Novarium, the Quebec bluetech support organization, has opened the first cohort of its Flots Pro accelerator, welcoming companies from across the province to the 12- to 18-month program.
Flots targets companies with a product in the market, helping them to navigate the early phases of scaling, such as gaining their first industrial clients. It aims to encourage successful strategies in companies that improve the environment and are commercially viable.
“This is not a bootcamp,” said the Flots website. “This is a long-term strategy designed to generate results.”
Also read our interview with Novarium Exec Amélie Desrochers.
These are the companies that have joined the 2023 program:
Whale Seeker, Montreal
Emily Charry Tissier, Founder and CEO
The company’s flagship product is Möbius, an AI tool that has been trained over the past four years with high-quality data sets that identify marine mammals. Möbius processes aerial images faster and more accurately than humans can then returns data in standardised form. This allows for meaningful comparisons across survey years and regions.
Read our most recent article on Whale Seeker.
DevOcean, Sherbrooke
Carl-Philippe Cyr Mercier, CEO and Co-Founder
DevOcean develops technological solutions for ropeless fishing that offer an eco-responsible alternative to traditional fishing equipment. The systems help to rehabilitate lucrative fishing areas of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, including those where such endangered species as right whales circulate.
M2Ocean, Rimouski
Kevin Wilson, President
M2Ocean specializes in non-traditional hydrographic solutions and oceanographic monitoring systems. Together with its research partner, the Centre Interdisciplinaire de Développement en Cartographie des Océans, and manufacturing partner, Multi-Electronique inc., the company designs, builds, and delivers both standard and customized equipment to the maritime community.
Sel Saint Laurent, Grandes-Bergeronnes
Manuel Bujold Richard, Founder
The company makes sea salt drawn from crystal-clear water found at a depth of over 200 meters in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This gives it a unique and delicate taste, less iodized than many other sea salts. Unlike salts from Europe that may contain plastic particles and even traces of coliforms, Sel Saint Laurent is pure.
Chasse-Marée, Rimouski
Emmanuel Sandt-Dugay and Guillaume Werstink
Chasse-Marée makes tinned preserves from seafood its team harvests from the St. Lawrence River. It sustainably catches under-harvested species, and uses them in recipes produced by its team of chefs. All its products are additive and preservative free.
TruxWeb, Montreal
Mathieu van Gent, CEO and Founder
TruxWeb has developed a digital platform that brings together transporters and shippers. It allows shippers to search and find capacity at all times, evaluate their options, book, pay and follow their shipments to destination. The company says it is great for companies shipping at least 50 times per year.
Hoola One Technologies, Quebec
Jean-David Lantagne, Co-Founder
Hoola One makes what Surfer Today magazine describes as the “beach microplastics vacuum cleaner.” The company has developed tools that clean up plastic pollution on beaches and in grey water to help remove the effects of plastics on marine environments.
Oneka Technologies, Sherbrooke
Dragan Tutic, CEO
Founded in 2015 by mechanical engineer Dragan Tutic, Oneka manufactures wave-powered seawater desalination systems housed inside autonomous buoys. The company started as a student project and is now aiming to sell its technology to resorts, coastal communities and the owners of private islands.
