dementia with an innovative memory-supportive communication system. Shima Soltani NSCAD University, Zahra Karimi NSCAD University

Nimbus - Providing customizable hearing protection by developing an earplug system that balances comfort, safety, and situational awareness with adjustable noise attenuation and frequency filtering technology. Melina Markotjohn Dalhousie University, Steven Aiken, Ph.D. Dalhousie University

NovaBrew Solutions Inc. - Developing production management software to automate time-consuming administrative tasks for craft breweries, such as forecasting, production scheduling, and inventory management., Andrew Swift Dalhousie University, Rob Marot Dalhousie University

SEEYA - Addressing the global epidemic of childhood myopia with engaging and educational toy sets that promote balanced screen time, outdoor activities, and eye health awareness to foster healthier vision for kids. Jewell Tan NSCAD University, Adrian Feng NSCAD University

Shell Tech - Increasing production for shellfish hatcheries with an innovative aquaculture monitoring system that uses AI-powered image recognition to assess larvae health and detect potential diseases. Shawn Ray Dalhousie University, Jake Young Dalhousie University

Storelx Inc. - Developing an online marketplace that connects people who need storage space to people who have storage space – AirBNB for storage. Selim Fahmy Memorial University of Newfoundland, NourElDeen Fahmy Memorial University of Newfoundland..

Nditive Eyes Product Launch in 2026

Dr. Salar Salahi, left, and Dr. Seyed Nabavi

Dr. Salar Salahi, left, and Dr. Seyed Nabavi

Having graduated from the most recent cohort of the Techstars Sustainability Paris Accelerator, the team at St. John’s-based Nditive is setting its sights on launching their gas monitoring product in 2026.

Founded by Dr. Salar Salahi and Dr. Seyed Nabavi, Nditive is developing a proprietary system that can proactively monitor industrial infrastructure for hazardous events. Its initial target market will be such industries as offshore energy, mining, and petrochemicals.

The sensor-based technology lets the operator know beforehand whether there will be a gas leak. Powered by artificial intelligence, it can also learn to recognize a potential system failure and alert the operator that a leak or other event could happen. These alerts could be issued in the plant where it first found a leak or in another of the user’s plants.

The company is working on energy harvesters that capture environmental vibrations to energize low-power devices, contributing to sustainable energy solutions. Its list of features also includes digital twin technology to create real-time virtual replicas of physical systems, enabling enhanced monitoring, predictive maintenance, and operational optimization.

“We’re still finalizing the product,” said CEO Salar Salahi in an interview. ”We have a working prototype for the offshore, and we’re testing one for mining. The final launch is set for September 2026 – that’s when we expect to have all the regulation and certification.”

 Salahi and Nabavi first got to know each other about ten years ago when they were working on their masters degrees, and have since both completed their PhDs – Salahi in mechanical engineering and Nabavi in electrical engineering. They launched the company when they graduated in 2022, and now work with four other team-mates in the Genesis innovation hub.

Last autumn, they were accepted into Techstars, which is recognized as one of the world’s leading innovation accelerators, and entered the sustainability cohort being offered in Paris. They were one of two Atlantic Canadian startups in Techstar programs last autumn, said Salahi. The other was another St. John's company, DependBuild, which makes cloud software that helps municipalities and infrastructure developers assess risks to construction projects.

As well as an investment of US$120,000 (C$164,000), the experience at Techstars introduced the Nditive team to a community which included a range of investors, industrial experts and cleantech specialists. It helped them to refine the product and improve the top of the company’s sales funnel.

Salahi added that he is especially excited about participating in the Techstars Climate Hub, a platform that amplifies visibility and facilitates collaboration with industry leaders.

Said Sahali: “Currently we are working to launch more pilots with more clients to chase the value we offer.”

Essential Recruit Rebrands to Focus on Rural Resilience

Daniel Morka

Daniel Morka

New Glasgow, NS-based Essential Recruit, now known as Judy Intelligence, has secured $600,000 in federal funding to lead a two-year pilot test of its AI-powered workplace development platform that helps employers and communities find, attract, and retain talent.

To date, the company has been funded through grants, company revenue, and personal finances. It is now raising a bridge round that seeks to raise another $600,000 from like-minded investors.

Begun in 2021 as a recruitment tool for the healthcare sector, the product is becoming a workforce development platform tailored to the realities of rural economies that typically suffer from problems such as outmigration, aging workforces and underemployment.  

“We’re building digital infrastructure for rural resilience so that essential sectors and communities don’t just survive, they thrive,” Daniel Morka, CEO and Founder, told Entrevestor.

During the pilot project, Judy Intelligence will work with partners B-Side Group, Ignite Atlantic and Middleton Group to refine the platform. The platform, also named Judy Intelligence, will help businesses identify qualified candidates and showcase job opportunities. It will also leverage labour market trends, employer needs and candidate profiles to create optimal matches, as well as offer personalized recommendations and real-time advice to job seekers on creating effective resumes and cover letters. New Canadians will find tailored information about their potential community including housing options, local amenities, schools and professional networks. The platform will include an augmented reality feature that allows candidates to virtually explore job sites and the local lifestyle before relocating.

Morka said the platform is powered by a proprietary Artificial Emotional Quotient (AEQ) Engine. (AEQ Engines are designed to respond empathetically to human needs.)

He said the emotional, human element is often overlooked especially when it comes to AI. “It’s important to teach AI about us, how to care for us," he said.

“It’s about the young nurse starting over in a new town. The local business owner searching for someone who just gets it. The rural community doing everything it can to hold on to its future. These stories aren’t just about filling roles, they're about finding belonging, building trust, and creating the kind of future we all deserve,” he stated on LinkedIn.

Early implementation will focus on Nova Scotia’s Pictou and Southwest Nova regions. In time, Judy aims to create a sustainable pathway for long-term revitalization in similar communities across Canada and globally.

Originally from Nigeria, Morka has previously worked in big cities in China, and U.K. After finishing his undergraduate degree in International Relations at 19, he aimed to live and work on four continents before turning 30. The business he is creating on his fourth continent, currently has seven staff and will soon be hiring more, including AI engineers, interns and rural graduates. Last year, the company took part in Accelerate, Invest Nova Scotia’s program for pre-market startups.

Judy Intelligence is named for Morka’s mother, a community-loving, hard-working entrepreneur in the hospitality and retail sectors who taught him a great deal, and who he wanted to recognize for being “an all-round good person”.

Founders, Investors Present at Tribe

Four startups led by underrepresented founders presented at an event at Tribe on Friday, telling their stories of resilience and rising sales to a group of community members.

Tribe, which supports BIPOC entrepreneurs and members of other underrepresented groups, hosted an afternoon event that featured panel discussions with both entrepreneurs and investors.

In the first panel session, Tribe Chair Savior Joseph led a discussion with representatives of four investment firms: Rhiannon Davies of Sandpiper Ventures; Lise Birikundavyi of BKR Capital; Nicholas Brathwaite of Celesta Capital; and Amoye Henry of FoundHers Lab. These investors delved into what they look for in entrepreneurs that they invest in, such as domain knowledge, coachability and a level of self-confidence that does not reveal arrogance.

Brathwaite, a graduate of Ontario universities who has spent his career in Silicon Valley, said it can be hard striking the balance between confidence and cockiness. “It’s especially hard for underrepresented entrepreneurs,” he said. “Sometimes you feel that, ‘If I display my vulnerability it might be interpreted as if I’m not very confident.'"

The investor session was followed by a panel discussion led by Tribe CEO Alfred Burgesson with the CEOs of four enterprises, which featured:

Aruna Revolution

CEO Rashmi Prakash

Halifax

Aruna is a women-led fibre-tech company that makes compostable products from plants, and is best known for its compostable hygiene products for women. It is tackling the environmental impacts of traditional hygiene products, which contribute to global waste, water pollution, and soil degradation, the company said in a recent press release.

Earlier this year, Prakash appeared on CBC’s Dragons’ Den, and agreed to sell one quarter of the company to Dragons Michele Romanow and Manjit Minhas for $300,000.

Lab 4 Inc

Nifemi Oguntuase

Halifax

Formed by mining engineers, Lab 4 hopes to offer sustainable access to key minerals through lithium-ion battery recycling.

ScanSolve AI

Collins Chukwuma

St. John’s

ScanSolve is an educational cellphone platform powered by AI and machine learning, dedicated to making education accessible, engaging, and personalized for all. It allows students to scan problems and understand how to find the answer. Chukwuma told the audience that it now has 2 million users and hopes to have a web-based product launched this year.

Clean Valley Tech

Founder Nicholas LaValle

Dartmouth

Founded in 2018, Clean Valley has developed technology for growing algae in wastewater from land-based aquaculture pens. The algae can then be fed to oysters, after which the now-filtered water is circulated back into the pen. The algae- and oyster-growing systems are each housed in 20-foot shipping containers.

Elle, MD Biotechnologies Wins NBIF Contest

Jennifer Johnston of Elle, MD and Jeff White of NBIF

Jennifer Johnston of Elle, MD and Jeff White of NBIF

Jennifer Johnston, Founder of Elle, MD Biotechnologies, has won this year’s Fueling Female Founders Pitch Competition run by Fredericton-based New Brunswick Innovation Foundation.

