Dalhousie University’s CDL Atlantic, part of the internationally noted Creative Destruction Lab network of startup accelerators, has announced the companies graduating from this year’s Oceans cohort for bluetech companies and its Prime cohort for general startups.
CDL is a nine-month, milestone-based accelerator founded by University of Toronto management professor Ajay Agrawal and it is now operating in six countries. In the Atlantic region, both cohorts are run by Dalhousie University, with this year's graduating companies based in geographies as far flung as Iceland, Belgium and Australia. Artificial intelligence companies made a particularly strong showing across both cohorts.
The program, which does not charge founders a participation fee or take equity, is divided into a series of five meetings over nine months, with an emphasis on entrepreneurs setting and then meeting key growth objectives.
Participants are mentored by experienced entrepreneurs who have founded and sold "significant" companies. Mentors who participated in previous CDL Atlantic sessions have included figures like Clearwater Fine Foods billionaire and prolific venture capitalist John Risley and Jevon MacDonald, former CEO of Manifold and GoInstant.
Here’s a look at the companies graduating this year:
Prime
Halifax
Robin Murphy, CEO
Audyse is developing a noise-cancelling headset for motorcyclists that will selectively avoid blocking important, safety-related sounds like car horns.
Halifax
Tracey McGillivray, CEO
Axtion’s Ibex walker includes a mechanical seat to help mobility-impaired users with day-to-day tasks, as well as with getting up if they fall.
St. John’s
Sam Allen, CEO
Enaimco makes software for remotely managing subsea assets.
Halifax
David Hodgson, CEO
HOLLO is developing a spacer for use with asthma inhalers that is small enough to fit in a child’s pocket.
Fredericton
Shaun Kennedy, CEO
Mach85 sells software for taking contactless, three-dimensional measurements of aircraft, as well as various simulation and modelling processes.
Sherbrooke, Que.
Tatiana Estevez Carlucci, CEO
Permalution sells technology for collecting water from fog, clouds and rain.
St. John’s
Bronwyn Bridges, CEO
PragmaClin is building solutions to allow for remote medical assessments of people with movement disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease.
Bedford, NS
Christy Silvestri, CEO
QuickFacts offers a platform that lets brokers view insurance packages from competing companies side by side for easy comparison.
St. John’s
Holly Hill, CEO
SiftMed’s artificial intelligence platform automatically organizes medical records into a clearly labelled, searchable database for use by insurance and law office employees.
Halifax
Ravindra Kempaiah, CEO
Zen sells electric bikes, with a corporate focus on innovative battery technology.
Oceans
St. John’s
M. Sazied Hassan, CEO
CORSphere makes fleet management software for companies operating marine vessels.
Reykjavík, Iceland
Karl Birgir Björnsson, CEO
Hefring has developed an artificial intelligence system to help ship operators avoid accidents and reduce fuel consumption.
Boston
Freda Zifteh, CEO
Hefring Engineering has designed a low-drag ocean glider, which is a type of autonomous, underwater vehicle often used for taking scientific measurements.
Sydney, Australia
Tom Loefler, CEO
Hullbot has developed an underwater robot for cleaning ships’ hulls.
Newport, Rhode Island
Ian Estaphan Owen, CEO
Jaia is working on high-speed aquatic drones that can operate in “pods” of up to 20, with potential applications ranging from scientific research to military use.
Vancouver
Paige Whitehead, CEO
Nyoka has developed the Bio Lure, a fully biodegradable, luminescent fishing lure.
Vancouver
Alexander Dungate, CEO
OnDeck is developing artificial intelligence technology for commercial fisheries monitoring, including tracking catch and bycatch — catch being the fish a vessel intends to harvest and bycatch being other types of fish unintentionally caught in nets.
Portland, Oregon
Marcelino Alvarez, CEO
Photon is developing electric outboard motors for boats.
Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium
Sebastian Hamers, CEO
Sealution is a hardware and software platform capable of gathering data about large ships’ below-deck operations for maintenance and insurance purposes.
Halifax
Maja Maher, CEO
Voltai sells motion-absorbing generators that can be installed on vessels or offshore infrastructure and are designed to operate in harsh marine environments, such as the Canadian Arctic.
