Invest Nova Scotia made $3.2 million of venture capital deals during the fiscal year that ended March 31, funding disclosures from the provincial economic development agency show.
The money was spread across seven deals, all but two of which involved companies based in Halifax, while the remainder are Cape Breton companies. These latest totals represent a marked decline from last year’s figure of $7.8 million across 13 deals.
The 2023-2024 sum, though, is an improvement on the 2021-2022 fiscal year, which was the venture capital shop’s last under its previous guise as Innovacorp. That year, it backed nine companies with a total of $2.1 million.
The largest single deal by far was a $1.5 million commitment to AlterBiota, which in May closed a $4 million funding round for its system that turns wood fibre into a concrete additive. And in keeping with the dominance of information technology businesses in the Atlantic Canadian startup space, four of the seven companies funded were ICT businesses.
Direct venture capital deals are also not the only way Invest Nova Scotia provides equity funding to young companies. Earlier this year, the agency said it had earmarked $60 million to join private sector investment funds as a limited partner, reallocating money that was previously set aside for loans.
Invest Nova Scotia also offers startups smaller amounts of funding to partner with universities on research and development work via its Productivity and Innovation Voucher Program
Here's a look at Invest Nova Scotia's venture capital deals and Innovation Voucher Program funding recipients from the past year:
VC DEALS
Frenter
$15,000
ICT
Halifax
3D BioFibR
$400,000
Life Science
Halifax
BlueLight Analytics
$500,000
Life Science
Halifax
Program.AI (o/a Wellnify)
$100,000
ICT
Halifax
Bright Breaks
$500,000
ICT
Halifax
Click2Order
$99,947
ICT
Sydney
Hollo Medical
$100,000
Life Sciences
Halifax
AlterBiota
$1,500,000
Clean Technology
Sydney (Edwardsville)
INNOVATION VOUCHER ANOUNCEMENTS
Academic Edge
$25,000
Acuicy
$25,000
Adrigo Insights
$15,000
Akso Marine Biotech
$15,000
Alter Biota
$15,000
Annapolis Valley Luffa
$15,000
Aup2P
$15,000
Axtion Independence Mobility
$25,000
Cotex Technologies
$15,000
Debye Single-Molecule Biotech
$15,000
Dockport
$25,000
Doodlelovely
$15,000
Drinkable Water Solutions
$25,000
Dr. Kombu Brewing Company
$15,000
Fiber Source Processing
$15,000
Foodimprover
$15,000
Formula Consulting
$25,000
Graphite Innovation and Technologies
$15,000
Greenlight Analytical
$15,000
Greenoil Solutions
$25,000
Halucenex Life Sciences
$25,000
Hawboldt Industries (1989)
$25,000
I. Deveau Fisheries
$25,000
Krava
$25,000
LaHave Drumlins Native Plant Nursery
$15,000
Leeway Yachts
$15,000
Lite-1; Microbial Colour
$15,000
Liven Proteins
$15,000
Lumi Beverages
$15,000
Master Merchant Systems Software
$15,000
Mara Renewables
$15,000
11979787 Canada
$25,000
Material Futures
$25,000
Motionbed
$25,000
Myomar Molecular
$25,000
Mypaq
$25,000
3310959 Nova Scotia
$15,000
Novaresp Technologies
$15,000
3279440 Nova Scotia
$15,000
Oberland Agriscience
$25,000
O & K Sea Salt
$25,000
Quantum Devices
$25,000
R D A Atlantic
$25,000
Reazent
$25,000
Revilong Prefab Structures
$15,000
Safe Harbour Research & Technologies
$15,000
Scotiaderm
$15,000
SGS Innova Solutions
$15,000
Shifting Shap3S
$15,000
Silver Roe Seafoods
$25,000
Subait
$15,000
The Tare Shop
$15,000
Urban Lighthouse Farm
$15,000
Zen Energy
$25,000