Johnston is a family physician and assistant professor at Dalhousie University School of Medicine. In 2022, she founded Elle, MD in New Minas, NS. The company focuses on enhancing reproductive autonomy by developing a safe, user-controlled contraceptive that’s free from pain, procedures, and hormones.

The contest was held at the Atlantic Venture Forum in Halifax and awards a prize package that includes:
➡️ The opportunity to enter due diligence with NBIF for a $100,000 equity investment;
➡️ A potential matching due diligence opportunity with Invest Nova Scotia;
➡️ Sponsorship from The Firehood Women in Tech Network;
➡️ And 10 hours of one-on-one coaching with Rivet sales agency.

The other contestants, all pre-seed, were:

Theranib Inc. – Paola Marcato is working on improving cancer care through precision ALDH1A3 therapies (Halifax)
Lab 4 Inc. – Nifemi Oguntase is working in critical minerals processing and engineering technology (Dartmouth) 
RustSense – İlknur Tekin Bayhan is using smart corrosion monitoring to prevent damage before it starts (Fredericton) 
Urai AI Corp. – Shanthi Shanmugam is developing a platform to make AI agent creation effortless for businesses and developers (Fredericton).

“We recognize that women still face barriers to accessing capital — and that the rise of femtech and female-led innovation isn't reaching all investors,” NBIF stated on LinkedIn.

“Even within our own portfolio, we know there’s more work to do … This pitch competition is a platform for female founders in Atlantic Canada to present their bold, innovative companies to the venture community."

Aurea’s Shine Turbine Wins 2025 HardTech Award

Dartmouth-based Aurea Technologies has won a 2025 HardTech Award for its portable Shine Turbine. The recognition comes from Vancouver-based MistyWest, a product development firm focused on sustainability.

Aurea, which has just celebrated eight years in operation, was nominated by crowdfunding site KickStarter after pre-selling $407,000 of revised product in September last year. Aurea raised over 13 times its goal two weeks after opening its Kickstarter campaign for the next generation of its portable wind turbines.  The campaign to fund production of Shine 2.0 originally had a target of $30,000, but Aurea received $407,000 worth of pre-orders for more than 600 units.

“We saw a really great reaction to the original product, but what we were continuously hearing from our first round of customers was how they wanted certain upgrades and changes made to the product,” Adalay told Entrevestor at the time.

Co-founders Adalay and Rachel Carr launched the original Shine Turbine on Kickstarter in 2021. The device is small and light enough for easy transport, at three pounds. It is capable of functioning in a wide range of weather conditions, anywhere from 0 to 40 degrees Celsius and with wind speeds of between 8 and 28 miles per hour. It incorporates a 12,000 mAh internal battery, which can be charged ahead of time.

The changes incorporated with Shine 2.0 include a USB-C charging port to comply with new European Union regulations, an app that can display real-time telemetry from the turbine via a Bluetooth connection, such as its battery state and the estimated wind speed, and an increase in the power output to 50 watts from 40. The revised charging port can also transfer power about five times faster than the original Shine port.

“People also wanted different options for mounting (the turbine),” said Adalay. “The biggest one being they wanted to set it up taller from the ground, so it can overcome wind disruptions such as brush and mounds. So, we’ve developed a mount accessory that will enable a turbine to be put higher above the ground.”

Shine 2.0 will initially launch in Canada, the United States and Europe, as did the original Shine Turbine.

To date, Aurea has raised $5 million in funding, not counting crowdfunding pre-sales.

The HardTech Awards celebrated a total of 20 engineers and designers involved in commercialized hardware innovation. 

Adalay credited Aurea’s team with the award.

“This milestone isn’t just about the hardware - it’s about the brilliant, passionate people behind it who have worked tirelessly to turn the Shine Turbine into a product that empowers people with portable, renewable energy,” she said.
 

Disclosure: Cat Adalay is the daughter of the founders and owners of Entrevestor. 
 

3DBioFibR closes $3M Funding Round

3DBioFibR CEO Kevin Sullivan

3DBioFibR CEO Kevin Sullivan

Halifax-based natural materials company 3DBioFibR has closed a $3 million funding round to help it to scale up its manufacturing capacity to meet soaring demand for next-generation biomaterials.

The company issued a statement Tuesday saying the participants in the round included new investor AoA Innovation Fund (part of the Seattle-based Alliance of Angels), as well of returning investors Build Ventures, Invest Nova Scotia, and Concrete Ventures.

3DBioFibR was founded in 2020 by CEO Kevin Sullivan and Chief Scientific Officer John Frampton, a biomedical engineering professor from Dalhousie University. The company has developed a process to produce industrial quantities of collagen fibres, which are the tough, flexible protein fibers that make up connective tissues throughout the body.

“This investment fuels the next phase of our growth,” said Sullivan in the statement. “It enables us to meet growing demand from our commercial partners and to become a qualified supplier for regulated medical and therapeutic applications.”

He added it will help to fund the company’s ISO 13485 certification, which is a key step in delivering clinical-grade fibers at the scale and consistency its partners require.

The round announced Tuesday is the first funding deal the company has closed since July 2023, when it secured an equity-and-debt round totalling $3.5 million, led by Invest Nova Scotia and Build Ventures.

The statement said the current round has come about as 3DBioFibR recently signed a string of paid partnerships and collaborations across key sectors—including tissue engineering, medical devices, defense, cosmetics, and apparel, with several multinational corporations.

“3DBioFibR has accomplished something rare, translating cutting-edge biomaterials science into real commercial traction,” said Patrick Keefe, General Partner at Build Ventures. “They’ve partnered with serious players in global industries and built a manufacturing platform that can deliver fibers at a scale and quality the market hasn’t seen before. This team is setting the benchmark in biopolymer fiber manufacturing, and we’re proud to support their journey.”

The company’s proprietary dry-spinning platform enables the production of fibers from a wide range of biopolymers, with performance metrics that meet or exceed natural tissue strength by two to three times, said the statement. Compared to conventional techniques like wet spinning and electrospinning, 3DBioFibR's process delivers material at over 3,600 times the scale, with vastly improved uniformity and cost-efficiency, it said.

“As an early investor in 3DBioFibR, Invest Nova Scotia has been active with the company throughout its growth into a unique business that offers novel and unparalleled manufacturing potential for biopolymer applications, representing multibillion-dollar market opportunities,” said Lidija Marušić of Invest Nova Scotia. “With this latest investment, Invest Nova Scotia looks forward to seeing 3DBioFibR achieve their objectives.”

How Long Before Atlantic Canada has a Cluster of Unicorns?

For years, the ambition of the Atlantic Canadian startup community has been to produce a unicorn. Now, it’s worth asking whether it’s too soon to talk about developing a cluster of unicorns on the East Coast within a few years.

The fact is we’re a lot closer to having a group of unicorns than many people realize. There are a few companies in the startup community that could cross the threshold in the coming years.

Of course, as we saw with Meta Materials – which was valued at several billion dollars when it listed on the Nasdaq but later failed – even becoming a unicorn on paper is no guarantee of success. But here are some companies that should be in the discussion.

Verafin

The Atlantic Canadian startup community for years aspired to produce a unicorn, and realized that dream in 2020 when St. John’s-based Verafin exited for US$2.75 billion. Verafin is still the undisputed Atlantic Canadian unicorn because we don’t need to mince words in the definition. It is a US-dollar unicorn. It was still owned and operated by its founders when it sold for billions. And it continued to grow within St. John’s after its exit.

BioVECTRA

The Charlottetown-based pharmaceutical manufacturer became a unicorn of sorts when it was sold to California’s Agilent Technologies in 2024 for US$925 million, or C$1.27 billion. The founders sold the company for $100 million in 2013, then it was sold twice after that. Most of the capital gains were booked by the groups that bought the company in 2013 and 2019. However, the BioVectra story demonstrates that a billion-dollar company in the healthcare industry can be developed in Atlantic Canada.

CarbonCure Technologies

In July 2023, Dartmouth-based CarbonCure closed a venture capital round worth US$80 million, or C$105.7 million at the time. The company did not release the valuation so we have no idea whether the deal valued CarbonCure at more than C$1 billion. It’s possible. And the company continues to grow. The company said just this week that it has captured almost 600,000 metric tons of carbon within the concrete produced with its technology.

Kraken Robotics

St. John’s-based Kraken Robotics, a publicly listed company that specializes in next-generation sonar systems and unmanned platforms to carry them, has a market capitalization (the total value of all its shares) of $654 million. To become a unicorn, the shares would have to increase by about 50 percent, or it would have to issue more stock, or some combination of the two. For what it’s worth, Kraken’s share price increased 151 percent in the 12 months to June 4.

Radian6/Q1 Labs

There was so much cross-fertilization between these two Fredericton companies that exited in 2011-12 that we're going to treat them as a unit. The social media monitoring company Radian6 was purchased for US$326 million, and the cybersecurity pioneer Q1 Labs was reported to have sold for more than $600 million. So let's call them a unicorn, as author Gordon Pitts did in his book Unicorn in the Woods. Sadly, these operations are no longer present in the region.  

