Phillips 66 Buys Novonix Stake

Texas energy giant Phillips 66 has paid US$150 million, or about C$188 million, for a 16 percent stake in Novonix Ltd., an Australian maker of materials for lithium-ion batteries that owns Novonix Battery Testing Solutions -- a startup spun off from research at Dalhousie University in 2017.

Brisbane-based Novonix Ltd. bought the company now called Novonix BTS in 2017, with Chinese battery

Continue Reading

Two Atlantic Canadians to Speak at NACO

To launch its annual Report on Angel Investing in Canada, industry group the National Angel Capital Organization will hold a roundtable discussion Thursday featuring two speakers from Atlantic Canada.

NACO is an industry group comprised of angel investor networks, such as Anges Quebec and Ontario’s Maple Leaf Angels. It does not itself invest in startups, but its member organizations do. It does

Continue Reading

Jobs: Communications Opening at Dal

In our Job of the Week column today, we’re showcasing an opening posted by Dalhousie University for a Communications Manager for its Founders Skills Initiative, part of the I-INC program.

The Founders Skills Initiative is developing evidence-based programming designed to create better mentors and ultimately better entrepreneurs. It’s part of the Incubate Innovate Network of Canada, or I-INC, a

Continue Reading

IMV Chief Executive Bows Out

Dartmouth drug discovery company IMV is replacing its CEO.

Former Chief Executive Frederic Ors stepped down Wednesday, with Chief Business Officer Andrew Hall slated to serve as interim CEO until the Board of Directors hires a permanent replacement for Ors.

IMV is developing “a new class of targeted cancer immunotherapies” and has developed compounds that allow for the delayed release of

Continue Reading

Deacon Says ‘Privatize Innovacorp’

Colin Deacon, the Halifax startup founder turned senator, says Nova Scotia should privatize its venture capital Crown corporation Innovacorp and instead become a limited partner in a basket of private-sector VC funds.

Deacon co-founded BlueLight Analytics in 2009 and was appointed to the senate in June, 2018, where he now serves on the standing committee for banking, trade and commerce.

Continue Reading

Commercializing Cognitive Testing

For most of academia, the pandemic has been a trial by fire, as researchers grappled with the question of how to do science without ready access to labs. Last spring, Katie McKearney was no exception.

A master’s candidate and psychology researcher-in-training at Saint Mary’s University, she was fulfilling the research requirements of her degree program by working as an electroencephalography

Continue Reading

Parados Readies Beta Test

Fredericton’s Parados Cerebral Solutions is preparing for a beta test of its data analytics platform for tracking and preventing head injuries in sports, likely beginning in the fall.

Founded in 2020, Parados is using sensors in mouthguards and along athletes’ spines to measure the force of head impacts, such as when football players tackle each other.

The technology is being developed as part

Continue Reading

Kraken Closes $10 Million Raise

St. John's-based Kraken Robotics said Monday it has closed a deal, announced last week, to raise $10 million from a consortium of investment bankers, who will then have the option to sell their stock on the TSX Venture exchange.

The $10 million raise was a “bought deal,” meaning that although Kraken shares are already publicly traded, the newly issued stock was sold to underwriters, rather than

Continue Reading