Turning Waste Plastic into Bricks

Even after decades of attempts by governments and environmental groups to make recycling ubiquitous, the industry faces at least one constant challenge: finding uses for discarded material. But the founder of New Brunswick-based PLAEX Building Systems says his company can help.

PLAEX is developing modular, interlocking bricks made from about 90 percent recycled materials. The bricks lock

Continue Reading

Halifax Index Launches Thursday

Entrevestor will be participating in the release of the Halifax Index on Thursday at 9 am, bringing our insights on startup and innovation to the Halifax Partnership’s annual assessment of the city’s economy.

The Halifax Index tracks the city’s metrics across major themes: people, labour, investment and innovation, affordability and quality of place. It includes a progress report on Halifax’s

Continue Reading

CoteX Pioneers Fertilizer Manufacturing Process

In the latest win for Sydney’s Verschuren Centre biotech hub, agtech startup CoteX Technologies has relocated from India to use the facility.

Founded in 2018 by chemical engineer Santosh Yadav, CoteX uses a process called thermoforming to apply delayed-release coatings to fertilizer pellets more cheaply than existing methods.

“Polymer-coated fertilizer exists in the market, but our innovation

Continue Reading

Appili COVID Trial Expands to Mexico, Brazil

Halifax-based Appili Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company developing drugs for infectious diseases, has added clinical research sites in Mexico and Brazil to its Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating favipiravir as a potential oral therapy for patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19.

The expansion into Mexico and Brazil will ensure a timely completion of the trial, the company said in a

Continue Reading

Using the Seas to Capture CO2

When discussing what big, ocean-based carbon capture or storage could look like in 10 years, Matthew Eisaman likes to point out that atmospheric carbon capture will prove difficult unless it’s complemented by an ocean-based effort.

People understand the need for carbon capture – that is, the practice of capturing and storing greenhouse gases that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere. They

Continue Reading

Harbr Testing New Fintech Product

Harbr, the Halifax-based maker of project management software for the construction industry, is testing a fintech service that CEO Dave Kim says will help address systemic problems with late payments in the sector.

The company’s main offering is a communications platform that lets construction workers use text messages to send real-time updates about their work to a central database.

The system

Continue Reading

Outcast, B4 Reveal Staff Moves

Several high-profile companies and organizations in the Halifax area, including Outcast Foods and b4checkin, have announced changes in senior management in the past few days.

Dartmouth-based Outcast Foods, which makes powdered food products from rejected produce, has hired Miriam Zitner as Vice President of Business Development.

Halifax’s b4checkin, which makes software for hotel chains, has

Continue Reading

Survey Shows Support for Indigenous Entrepreneurs

A new national Leger survey sheds light on how Canadians, including Atlantic residents, view the need for healthy Indigenous businesses.

Coinciding with National Indigenous History Month, the survey probes attitudes towards Indigenous businesses in terms of creating sustainable economic opportunities for Indigenous peoples and Canada’s economic growth.

The survey of 1,589 Canadians found that

Continue Reading

Introhive Round Pushes NB to record

Six months into 2021, New Brunswick startups have already blown past their fundraising totals from previous years, with at least $136 million of capital raised.

Most of that money comes from Introhive’s record-breaking C$122 million Series C funding round, announced Wednesday -- the largest in the province’s history and one of the largest ever in Atlantic Canada. As well as the Introhive deal,

Continue Reading

Introhive Announces Largest Funding in NB History

Introhive, the Fredericton- and Miami-based maker of AI sales software, announced Wednesday it has closed a mammoth US$100 million ($122 million) Series C funding round -- the largest equity investment deal in New Brunswick history.

The round was led by Boston-based PSG, which specializes in backing middle-market software companies. Introhive declined to disclose its valuation, which would have

Continue Reading