Could another company surprise us one day with an announcement that it had sold out for a ten-figure windfall?

Halifax-based Dash Social, the social media management company formerly known as Dash Hudson, was named the Business of the Year at the Halifax Chamber of Commerce’s 2025 Halifax Business Awards. It has more than 200 employees and growing. It’s getting unicornish.

Site 20/20 of Dartmouth has made the Deloitte Fast 50 for two years running. placing 31st on the list of meteoric Canadian startups in 2024, with revenue growth of 686 percent in the past four years. The company, which makes automated traffic lights for construction crews, closed a venture capital round in August. The total of this round was not revealed publicly, but we believe it was the largest VC round of the year in the Atlantic region.

Then there could be the company that surprises us – someone who had quietly been doing remarkable things and caught a hot market. Stay tuned.

About the Atlantic Canada Startup Data report

This article was adapted from a section in our 2024 Atlantic Canada Startup Data Report. For 11 years, we have produced the Atlantic Canada Startup Data report, documenting the size of the startup community and following such metrics as revenues, employment and funding. We compile the data based on confidential surveys completed by CEOs and interviews with the companies. You can download the report here.

Region’s Leading Startups Drove Growth in 2024

CoLab Software CTO Jeremy Andrews, left, and CEO Adam Keating

CoLab Software CTO Jeremy Andrews, left, and CEO Adam Keating

One of the main stories we highlighted in our recent 2024 Atlantic Canada Startup Data report was the strong performance shown by the region’s leading startups.

While sounding alarm bells about the dearth of early-stage funding, our 11th startup data report also stressed that the region’s Elite and Scaling startups accounted for most of the community’s funding and revenue growth.

While we have specific criteria for Elite and Scaling companies, it might help just to think of Elite companies as those that have raised or could raise a Series A round, whereas Scaling companies are like fast-growing seed-stage companies.

For 2024, we had a group of 58 Elite startups in our databank, a net increase of two companies. Our tally of Scaling companies fell by nine from the previous year, for a total of 25. We should emphasize that these 83 exemplary companies represent about 11 percent of the total number of startups in the region, a higher proportion than we’ve ever seen.

Elite Startups

The most striking feature of the Elite startups is their revenues – not their revenue growth, but simply the absolute totals. When we surveyed these startups, 21 of the 58 startups gave us their full revenue information, and collectively they brought in $104 million in revenue, or an average of more than $5 million.

Admittedly, the revenue growth overall is modest at 18 percent, but these companies began 2024 with high revenue levels already. Though we can’t divulge the contents of the surveys, we can say that some Elite companies revealed strong revenue growth.

Take for example the two Atlantic Canadian companies that were named to the 2024 Deloitte Fast 50 list. The Moncton-area fintech company WeyMedia, which is best known for its CreditcardGenius product, was named to the Fast 50 for the first time. It was the 46th fastest-growing company in the country over the four-year period with revenue growth of 431 percent.

Dartmouth-based Site 20/20 placed 31st on the list of meteoric Canadian startups in 2024, with revenue growth of 686 percent in the past four years. It was the second year in a row that Site 20/20 made the list. In 2023, it captured sixth place on the back of remarkable 2,392 percent revenue growth over four years.

Turning to funding, this group raised $126.5 million. They were led in 2024 by CoLab Software of St. John’s raising US$21 million and the C$11 million round by its neighbour Mysa Smart Thermostats. We were struck by the number of major funding rounds that were not reported publicly, and that we learned of only when we received completed surveys.

Female executives play a strong role in the Elite group of companies as 15 (or 26 percent) are led by women. That’s a much stronger weighting than the startup community overall. Conversely, there is less representation of immigrant CEOs or founders, as 19 companies (or one-third) are led by newcomers.

Scaling Startups

The Scaling category is always interesting because it’s a snapshot of the companies that have just hit the corner of the hockey stick. They’re suddenly in growth mode, and the revenue gains can be striking. Then after a year or two they either progress to the Elite category, are bought out, or fade back into the general population.

While some Scaling companies from 2023 graduated to the Elite category in 2024, others failed, exited or left the region. And we could only find six new Scaling companies to replace them. Furthermore, we’re concerned that there doesn’t appear to be a wave of new Scaling companies that we’ll be able to add to the list next year.

One thing we can say with certainty is that several of the 2024 batch of Scaling startups will move up to the Elite section. The reason for this is that the companies in this category reported revenue growth of 181 percent on a weighted average.

Six of them reported growth of more than 100 percent. Three of them more than tripled their revenues.

The Scaling category produced equity funding of $13.7 million, a steep fall from $31 million a year earlier, no doubt attributable to the reduced number of companies in the category.

The largest funding round in this group was booked by Dieppe, NB-based Triple Hair, which is aiming to treat Androgenetic Alopecia, a type of genetic hair loss. It raised a venture capital round worth $4 million.

About the Atlantic Canada Startup Data report

For 11 years, we have produced the Atlantic Canada Startup Data report, documenting the size of the startup community and following such metrics as revenues, employment and funding. We compile the data based on confidential surveys completed by CEOs and interviews with the companies. You can download the report here.

Niven Steps Down as CarbonCure CEO

Robert Niven and Kristal Kaye

Robert Niven and Kristal Kaye

Founder Robert Niven has stepped down as CEO of CarbonCure Technologies. The company has named Chief Financial Officer Kristal Kaye as Interim CEO.

The Dartmouth-based company issued a statement Monday saying Niven – who founded the company forerunner Carbon Sense Solutions in 2007 – will remain involved as a board member. The current CarbonCure company launched in 2012.

Under Niven’s leadership, CarbonCure has become one of Canada’s leading cleantech startups, winning US$8 million in the NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE in 2021. In 2023, it closed a US$80 million funding round, whose investors included Breakthrough Energy Ventures, backed by Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg and other multi-billionaires.

“Everyone at CarbonCure feels deep gratitude to Rob for his pioneering carbon utilization innovation for lower carbon concrete and his tireless dedication to CarbonCure over the past 13 years, with many years of research and development before that,” Kaye said in the statement. “Stepping into this interim role, I am eager to carry Rob’s legacy forward, and our entire team remains committed to that mission, our core values and the success of our concrete producer partners around the world.”

With 22 years of executive leadership across a variety of industries, including mining, energy and retail pharmacy, Kaye brings to the Interim CEO position extensive experience in corporate strategy and financial management and a fresh perspective on the company’s near-term priorities, said CarbonCure.

The statement gave no indication of the process or timeline for selecting a permanent CEO.  

CarbonCure said its technologies allow concrete producers to unlock new revenue streams and cut cement costs.  CarbonCure sells technology to inject carbon dioxide into concrete, sequestering it and strengthening the end product. Concrete is the second most abundant man-made material in the world. And cement, its key ingredient, is responsible for an estimated 7 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.

"Founding and leading CarbonCure has been the honour of a lifetime, and I’m immensely proud of what we’ve achieved together,” Niven said. “From our award-winning innovations and strong industry partnerships to our lasting climate impact, none of it would have been possible without the extraordinary talent, passion and dedication of our team.

“Stepping back from day-to-day leadership of a company I love—one that has shaped so much of my life and career—was not an easy decision. But I’m very glad to continue serving on CarbonCure’s Board and supporting its ongoing success with full confidence in Kristal’s leadership."

Over the past decade, CarbonCure has licensed hundreds of its carbon dioxide injection systems to concrete producers across more than two dozen countries, permanently mineralizing and reducing nearly 600,000 metric tons of CO2 while supplying 8.8 million truckloads of CarbonCure concrete.

MedReddie Partners with HealthPRO Canada

Kara LeBlanc, Founder of MedReddie,

Kara LeBlanc, Founder of MedReddie,

Saint John-based healthcare procurement company MedReddie has signed a partnership with HealthPRO Canada, which connects healthcare teams to the supplies and solutions they need to care for Canadians.

The collaboration combines MedReddie’s AI technology with HealthPRO Canada’s national sourcing expertise to improve how products and services are sourced, delivering faster, smarter, and more clinically informed decisions for members, and greater clarity and speed for suppliers. 

“From the start, our vision at MedReddie was to reimagine healthcare procurement with AI—not to replace human expertise, but to amplify it,” said Kara LeBlanc, Founder of MedReddie, in a statement.

“Our partnership with HealthPRO Canada proves what’s possible when innovation meets scale. Together, we’re not just speeding up procurement—we’re making it more intelligent, equitable, and impactful for all stakeholders.” 

The partnership aims to: reduce procurement timelines by over 50 percent, saving more than 250 hours per project; generate hundreds of tailored, clinically relevant questions in seconds, producing sourcing documents that are detailed, accurate, and aligned with frontline needs; and provide members with real-time market intelligence, refreshed clinical data, and automated tools that support value-based decision-making.  

“From the moment we began the first beta trial, it was evident this platform would revolutionize our process,” said Nicola Raycraft, Director of Customer Experience – Strategic Sourcing at HealthPRO Canada. “The efficiency gains for our team, including reduced processing time and improved accuracy, have been undeniable.” 

