BioNova, the association for the Nova Scotia life sciences industry, announced last week that its Good News Story for 2015 has been awarded to DSM Nutritional Products for its decision to invest at least $30 million in new capital to upgrade and expand its facilities in Mulgrave, N.S.

BioNova each spring has a celebration with the oxymoronic title Good News and Blues, which celebrates a good news story and lets members of the biotech community play some classic rock or blues hits. (Some are better musicians than you’d think.)

The DSM story caught the judge’s eyes in part because it

I was interviewed last week by Information Morning Cape Breton host Steve Sutherland on what I witnessed on my recent trip to Sydney. We discussed the impact of programs like the UIT course and the Spark Cape Breton compeition. You can hear the full interview here. 

While presenting his company at the Atlantic Venture Forum on Thursday, Phillip Curley announced that HotSpot Parking Inc. would launch later this month in Columbia, South Carolina, and in a new city once every six weeks after that.

The Fredericton company, which helps local merchants connect with their customers, obviously made an impression with the judges at the two-day conference as it

After Hurricane Arthur knocked out power in New Brunswick last July, Alex Kall lay sleepless in the dark. He wished he had someone to read to him.

Kall suffered several restless nights. But that time without power gave him the idea for Pilōtalk, a service that offers 20 to 30-minute audio recordings of mellow stories to help adults sleep.

“I was alone in the apartment. I missed my fiancée.

Startup Newfoundland & Labrador has issued the following press release:

15-Plus Speakers and Mentors Set Stage for Startup Week NL – June 12 to 18

ST. JOHN’S, NL – Startup Week is the latest initiative by Startup Newfoundland & Labrador that will see a spotlight put on the startup community in the Province. Startup companies are bringing some of the most exciting ideas to the fore and showing off the skills and business acumen of this new generation of ventures.

The week kicks off with Startup Weekend, a 54-Hour event that will see the real-time formation of new companies with

For the first time in four years, Maritime DevCon, the conference for computer developers, will take place on Saturday in Fredericton.

Maritime DevCon was started in 2006, but was called DevEast and held in Moncton. It then occurred again in 2010 in Moncton and in 2011 in Fredericton.

DevCon Chair Derek Hatchard only started organizing the conference six weeks ago.  Despite that, this year’s DevCon is almost sold out, with more than 120 people registered to attend this Saturday’s event.

“I think it really speaks to the pent-up anticipation in this area because we haven’t had a lot of

TruLeaf Sustainable Agriculture Ltd., a Halifax startup that grows plants in stacked trays under LED lights, has released the following press release:

GoodLeaf Farms, Exclusive Canadian Licensee of TruLeaf’s Smart Plant Systems®, Announces First Farm Construction

BIBLE HILL, NS, June 10, 2015 – GoodLeaf Community Farms Ltd. (GoodLeaf Farms), a wholly owned subsidiary of TruLeaf Sustainable Agriculture Ltd. (TruLeaf), has awarded a contract to Fowler Construction Services Ltd. (Fowler Construction) to begin construction of its first farm, in Bible Hill, this month.  A building in the

A mating ritual got under way at the Nova Scotia Westin in Halifax on Wednesday as the Atlantic Venture Forum brought together dozens of Atlantic Canadian entrepreneurs with investors from across North America.

The third annual forum is a meeting place at which startups from the region can link up with potential investors. There are 21 startups — 12 seed-stage companies and nine more advanced growth-stage companies — presenting to the group, but there is also an array of other startups attending to meet with possible funders. The literature given out at the forum provides fascinating

New Brunswick’s Financial and Consumer Services Commission, or FCNB, is planning a series of education sessions about equity-based crowdfunding.

Crowdfunding is the process of raising money online from a broad range of people. Although it has been used for charitable fundraising and early sales of products, regulators in six provinces (including Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) recently approved the practice for companies raising capital. No company can raise more than $250,000 in a single campaign, and investors are limited to maximum investments of $1,500 per company.

The free sessions,

On the eve of the Atlantic Venture Forum, Brightspark Ventures of Toronto held a reception Tuesday night to outline its plans for Brightspark East, a collaboration with East Valley Ventures of Saint John.

The AVF begins today at the Nova Scotia Westin Hotel, and will allow more than 20 Atlantic Canadian startups to present their companies before investors from across Canada and the U.S.

One of those investors is Sophie Forest, Managing Partner of Brightspark Ventures, who introduced the group’s funding model Tuesday night.

Brightspark is positioned somewhere between a venture capital