Provincial economic development agency Invest Nova Scotia has announced the five companies in its winter 2023 GreenShoots cohort, which are receiving a combined $170,000 in grants.
The funding and mentorship program offers agtech, biotech and cleantech companies funding and mentorship to develop their ideas. Cleantech made a particularly strong showing this time, with all but one of the biotech and agtech companies also offering ecological value propositions.
Launched in 2020, the competition is run by Invest Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia Innovation Hub and Guelph, Ont.-based Bioenterprise Canada Corporation, an innovation-focused industry group. To qualify, startups must have booked less than $1 million in cumulative sales and not have already raised more than $25,000 from Innovacorp.
Here’s a look at the latest cohort:
Rashmi Prakash
Halifax
$40,000
Aruna is developing plastic-free, compostable menstrual pads.
Hamlet Abnousi
Sydney
$30,000
Novobind plans to sell alternatives to anti-infectives -- that is, antibiotics, antivirals and antiparasitics -- for livestock farming and aquaculture in a bid to combat the rise of antiinfective-resistent pathogens.
Sarah Graham, Roya Aghighi
Sydney
$30,000
Lite-1 is working on eco-friendly dyes dervied from naturally occuring microorganisms.
Craig Jackson, Anirban Ghosh
Ingonish
$40,000
Pividl is developing seaweed-derived bioactives for agricultural use.
Quinn Cavanagh, Gordon Neal
Halifax
$30,000
RFINE plans to upcycle spent coffee grounds into food ingredients.