Last month, MedReddie entered the Roux Institute Future of Healthcare Founder Residency in Maine. The program aims to accelerate the growth of digital health, healthcare technology, biotech, and clinical innovation startups. Last July, MedReddie raised a $782,000 pre-seed round and announced its expansion in Canada and the U.S. hospital market.

It followed the company’s acceptance into Google’s startup accelerator for female founders.

Veristart Chosen for VivaTech 2025

St. John's -based Veristart, which is improving the security around using construction equipment, has been selected as one of five global winners of the EDF Startup Challenge and will present at Viva Technology 2025.

EDF (Électricité de France) is recognizing startups that are redefining health and safety in high-risk environments, and has invited Veristart to Paris to meet with EDF and showcase how its access control platform can help make jobsites safer, more secure, and more efficient.

The conference is billed as Europe's biggest startup and tech event that accelerates innovation by connecting startups, tech leaders, major companies, public institutions, and investors responding to our world’s biggest challenges.

Founded by entrepreneurs Craig Hannam, Lou Lawrence and Ajay Pande, Veristart makes technology for creating digital keys to construction equipment, solving the security problem that results because each vehicle of a given model usually has an identical physical key. Operators use their phone to “log in” to equipment, allowing their employers to implement access controls.

Veristart has also been included in trade publication BuiltWorlds’ list of its Top 50 tools and equipment for 2023, and before that, was part of the Spring 2023 cohort of San Francisco construction tech accelerator Formwork Labs, also backed by BuiltWorlds.
 

East Coast Startups Pitch at Global Tech Event

Vergo Founder Christian Browne

Vergo Founder Christian Browne

Atlantic Canadian founders were among the hundreds of international entrepreneurs chosen to pitch to investors at the recent Web Summit Vancouver.

Web Summit started in Ireland in 2009, and last month’s conference was the first time the Web Summit had been held in North America.

The four-day event saw thousands of entrepreneurs and investors in Vancouver. Organizers said the event saw more than 650 investors, from angels to the leading international VC firms and more than 1,100 vetted startups across pre-seed to Series A, B and beyond.

Participating startup Vergo has launched an artificial intelligence-enabled app aimed at reducing workplace injuries through better ergonomic practices.

Founder Christian Browne told Entrevestor the Halifax-based company hadn’t been actively seeking investment at Web Summit but instead focused on building connections with organizations in the western region, particularly safety associations, industry associations, workers' compensation boards, and those in sectors like manufacturing and construction.

“We were fortunate to connect with exactly the types of organizations we were hoping to meet—many of which would’ve been difficult to engage with had we not been in Vancouver,” said Browne.

The other East Cost attendees included:

Nova Scotia (Organized by Invest Nova Scotia)

  • ImmigrateAI Global - an AI platform that streamlines immigration applications while reducing the refusal risk with lawyer-designed, AI-driven tools.
  • HealthEMe Inc. - a self-help chronic illness management platform supporting patients with evidence-based tools pre, during and post care.
  • Carelynk Inc - an AI-powered marketplace directly connects healthcare providers with pre-vetted staff, bypassing traditional agencies.
  • SKILLCONNECT - uses AI to analyze role requirements, company culture, business needs and goals, matching startups with candidates primed to thrive in any environment.
  • AIR Resilience - revolutionizing workplace wellness, AIR’s BrainGym platform equips employees with mental fitness tools to prevent burnout before it starts.
  • BIBLIOgifting (BIBLIOnomics Inc.) - BIBLIOgifting helps professionals build relationships through AI-powered, personalized book gifting.
  • Commons Social Network - brings people together through events, empowering organizers and rewarding users for social engagement.
  • Gia - an AI-powered, all-in-one growth platform for the next generation of consulting firms and agencies.
  • Hivo - a community-focused workspace booking app, Hivo uses AI to connect remote workers with flexible, local workspaces.
  • iFormit Solutions Inc. - retrofits utility meters into smart devices for AI-driven grid stability, demand response, real-time energy insights and carbon footprint tracking.
  • Myomar Molecular - a breakthrough urine test from Myomar predicts muscle health, revolutionizing care for muscle degeneration.
  • RealMeta - enriches visitor engagement using AI powered location based augmented reality and immersive 3D virtual tours on mobile devices.
  • BlueGrid - enables those electrifying marine vessel operations to optimize up-front and life-time energy costs, vessel-to-grid revenue, and greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Hermetik Trading Technologies Inc. - delivers machine-learning insights for digital asset investments, helping traditional investors navigate crypto.
  • MOC BIOTECHNOLOGIES - builds AI-driven bioreactors and 4D bioprinting systems to speed up drug development and regenerative medicine.
  • TrainAi - an app that delivers custom workouts and meal plans using AI and image recognition to support beginner fitness journeys.
  • Train With Us - a social fitness app that matches users with workout partners and connects them to events in their community.

Newfoundland and Labrador (Organized by Genesis)

  • Hadamard AI - Uses AI to help the legal community conduct research.
  • NDITIVE -  Aiming to revolutionize industrial environments through pioneering sensor technology and the industrial metaverse. 
  • ScanSolve - An innovative educational platform powered by AI and machine learning, dedicated to making education accessible, engaging, and personalized for all.
  • Owlya - An AI question generator instructors can use to create advanced questions that better evaluate a test-taker's knowledge in a particular skill.
  • Bookinghook - Aims to provide the simplest way to manage direct bookings for your vacation rental.

Meet our Rookie All-Stars

Retellio Co-Founders Brent Pretty and Andrea King

Retellio Co-Founders Brent Pretty and Andrea King

Each year in our Atlantic Canada Startup Data report, we present a roster of Rookie All-Stars, highlighting the more promising first-year startups in the region.

We admit it’s always the most subjective part of the report. We never have the metrics for idea-stage or pre-seed companies that we’d need in order to flag the true rising stars. We identify companies through competitions and our reporting but we find it hard to judge the new ventures.

For example, Halifax-based Sound Blade was founded in 2023, but wasn’t mentioned among the Rookie All-Stars in our last report. But in January 2025, the company closed a US$16.5 million (C$23.8 million) Series A funding round. Obviously, this company should have been named in our report last year.

Here is our all-star roster for 2024 (and apologies if a few of these founders were working on the companies before Jan. 1, 2024):

Atlantiq AI (Jarbiz)

St. John’s

Nurul Bin Ibrahim

Atlantiq AI sells AI “employees” for small businesses that need to fill staffing gaps, but prefer not to hire a full-time employee. As of April 2024, the company had signed eight clients to its Jarbiz software, with letters of interest from about another 30. Atlantiq has gone through Propel’s Traction and Growth accelerator for scaling companies.

Cometrics

St. John’s

Ed Clarke

Ed Clarke’s first company Global Ad Source exited in 2018 for an undisclosed sum. He’s now back with a new company, joining a wave of repeat entrepreneurs in the region. Just as some startups monitor their clients’ social media performance, Cometrics can track all of a company’s public-facing communications. These include annual reports, sustainability documentation, paid advertising, social communications, etc.

Floqer

Halifax

Shivam Mahajan and Zak Ahmed

Floqer makes sales software that emphasizes automation and data analysis, such as via web scraping. The technology connects with a CRM, web data sources, and AI sales tools to build AI-powered sales funnels and do strategic account research. The company has been accepted into the Invest NS Accelerate program and Propel.

HappyBean

Prince Edward Island

Sandy Darrach-Leblanc and Aidan McGuire

HappyBean (whose corporate name is Innovate Accounting) is an AI-driven platform streamlining CRA business tax filing and payment. The company has joined Propel’s Validation program.

Retellio

St. John’s

Brent Pretty and Andrea King

Founded by veterans of Verafin, Retellio uses AI agents to monitor companies’ sales calls and cull the most relevant statements made by clients. It packages these statements into customized podcasts that company employees can listen to to gain a deeper understanding of what clients are saying. In its first year, the company closed a $1.3 million equity funding round.

SalesMVP Lab

West Hants, NS

Daniel Hebert

Hebert aims to help founders generate sales by building their own repeatable sales systems. It is intended specifically for founders, not sales reps. The company lists more than half a dozen startups on its website that it is already working with.

SeafarerAI

Saint John

Ian Wilms

SeafarerAI’s technology uses sophisticated sensor networks, AI and data analytics to help small ports adapt to climate change and develop sustainable practices. In September, it was chosen to lead a $964,000 Ocean Supercluster project to use AI in port dredging.

Statolith

Lunenburg

Alastair Jarvis

Headed by another serial entrepreneur, Statolith is developing a platform on which advanced carbon removal technologies and sustainable forestry practices are seamlessly integrated, ensuring a thriving, resilient ecosystem. Jarvis was previously a co-founder of WoodsCamp Technologies, which helped woodlot owners manage their lands responsibly. It was acquired by Washington, DC-based American Forest Foundation for an undisclosed sum in 2018.

