Karma Signs 3 Big Deals in 3 Months

Karma Gaming, the Halifax startup that is developing video games for regulated lotteries, has signed three major customers this year.

So next year, its products will be available on three different continents.

Jay Aird, the company’s chief innovation officer, said the firm probably won’t receive substantial revenues from the deals until 2014, so it is now in the late stage of raising a follow-on round of venture capital funding that is seeking $4 million.

Karma has devised a solution for a problem that afflicts regulated lottery companies around the world: their clientele is aging and

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Equals6, Mindful join CTA in Boston

There is probably no better place in the world for Halifax startups Equals6 and Mindful Scientific to go through a mentorship program than Boston. So they were both pumped when they were accepted to the new Canadian Technology Accelerator in the Massachusetts capital.

The New England city’s world famous universities are perfect for Equals6 and its medical establishment is just as great for Mindful. And its active community of funders could be a boon to both.

The Canadian government announced Monday that it had selected eight startups to attend the first cohort of the CTA Program in

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Halifax Tech Landscape Set for Change

The startup landscape in Halifax is going to change in the next year or so, and Spring Garden Road could soon be known for perky young entrepreneurs as much as for shopping fashion-istas.

 The innovation community in the Halifax area is now spread out across an array of pods throughout the urban area, most with their own coffee shops that they hang out at. But there are a few developments coming down the pipe that will change the way entrepreneurs work, gather and recaffeinate in the region’s largest city.

I am not being facetious when I mention the coffee shops. One of the hallmarks of

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USA Today on Canadian Tech Scene

USA Today on Monday published my story on the Canadian tech scene, which said the heart of the industry is found in the small and growing companies.

It was a great opportunity to go beyond Atlantic Canada and chat with people covering the tech industry, including the listed companies, outside of Atlantic Canada. The most familiar name in the story to Entrevestor readers is Damien Steel, the OMERS Ventures Director who put together that fund’s deal with LeadSift of Halifax. The paper has a daily circulation of 1.8 million, the largest in the U.S. for print publications.

I’d like to thank

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Purchext Wins Silver, Heads to Next 36

The most intriguing story at the Canadian Business Model Competition on Saturday was not so much the team that took home the gold medal as the team(s) who captured silver and bronze.

For the record, Spring Loaded Technology, which is developing a knee brace that adds power as well as stability to the knee joint, captured the Deloitte Smart Launch Award, which comprises $10,000 in cash and $5,000 in consulting services from Deloitte. (Yes, it’s the same Spring Loaded we featured on Entrevestor last week for attracting $100,000 in angel funding.)  As the winners, Chris Cowper-Smith, Shea

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Spinzo Eyeing Blue Chip Partners

A year and a half after he set out to revolutionize the crowd-buying model, Emmanuel Elmajian is now adjusting the focus of his company Spinzo in a bid to ramp up its sales volume.

Elmajian formed the Saint John company in late 2011 in a bid to bring more price flexibility and “virality” (the ability of customers to share a promotion so it can go viral) into the crowd-buying model.

Popularized by companies like Groupon, crowd-buying lets merchants offer deep discounts on their products to anyone who buys an online coupon. The model is successful — Groupon is now worth $3.5 billion — but

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New Bosses at Innovacorp, Digital NS

Two of the leading organizations in the Nova Scotia startup world have new bosses.

Innovacorp, the province’s innovation agency, said Friday that it had appointed Stephen Duff, the former Co-CEO of Precision BioLogic of Dartmouth, as its new President and CEO. And Digital Nova Scotia announced that Ulrike Bahr‐Gedalia has been named to the newly created position of President and CEO.

Duff worked for 30 years with Precision BioLogic, which makes innovative blood diagnostic products and has a staff of 60 people.

It would be a stretch to say Duff must bring stability to Innovacorp

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Startup Lawyer: Lessons for Founders

Editor’s note: We’re delighted to introduce the first Canadian Startup Lawyer blog by Rob Cowan, Partner at McInnes Cooper.  This will appear monthly on Rob’s blogging site, StartupLawyer.ca, and Entrevestor.

Each month, Rob will select a topic that arises frequently in his work with leading Canadian startups, and provide the advice that sets young companies on the course to success. It cuts

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Hamblin Puts $100K in Spring Loaded

Spring Loaded Technology of Halifax has landed a $100,000 investment from a prominent Halifax tech entrepreneur, validating not only the company’s product, but also entrepreneurship courses at the region’s universities.

John Hamblin, the president of Clarke IT Solutions, has invested in the company, accounting for one-fifth of a seed funding round with a target of $500,000. The money is helping the company protect its intellectual property and further develop its prototype.

Spring Loaded Technology is developing a knee brace that not only stabilizes the joint but also strengthens it,

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