The Block One Incubator has opened in Saint John, providing the Port City with a facility offering programs and working space for growing startups.

Five companies are now working at the 2,735-square-foot facility at 40 King Street, in the former Scotiabank building on King’s Square. What’s special about Block One is it shares the Uptown premises with the University of New Brunswick Saint John MBA program, which includes curriculum in sales.

The facility is operated by Economic Development Greater Saint John, which is in the process of amalgamating with other economic development bodies in the Saint John area.

“One of the challenges we have in Saint John is when you look at some of the other cities in Atlantic Canada, they have really strong entrepreneurial programs within their universities,” said Mark Breen, who handles the Innovation file at EDGSJ. “It seems like there’s a funnel there for companies coming out of these universities. We don’t have that here. But we have a partnership with the MBA program that we hope will bear some fruit.”

For the past few years, Saint John has had the ConnexionWorks co-working space as the main meeting place for entrepreneurs, but lacked the innovation hubs that are available in other Atlantic Canadian cities. The official opening of Block One in September has filled that gap.

As well as a central location, Block One offers entrepreneurs enough space for 32 people in normal times (16 during the pandemic) as well as four soundproof phone booths, a team meeting room, and 10-person boardroom. The mentors include: Entrepreneur-in-Residence Dan Doiron, a published researcher in disruptive innovation; CFO Donna Mazerolle, of Donna Mazerolle & Associates; and Charlie Bartlett, of Flint Venture Catalyst.

The companies now in residence at the facility include:

• TrojAI, which is developing a cybersecurity solution for artificial intelligence companies. TrojAI was recently accepted into the TechStars Montreal program.
• Millennia TEA, which is developing a new global category of tea called Fresh-Leaf Tea, which involves its proprietary first washed and flash-frozen process. By the end of 2020, the company expects to be in over 450 retail outlets.
• Marine Thinking, which gathers data from marine environments and fish farms using remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs, and analyzes it using artificial intelligence. The company, which is based in Halifax and Saint John, has logged nearly 1,000 hours of accurately labeled marine species, objects, and environmental physical data.
• Botrow Technologies, which is making self-serve kiosks for ski hills in Canada and the U.S. While bootstrapping, the company has grown from one customer to six in the last year, including Horseshoe Resort in Ontario.
• MedReddie, a new company that is developing a platform for the procurement of medical supplies. The company, which is now going through an accelerator in Waterloo, Ont., was founded by Kara LeBlanc, who previously worked in procurement for the New Brunswick Department of Health.

Though Saint John has fewer university-generated startups than other cities, Breen did note that founders in the city tend to be more mature with years of business or research experience behind them. And the city also has major private-sector mentors, such as the executives at Mariner Partners, Innovatia and the Irving companies.

What’s more, he said the students in the MBA program tend to be in their thirties and have extensive international fields. Block One and the UNBSJ MBA program work together in linking students and startups for internships, and this experience can pay off in a big way.

“Millennia TEA had an intern, an MBA students who was really good at sales,” said Breen. “He came in and started working with Millennia TEA, and immediately added value. It’s fine to get involved with the educational institution and to have access to someone with that experience.”