Fueling Female Founders Finalists Announced

Fredericton-based New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF) has revealed the five female-led companies selected as finalists for the Fueling Female Founders Pitch Competition:

NBIF is hosting the second annual Fueling Female Founders Pitch Competition at the Atlantic Venture Forum in Halifax on June 4.

The selected founders will pitch in front of a panel of investors for their opportunity to enter due diligence with NBIF for up to $100,000 in equity investment. The selected companies are all in the pre-seed stage.

The five companies are:

  • Elle, MD Biotechnologies – Jennifer Johnston, MD is creating non-hormonal contraceptive solutions to empower users and protect health (New Minas, NS)
  • Theranib Inc. – Paola Marcato is working on improving cancer care through precision ALDH1A3 therapies (Halifax)
  • Lab 4 Inc. – Nifemi O. is working in critical minerals processing and engineering technology (Dartmouth) 
  • RustSense – İlknur Tekin Bayhan is using smart corrosion monitoring to prevent damage before it starts (Fredericton) 
  • Urai AI Corp. – Shanthi Shanmugam is developing a platform to make AI agent creation effortless for businesses and developers (Fredericton).

TechConnect Southeast Launching

An initiative designed to support newcomers and individuals facing barriers to employment in the tech sector is being launched by Moncton-based Venn Innovation and the McKenna Institute at University of New Brunswick.

TechConnect Southeast is designed for newcomers, underrepresented groups, and those lacking Canadian work experience. The program offers paid work placements, hands-on training, and one-on one mentorship.

“There is a significant gap in meaningful employment opportunities for new entrants and individuals facing barriers in the tech sector,” said Venn President and CEO Doug Robertson in a statement.

“These challenges include lack of Canadian work experience, lack of paid employment opportunities, the need for real-world technical skills and access to professional networks.”

TechConnect Southeast will launch on June 1, with Shannon McMackin, who has been playing a leadership role with the Civic Tech movement in the area, serving as Program Coordinator.

Profitual Closes $1M Round

Profitual, the Fredericton startup whose AI models help other startups master their financial projections, has closed a $1 million round of funding led by the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation.

Two-and-a-half years after its initial $1 million funding round, the financial intelligence startup raised its second round with a $370,000 contribution from NBIF. It also received $40,000 from the Chuck Fraser Fund, which supports startups launched by people associated with the University of New Brunswick. The rest of the money came from angel investors, who collectively accounted for most of the dollars raised.

“"We’re excited to invest in this promising New Brunswick-based fintech startup and to join a strong group of investors backing their growth," said NBIF President and CEO Jeff White.

Profitual’s software allows startup founders to upload the spreadsheets containing their financial projections to get an instant analysis of the stronger and weaker parts of their financial models. With the new funding, the company plans to build out new features so the product becomes valuable to more advanced companies.

“We’re planning on building out those reporting features so we can go after more mature startups as clients,” said CEO Raymond Fitzpatrick in an interview Monday. “We’re not looking to add people. The one thing I told our team when we closed the round was. ‘Let’s not add people; let’s get as efficient as we can.’”

A former director of finance and investments at NBIF, Fitzpatrick led a team that founded Profitual in 2022 and took the company to the NextAI accelerator in Montreal in 2024. On graduating from the accelerator, the instructors enthusiastically encouraged Fitzpatrick to raise a substantial round, targeting a round of $2 million or more.

When asked in the interview how he found the environment for raising capital when he was out looking for investment, Fitzpatrick quickly responded, “Horrible,” with a chuckle.

Starting last October, he began approaching investors with a goal of raising $1.5 million and had trouble convincing them the company merited that much investment. So early this year, Fitzpatrick, his team and advisers rethought the situation and decided to aim for a $500,000 round, targeting angel investors. This tack was so successful that Fitzpatrick doubled his amended target, closing with two-thirds of what he originally wanted.

Fitzpatrick added that the Profitual product resonates with angels because a lot of them grew their own businesses and wish they'd had something similar when they were starting out.

The underlying Profitual business is doing well, said Fitzpatrick. In the fiscal year that ended in November, revenues increased 33 percent and six months into the current year the company has about 100 paying customers. The seven-member team has been working on developing AI-driven features for the platform that will help clients with such tasks as onboarding customers and customer support. They are also producing automated reports that detail the analysis of startups’ financial projections.

“We’ve built a ton of new features,” said Fitzpatrick. “We’ve built a really good platform to provide a financial forecast that shows how a business is performing compared to its plan. It uses AI to help with the analysis on where they were on- and off-plan.”

Spark Nova Scotia Finalists Named

Spark Nova Scotia has announced this year’s finalists. The contest for rural and coastal high-potential, knowledge-based businesses is run in three regions — Cape Breton, North, and Southwest — and offers winners up to $50,000. Each geographical region functions independently, with its own applicant pool and local judges.

Each of the following finalists will pitch live at their regional events in June, where regional winners will be announced.

Southwest Region Finalists

AMP Hydraulics -- has designed a pressure driven fuel gauge for fishing boats, and is working on a livewell monitoring system for fishing boats.
Community Biofuels.-- has created value added product(s) known as releasing agents, which are compounds used in the asphalt and concrete industries.
Rink Fries -- is a mobile-first food ordering platform for rinks, arenas, and pop-up food spots. .
Stellar Futures -- is a Nova Scotia-based climate tech company delivering Impact-Based Forecasting and Warning SaaS. 
Valley Finder -- has developed a tool that increases the accuracy and efficiency of installing sheet metal roofing. 

 Best Western Bridgewater – June 10, 2025

North Region Finalists

Athlete Aid -- is a real-time injury management platform enabling athletes, coaches, and therapists to log, verify, and track injuries, assign rehab plans, and access analytics. 
LUUME Food Ingredients -- LUUME develops natural food colourants from fermented haskap berries. 
NetMethane -- the company's Integrated Methane Management Platform is a digital solution for landfill methane management. .
Pikl Sunglasses -- turns broken pickleballs into stylish, durable sunglasses for players and fans. 
Unibook -- is an AI-powered platform that enables faculty to create custom digital textbooks using open educational resources. 

IGNITE Atlantic, New Glasgow – June 11, 2025

Cape Breton Region Finalists

Following a tie in the scoring, six finalists will move forward in Cape Breton.

AceLign Golf -- is a credit card-sized golf tool aimed at helping new and experienced golfers with two of the biggest issues at tee-off: precision and alignment.
Artist Pilot -- is a musician’s career co-pilot blending AI-driven artist management, press tools, and branding support into one app.
ComplianceGuard AI -- is an AI agent that monitors Canadian federal and provincial regulations, executes compliance checks (GST/HST, payroll, PIPEDA), generates audit‑ready reports, and alerts SMEs to risks in real time. 
Harbour Pay gives organizations control of their entire payment lifecycle through a white-labeled, vertically integrated platform, combining embedded payments, with other digital assets.
Karyotica Labs – addresses global food and nutrition security to produce more and nutrient dense food through sustainable methods.
Porrima Technologies -- transforms abundant grass waste into high-performance, transparent, compostable laboratory consumables, including tubes, syringes, and containers.

Cape Breton Partnership, Sydney – June 12, 2025

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Angler Solutions Wins $50K Clean Energy Challenge

St. John’s-based Angler Solutions is the winner of the Clean Energy Infrastructure Optimization Challenge for its MESO (Model for Energy Systems Optimization), a software tool that integrates advanced geographic information system (GIS) mapping, environmental data, and scenario modelling to support informed decision-making when implementing renewable energy projects. 

“MESO enables smarter planning and decision-making for renewable energy projects, optimizing early-stage design and long-term reliability in remote and complex environments,". said Chad LaFitte, Manager of Innovation, Angler Solutions in a statement.

The clean energy challenge is run by national cleantech innovation and adoption accelerator, Foresight Canada, and econext, a non-profit that works to accelerate clean growth in Newfoundland and Labrador.

As the winners, Angler receives a $50,000 cash prize to advance their technology, connect with industry partners, and collaborate with econext to support the growth of Newfoundland and Labrador's green economy. 

The Challenge received numerous strong applications, including from runner-up Copsys, organizers said. St. John's-based Copsys’ Intelligent Digital Skin can remotely detect and accurately locate coating barrier failure in real time before corrosion can occur.

The statement said Newfoundland and Labrador is becoming a hub for clean energy production, thanks to its nearly 100 per cent renewable electricity grid, significant energy storage potential, untapped clean energy resources, existing port infrastructure, and a skilled workforce.

The company lists 16 staff on its website.

Solace, Innerlogic Pitched at NACO

Bryce Tully addresses investors at the NACO Summit

Bryce Tully addresses investors at the NACO Summit

Two of the 20 companies selected as Canada’s Top 20 Moonshot Ventures by NACO Canada hailed from Atlantic Canada – Mount Pearl, NL-based Solace Power and Halifax-based innerlogic.

When NACO – the National Angel Capital Organization – held its annual summit in Ottawa last month, it featured its 20 Moonshot startups, which got to pitch to investors at the conference. NACO revealed the names of these ventures earlier this month.

“These founders represent the bold ideas, entrepreneurial drive, and global ambition within Canada’s innovation economy,” said NACO Chief Executive Claudio Rojas in a statement. “The Moonshots Venture Showcase is designed to elevate the country’s most promising ventures by connecting them with the capital and networks they need to scale.”

Innerlogic Founders Bryce Tully and Mike Bawol were inspired to launch the Halifax-based company after working for Canada’s Olympic team, Tully as a mental performance consultant and Bawol as a data analyst. Their software is designed to replace cumbersome employee surveys with the more nuanced conversations with staff that are now possible thanks to AI, and then analyze the results for deeper insights about an organization’s culture.

It’s worth noting that innerlogic – a Techstars alum that raised $1.3 million last year – was nominated by Maple Leaf Angels of Toronto, showing that East Coast startups are having success drawing attention from funding groups outside the region.

Since starting at the Genesis Centre at Memorial University in 2007, Solace has grown into a global leader in delivering wireless electronic charging on an industrial level. It now holds 34 families of patents, meaning the patents for one piece of technology issued in several countries.

In January, that company said that Boeing, one of the world’s largest aircraft manufacturers, had committed $10.3 million to help Solace expand its capacity for making wireless charging products.

NBIF Plans Growth-Stage Fund

The New Brunswick Innovation Foundation has fleshed out the strategy it outlined three years ago to develop an integrated ecosystem for launching and financing startups in the province.

At the New Brunswick Startup Outlook in Fredericton on Tuesday, the organization’s CEO Jeff White discussed its investment history and its strategy for the future. The outlook provided details of a strategy first revealed in November 2022.

It includes plans for a New Brunswick Growth Fund, which would invest in Series A rounds, and a provincial strategy for business accelerators and incubators, or BAIs. He also said NBIF would continue to invest in New Brunswick startups, both directly through its own VC funds and indirectly by backing other funds.

“We’re on a mission to stimulate the creation and growth of tech companies in our province – accelerating innovation, investing in New Brunswick tech companies, creating global impact,” said a slide accompanying White’s presentation.

The non-profit organization’s main mission is to oversee evergreen funds that back New Brunswick startups, and has focused largely on early-stage financing. In the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, NBIF invested a total of $4.2 million in 28 transactions for an average investment of $150,000.

To help growth-stage companies, the organization is working on the launch of the New Brunswick Growth Fund, which will invest in companies that have traction and need to raise multi-million-dollar rounds. The thinking is that if a New Brunswick body shows a willingness to participate in these rounds, it will make it easier for the province’s best companies to close Series A rounds. White said there is a gap in the ecosystem without such a fund.

The fund has been on the drawing board for a few years and White said NBIF will now begin to focus on it more.  It is working on a market-driven strategy to assess the size, timing, structure and participants of such a fund. It is designed to complement the strategy of direct early-stage investment, backing other funds and developing a network of BAIs.

As of the end of the 2024 fiscal year (the most recent data available), NBIF has invested $24 million in 42 companies, which have collectively raised $706 million from other sources.

“This does not include NBIF’s 17 exits which have generated hundreds of millions in capital investment – much of which has been reinvested back into the provincial economy, including a number of companies in NBIF’s current portfolio,” said NBIF.

White said his organization has also been mindful of the need to develop the pipeline of new companies, and it keeps data on new companies that appear on its radar each quarter. The organization was worried that it could find only three new companies in the first quarter of calendar 2024, but things improved with 54 new companies approaching NBIF in the final nine months of the year. In the first quarter of 2025, the foundation identified 23 new companies.

Sustane and Pyrovac Tackle Waste Plastic

Chester, N.S.-based Sustane Technologies and Quebec-based Pyrovac have begun a long-term, strategic alliance that grants Sustane exclusive access to Pyrovac’s advanced reactor and related technology for waste plastic processing.

Sustane pioneers advanced plastics upcycling and resource recovery from municipal solid waste. Using a patented process, Sustane transforms unsorted waste, including difficult-to-recycle plastics, into high-value products such as engineered plastics, renewable synthetic fuels, and recyclable materials. By diverting up to 90 per cent of waste from landfills, the company says it reduces greenhouse gas emissions and plastic pollution.

Pyrovac specializes in the development of advanced pyrolysis systems (the thermochemical decomposition of organic material without oxygen) that convert end-of-life biomass residues and waste plastics streams into high-value renewable fuels and chemicals.

The initial phase of the new agreement includes a contract valued at over $7 million for a two-reactor upgrade and expansion at Sustane’s Chester facility. 

“This inter-provincial partnership is significant on several levels. We’re combining cutting-edge, made-in-Canada technology with 30 years of world-class research and innovation to materially reduce waste plastic and create real economic value,” said Peter Vinall, CEO of Sustane Technologies. “Pyrovac’s deep scientific credibility and process engineering excellence make them the ideal long-term collaborator as together we expand our footprint nationally and ultimately globally.”

The new agreement represents the first commercial deployment of Pyrovac’s technology within Sustane’s circular plastic process.

In July last year, Sustane received a $950,000 funding package from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and used it to develop a system for converting plastic waste into naphtha — one of the constituents of gasoline and jet fuel, though the company plans to sell it for use in manufacturing new plastics.

Sustane itself began with technology developed by CTO Javier De La Fuente. He headed up the initial research in Spain to process landfill waste into biomass pellets with the help of steam. Then, in 2014, he launched the company in Nova Scotia with President Peter Vinall and CFO Robert Richardson.

Sustane opened its 40,000 square-foot Chester manufacturing plant in 2019. Other than the naphtha fuel, the company also manufactures biomass pellets, synthetic diesel and an organic fertilizer for which it has received Canadian Food Inspection Agency approval.

Ocean Startup Challenge Seeks Founders

The Ocean Startup Project has launched its latest Ocean Startup Challenge, inviting early-stage entrepreneurs to turn ideas into real-world impact by developing innovative solutions to ocean challenges.

The 2025 Challenge will support up to 15 early-stage Canadian startups (Technology Readiness Level 6 or lower) with up to $25,000 in non-dilutive funding, mentorship from industry experts, and comprehensive ecosystem support. It is open to science- and technology-based ventures working to solve pressing ocean problems.

“By investing in the development of early-stage entrepreneurs and building a thriving ecosystem, we’re not only creating world-class companies, we’re accelerating real solutions that protect ocean health, support sustainable industries, and power a stronger blue economy for Canada and the world,” said Natasha Legay, Ocean Challenge Director at Ocean Startup Project on LinkedIn.

Since launching in 2020, the Ocean Startup Project has helped innovators catalyze over $38 million in non-dilutive funding, more than $30 million in equity investment, and create more than 330 jobs across Canada, the group said.

Applications are open through July 20.

For more information on eligibility, upcoming information sessions or tips for submitting a strong application, visit here.

Data Report Reveals Challenging Environment for Startups

While the best startups in Atlantic Canada performed well in 2024, the region’s startup community overall witnessed declining numbers of companies and employees and a disturbing drop in early-stage funding.

These are the key findings of the 2024 Atlantic Canada Startup Data Report, launched today at an event in Fredericton, hosted by the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation. It was the most troubling Atlantic Canadian Startup Data report we have written since we began 11 years ago.

Overall, the Atlantic Canadian startup community is shrinking for the first time in recent memory. The overall number of companies in Entrevestor’s databank declined 7.2 percent to 757 companies, as we recorded 133 failures and only 118 company launches. We estimated total employment in the startup community was about 8,400 jobs at the end of 2024, compared with 9,100 a year earlier.

What’s striking is the poor funding results by early-stage companies. We examined companies launched in 2022, 2023, and 2024, and found that these 310 companies raised a total of only $6.2 million (of which $1.9 million came from founders) in 2024. Meanwhile, angel funding for all startups plunged to $13.2 million, down 29 percent from the previous year.

This challenging climate for fundraising is impacting the way startups are being mentored. Propel, for example, is encouraging startups in its programs to focus on generating early revenues to accrue development funds. Meanwhile, the advent of AI is producing the rise in “solopreneurs” – founders who can develop SaaS companies on their own with the assistance of AI agents.

Of course, the news around funding is not all bad. We found a total of $259.1 million in equity funding by innovation-driven companies in Atlantic Canada. It was a solid year of funding and within striking distance of the $265.8 million mark of 2023.

In the first five years of this decade, the region’s innovation-driven companies attracted more than $1.5 billion in investment capital. There were also 35 exits in that time frame, including Nasdaq’s acquisition of Verafin for the equivalent of C$3.6 billion. When we add equity funding and exits, we see that the innovation community has brought more than $5 billion in direct investment into the Atlantic Canadian economy so far in this decade.

The 2024 funding total included $71.8 million raised on the TSX Venture Exchange by St. John’s-based Kraken Robotics, which continues to grow strongly and may become the region’s next unicorn. It was one of several Newfoundland and Labrador companies that closed major funding rounds, including CoLab Software (US$21 million) and Mysa Smart Thermostats ($11 million). In total, Newfoundland companies raised $146.9 million. Dartmouth-based Site 20/20, named to the Deloitte Fast 50 for the second year in a row, closed a venture capital round in August. The total of this round was not revealed publicly, but we believe it was the largest VC round of the year in the Atlantic region.

These major funding deals are a reminder that the core of the startup community continues to perform well, in spite of the shrinking stock of companies and challenging pipeline. The 737 companies in our databank include 33 Established companies, 58 Elite companies and 25 Scaling companies. The Elite category (which aims for annual revenue of $2M+, equity funding since inception of $4M+ and/or 20+ employees) added a net three companies in 2024 to reach the largest number ever. Though we have fewer Scaling companies than the previous year, the Scaling companies that shared revenue data with us reported average revenue growth of 181 percent.

Overall, we found a continuation of a trend we saw in our previous report in which a core of about 120 companies are flourishing, and many of the others are struggling.

Other highlights of our report are:

o            The failed companies included some high-profile casualties, such as Meta Materials, once valued in the billions of dollars. Private companies like Saint John-based Millennia TEA and St. John’s-based Cyno, which we’d featured on Entrevestor because of their potential, are no longer operating.

o            We found that 2024 was a solid year for exits, with five companies being taken over by multinational corporations. They included such venerable companies as Halifax-based B4Checkin and Dartmouth-based Precision Biologic.

o            Companies led by females now account for almost one-quarter of the community, and these companies outperform the broader community in just about every metric but one: funding. Female-led companies, for example, increased revenues by 50 percent – double the rate of the community in total. Yet female-led companies only raised $29.7 million in capital, which amounted to 16 percent of total funding after publicly listed companies were stripped out.

o            In the three years we have been monitoring DEI metrics, we have found little improvement in the number of companies led by Black and Indigenous entrepreneurs. Black-led companies comprise 1.6 percent of the community, Indigenous-led companies 1.9 percent. These figures are little changed from three years earlier. 

o            The divergence between strong and weak companies is especially noticeable in New Brunswick. More than 13 percent of its companies were in the Elite or Scaling categories – a higher percentage than any other province. They included WeyMedia, best known for its CreditcardGenius product, which made the Deloitte Fast 50 with revenue growth of 431 percent over four years. But New Brunswick also suffered 39 failures and the total number of companies fell 12 percent.

The data for this report came from our daily reporting on Atlantic Canadian startups as well as our annual survey, which 119 startups completed.

CropMind Closes $500K Round

New Brunswick agtech company CropMind has closed a $500,000 funding round, led by the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation and BKR Capital.

CropMind was co-founded by Damilare O. Odumosu and Rilwan Shokunbi, both of whom are graduates of the Masters of Technology, Management and Entrepreneurship program at University of New Brunswick. They’ve developed a company that helps farmers of such crops as apples and grapes to predict early in the growing season what their total crop will be.

It means that harvesters and other players in the food supply chain have a good idea of what to expect in the autumn. The goal is to allow them to line up the proper staff and ensure they have the right capacity for shipping, packaging or bottling.

“This is a huge milestone for us,” said Odumosu in a LinkedIn post announcing the funding round. “We’re using this investment to scale our operations in New Brunswick, and launch pilot projects in Quebec and B.C.”

He added the company’s goal is simple: to give specialty crop growers the insights they need to grow more, lose less, and make smarter decisions.

Said NBIF in a post: “This funding will help the Fredericton-based company grow its NB operations, support local apple growers, launch pilot projects in Quebec and B.C., and bring new AI-powered tools—like disease detection and grape cluster estimation—to market.”

In an interview, Odumosu said the company has developed technology that lets growers use their cellphones to video their orchards or vineyards in the spring, when the plants are blossoming. This records the abundance of flowers on their trees or vines, which is an accurate predicter of the quantity of fruit they’ll have to harvest months later.

In a good-sized orchard, he said it can take a grower weeks to develop the needed data on blossoms early in the season. CropMind can complete the task in two days, said Odumosu.

As an example, he said one farmer in New Brunswick last year used the system by mounting his cell phone on a tractor, taking 200 photos in ten minutes. “We achieved a 90-percent-plus accuracy rates,” said Odumosu.

Now that the company has completed successful pilots, it intends to expand by holding other programs at 24 Canadian growing sites, hoping to convert them to paying customers once they witness the power of the technology.

As well as direct sales, CropMind is expanding through partnerships. For example, it signed a partnership in late December with Costa Mesa, Calif.-based AgTechLogic, a leader in precision spraying.

Through their time working in agtech, Odumosu and Shokunbi have noticed how few young people are running farms in Canada. So one mission of CropMind is to create digital tools that young people are comfortable using.

“We hope to encourage young farmers to find farming more attractive by using digital tools,” he said. “But also we want to help the older farmers to make their job easier.”

Atlantiq AI Receives Funds to Boost Software

Nurul Ibrahim, CEO and Co-Founder of atlantiq AI

Nurul Ibrahim, CEO and Co-Founder of atlantiq AI

St. John’s-based atlantiq AI has received a grant of $64,425 from Newfoundland and Labrador's Business Growth Program in support of its Jarbiz software.

Jarbiz is an AI-powered copilot for enterprise-use cases. The software helps workers tackle complex information challenges by automating time-consuming analysis and synthesis tasks.

“Think of Jarbiz as building a foundational intelligence layer capable of understanding and reasoning over complex, highly regulated enterprise data,” said Nurul Ibrahim, CEO and Co-Founder, in a press release.

The provincial funding will be used to launch a pilot program to refine the Jarbiz platform and prepare for a full product launch targeted at mid-sized enterprises. The money will also leverage $75,000 from other sources and $125,700 from the company for a total project investment of $265,125.

In an interview last year, Ibrahim, formerly a Memorial University physics student, told Entrevestor his goal is to automate tasks for which small employers would otherwise need expanded staffs. For example, atlantiq AI can conduct account research for salespeople, as well as manage digital marketing campaigns.

“I think that’s our unique proposition,” said Ibrahim who co-founded the company in 2023. “It’s not just about chat; it’s about actually getting things done."

Atlantiq's software interacts directly with systems such as email servers and customer relationship management software, with users entering their credentials via sign-in pages from platforms like Google.

The company currently employs eight people, including AI specialists and experienced business leaders, and has plans to hire two more upon completion of this project.

Once More, SMU Students Win Enactus National

For the second year in a row, students from Saint Mary’s University have been named Canada’s national champions in a countrywide competition. This means Saint Mary’s will represent Canada at the Enactus World Cup in Bangkok, Thailand, in September, competing against student teams from around the world.

Enactus Canada is a charity that focuses on inspiring post-secondary students to initiate and operate socially and environmentally positive enterprises. Currently, more than 2,000 students at over 76 campuses across the country are engaged in Enactus projects, the group has said.

The SMU team won at the Enactus Canada National Exposition, held this week at the Calgary TELUS Convention Centre, where more than 600 students from over 50 national post-secondary institutions showcased their work.

Underlying their success are two projects making a difference:

Square Roots fights food waste and hunger by rescuing “imperfect” produce and selling it affordably across Nova Scotia.

Alaagi offers a sustainable alternative to plastic packaging by turning seaweed into biodegradable wrap.

Region Raised $36M in Q1, Says CVCA

The recent difficulties in pre-seed and seed funding have continued into 2025 in both Atlantic Canada and the country as a whole, new data from the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA) indicates.

The national organization on Wednesday issued its statistics for the first quarter of 2025, and the report shows that Atlantic Canadian startups raised a total of $36 million via seven venture capital deals in the first quarter. The total funding is down slightly from a quarterly average of $44 million in 2024, but the concerning part of the report comes when we dive into the numbers.

The CVCA reported there were four deals worth $29 million in Nova Scotia, one deal worth $6 million on Prince Edward Island, and two rounds worth $1 million in New Brunswick. Though it had been the region’s hottest VC market in 2024, Newfoundland and Labrador reported no deals in the first quarter of 2025.

The numbers jive with two substantial fundings that we reported on in the first three months of the year. In January, Halifax-based medtech company Sound Blade Medical, which uses sonic energy to cut tissue, said it had closed a US$16.5 million (C$23.8 million) Series A funding round. Then in late March, Charlottetown’s PayTic, which modernizes payment operations for financial companies, closed a US$4 million ($5.7 million) extension of its seed round, backed by such investors as Build Ventures, Concrete Ventures and Island Capital Partners.

If we strip out these two multi-million-dollar deals, we’re left with just five deals worth a bit more than $6 million. There were two in New Brunswick averaging $500,000 each, and three in Nova Scotia worth an average of about $1.7 million each.

For a year or more, there have been concerns in the East Coast startup community that early-stage financing has been drying up. It will be one of the main themes in Entrevestor’s 2024 Atlantic Canada Startup Data report, which we will launch Tuesday morning at an event in Fredericton. In fact, the CVCA noted that pre-seed and seed funding are down across the country.

“Pre-seed activity declined quarter-over-quarter, reaching the lowest level of dollars invested in a single quarter since 2021,” said the report, which found $12 million of pre-seed funding. “Seed investment activity in Q1 2025 recorded the lowest number of deals closed in a quarter since 2020 and the third-lowest level of dollars invested since 2021.” The total seed investment for the quarter was $128 million.

For funding rounds of all sizes across Canada, the CVCA reported $1.26 billion being raised across 116 deals, matching the dollars invested in the first quarters of 2023 and 2024, but with fewer deals closed. It said five mega-deals accounted for $576 million or 46 percent of the total.

Portions of the report that pertained to Atlantic Canada included the observation that Halifax was the eighth most-active city in the country for VC, with three deals worth $25 million. Among the government VC funds, Invest Nova Scotia ranked No. 5 with three deals worth $1 million, while the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation was No. 6 with two deals worth $1 million.

Freshr Closes Seed Round

Freshr Founder and CEO Mina Mekhail

Freshr Founder and CEO Mina Mekhail

Halifax-based Freshr Sustainable Technologies, which makes all-natural food packaging, announced Tuesday that it has closed a seed round, with which it hopes to expand manufacturing and sales.

The company said in a press release that returning investor Invest Nova Scotia led the round, and was joined by: Diamond Edge Ventures, an investment arm of Mitsubishi Chemical Group of Japan; Nàdarra Ventures, the VC fund set up by Natural Products Canada; BDC Capital’s Climate Tech Fund; and Blue Tide Capital Ventures.

Freshr, which changed its name from Impactful Health R&D in 2023, has developed packaging that extends the shelf-life of such proteins as fish and shellfish by inhibiting bacteria that causes food to spoil. The company said its product, which is made from natural materials, offers environmental and economic benefits as global food waste each year costs $2.6 trillion in economic losses and produces 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

“Freshr has developed a novel technology with substantial potential for reducing food waste on a global scale,” said Jen Fuccillo, Investment Principal, Invest Nova Scotia. “By extending the shelf-life of fresh proteins, Freshr’s solution lowers the environmental impact of the food industry, extends freshness to enhance the quality of the food being consumed, and provides suppliers with precious extra time to reach market – all without added ingredients. This is a powerful value proposition.”

The provincial economic development agency had invested in the company twice before, including its participation in a $1.7 million round of dilutive and non-dilutive funding in 2022.

The company did not specify the size of the funding round, though it did say it was oversubscribed and at the “high end” of what’s commonly seen as a seed round. Seed rounds are commonly defined as those worth $500,000 to $5 million, according to some sources. Freshr said the latest round will allow it to ramp up manufacturing, convert existing partnerships into early revenue, expand its presence globally, and strengthen its business and engineering expertise.

The company’s flagship product is called FreshrPack, a proprietary coating made from naturally derived ingredients that inhibits spoilage bacteria and extends freshness. This advanced coating can be applied to various packaging films, including compostable, recycled, and recyclable materials. Designed to integrate seamlessly across the fresh food supply chain, FreshrPack is available in sheet, roll, and bag formats.

“Freshr’s naturally derived active packaging technology significantly extends the shelf life of high-value proteins, ensuring safer, fresher food while reducing waste at every stage of the supply chain,” said Malcolm Fraser, Managing Partner of Nàdarra Ventures. “By solving this issue in a new way, Freshr is not only cutting economic and social losses but also reshaping the future of sustainable food packaging.”

With an overriding goal of using advanced materials to eradicate food waste, Freshr said its vision is to deliver 500 million pounds of fresh proteins wrapped in FreshrPack technology by 2030. The company now employs 11 people full-time and plans to add its 12th employee in about a month, said a spokesperson.

“It is extremely validating that this round was oversubscribed,” said Freshr Founder and CEO Mina Mekhail in the statement. “We recognize the impact and influence of these investors and acknowledge the immense value in having investors who share our drive for global impact. They are critical to the company's strategic growth.”

CandidateHub Eyes $500K Round

CandidateHub Founder and CEO Brad DiPaolo

CandidateHub Founder and CEO Brad DiPaolo

Emerging from the Energia Ventures accelerator, Moncton-based recruitment automation startup CandidateHub.io is working on closing a pending investment round with a target of about $500,000.

In an interview following the Energia Demo Day, CandidateHub Founder and CEO Brad DiPaolo said the company is now going through due diligence with a potential lead investor for the round, and he hopes he will be able to close the round this summer. He added he is working with the Fredericton startup Profitual to determine the final target for the round. 

The reason for the optimism in a tough financing environment is the company has recently completed a year-long pilot project with a major Canadian health authority. The campaign to hire nurses and administrative staff has been producing the sort of results that should not only impress investors but also help the company attract more health authorities across Canada as clients.

“In one case, we ran a trade fair last summer with 200 students, who were close to graduation,” said DiPaolo in the interview. “We were able to get 89 nursing students on the [hospital] floor within a few months. It’s going to have a positive impact for healthcare.”

CandidateHub has developed software that helps employers – especially in the healthcare industry – streamline the hiring process. Its goal is to help employers hire the best candidate quickly, thereby saving money, and for applicants to have a more rewarding experience, whether or not they land the job.

The company was originally launched with the aim of letting employers peer into the “hidden talent market” — job-seekers who are eyeing a potential employer, but haven’t formally reached out. But the company’s software can also be used to sift through old data from applicant-tracking systems with the hope of reviving stale applications in a process called retargeting.

DiPaolo said the company has improved the functionality lately to let the users use artificial intelligence for such tasks as writing emails.

In streamlining the client’s job fair process, CandidateHub created a QR code so candidates could quickly find an application form and apply. These sorts of improvement increased the candidate response rate from 1 percent to 5 percent. The campaign collected information on each candidate, including their education and background, and made sure the right candidate met with the right recruiter. It saved the department 13 hours a week in labour, he said.

“The biggest thing for us is that we’re creating a much more positive experience for candidates,” said DiPaolo. “They’re not going into black holes; they’re getting responses. We’re making employers more attractive because the experience is more seamless for the candidates.”

DiPaolo and strategic advisor James Whitelock are still the only two staff members with the company, and the CEO said the first priority once it closes the round is to increase staff in sales and engineering.

Candidate hub was one of five companies accepted into the most recent cohort of Energia, the accelerator offered by the J. Herbert Smith Centre for Technology, Management and Entrepreneurship at the University of New Brunswick. DiPaolo said the program helped him to focus the business and prepare for investors.

“Having gone through the Energia program, we came out ready to raise,” he said. “It helped in creating a target list of investors. That program really put us where we needed to be to go out and knock on investors’ doors. We’re having much more success now.”

10 Deep Tech Startups Join ideaBUILD

Dalhousie University’s Emera ideaHUB has announced the launch of its Spring 2025 ideaBUILD cohort, welcoming 10 deep tech startups that are building solutions to improve global health.

The ideaBUILD accelerator helps deeptech startups develop and manufacture their products, providing funding, engineering expertise, and venture coaching. The program is designed to support startups developing hardware products from concept to operational prototype by offering tools and mentorship.

“Our Spring 2025 founders are tackling some of today’s most urgent challenges, from clean energy to medical devices and sustainable agriculture,” said Barrinique Griffin, Program Manager at the Emera ideaHUB. “At the Hub, our goal is to offer a rigorous, founder-centric program that supports the development of physical products with real-world impact.”

Participants will undego technical feasibility assessments, one-on-one coaching, and access to state-of-the-art prototyping facilities, the group said. Each team receives up to $10,000 in non-dilutive funding to support product development.

The new cohort includes:

Atlantic BioCorp – converts seafood shell waste into sustainable bioproducts using green technology, supporting the circular economy and supplying global cosmetics, nutraceutical, and industrial markets.

EmerAlt – is a sustainability-focused cutlery company, producing durable and affordable bioplastic alternatives for single-use utensils.

Equlantic – is developing the Auto Spec Carbon Analyser, a modular sensor that delivers real-time, high-precision carbonate system data to improve water measurement accuracy across industries.

Heat Pump Health – is developing a novel sensor that integrates with HVAC systems to monitor performance and upload data to the cloud.

Hydro Kars Inc. - develops hybrid conversion systems that enable heavy-duty trucks to run on hydrogen, reducing emissions and fuel costs while retaining diesel as a backup.

Nexcraft Mechanic - developing a compact, energy-efficient ventilator with precise airflow control and real-time synchronization, designed to improve respiratory support in critical, emergency, and home settings.

Poa Technologies Inc. – bringing the next generation of golf tech to the industry with flagship product, MARKR.

ReGrey –improves water access in stressed regions with its greyservoir hardware, which promotes grey water reuse and reduces waste from daily consumption habits.

SpectrAlign – creating a no-radiation imaging solution that improves spinal assessments and streamlines triage for back pain, aiming to make precision spinal care more accessible.

TapSync – TapSync is an eco-friendly, app-free Near Field Communication solution that delivers instant digital receipts, using AI and cloud tech to simplify expense tracking and eliminate paper waste.

Free AI program for Female Founders

Halifax-based ONSIDE is offering a free AI program for early-stage female founders with under $1 million in annual revenue and 1 to 10 employees.

Held in Halifax, the Early AI Adoption Lab is an in-person program designed to teach early-stage entrepreneurs practical AI skills.

"No tech jargon, no complex theories, just clear, actionable strategies you can put in place right away," the group said on LinkedIn.

Sessions will run from June 2 to June 25. Apply here by May 16.

 

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