Zaptap has lined up 20 global companies to test its key product in the next six months, prompting the Fredericton-based tech company to more than double the target of its first venture capital round to $5 million.

Headed by founder and CEO Yan Simard, Zaptap’s software allows consumers to “zap” a product label in a store with their smartphones, and immediately receive information on the product such as technical specifications, warranty information, etc. The system allows a retailer or maker of a consumer product – especially a luxury item -- to design and produce a label, control the

Just two months old, the Starting Lean course at Dalhousie University is already having an impact on the creation and mentorship of young companies in the region.

In fact, Starting Lean is radically altering the face of Startup Weekend Halifax, in which entrepreneurs, developers and mentors come together for one intense weekend Nov. 16-18 to form businesses. And it is leading to the creation of the Startup Next competition in Halifax in March, the only Canadian component of this international competition.

There are now nine teams going through the Starting Lean course headed by

Lisa Hrabluk has entered the Launch36 accelerator with a noble purpose: she wants to help freelance journalists find meaningful work with corporations, government and not-for-profit organizations.

Hrabluk has begun a company called Wicked Ideas, which is one of the six or seven companies accepted into the second cohort of Launch36, the accelerator organized by PropelICT of Moncton. Propel Executive Director Trevor MacAusland said his group will not immediately reveal the names of the entrepreneurs in this cohort, but he did say there’s representation from the three Maritime Provinces,

IBM’s decision to establish an analytics centre in Halifax is a huge boost for the digital industry across the Atlantic region, because it will expand capacity, improve technical education and mesh with plans afoot in New Brunswick.

Premier Darrell Dexter announced Thursday the company that pioneered the personal computer would set up its only Canadian Global Delivery Centre in Halifax. The headlines stress around the creation of 500 jobs over eight years in exchange for a payroll rebate of as much as $12.2 million. The addition of 500 tech jobs will in time boost the size of the IT

Hoping to win contracts in 15 U.S. states as well as Greece and launch an Internet product in the next year, Sydney-based gaming machine maker Techlink  Entertainment is on a quest to raise $30 million in venture capital financing by the end of March.

CEO John Xidos said in an interview this week the company is now courting U.S. venture capital firms and expects little difficulty in raising the money, given Techlink’s prospects.

“We’re going to raise more with this new internet project – we’re going to raise about $30 million,” he said.

If the company reaches its target, it will be

Interview Rocket, a Halifax startup that offers interview technology for recruiters and job-seekers, has launched a new free feature for its website to help people seeking jobs arrange interviews with prospective employers.

The company issued a press release today saying it has launched InterviewMe!, which allows the job seeker to ask recruiters for an interview rather than waiting for the company to call.

The company headed by CEO Craig Brown launched in February when its signature website, www.interviewrocket.com went live. Brown had done his homework before that, interviewing more

Joining the likes of Bill Gates and Peter Thiel, Innovacorp has invested in a California energy storage company that, among other projects, is building a storage facility near New Glasgow, N.S.

Berkeley-based LightSail Energy said in a  press release Monday night it had raised $37.3 million in its fourth round of venture capital fundraising. The group of investors includes Microsoft founder Gates, PayPal co-founder Thiel and the Nova Scotia innovation agency Innovacorp.

The statement did not reveal the valuation of the investment nor say how much Innovacorp was investing. Innovacorp

Halifax accountant James D. Nicoll is gathering support for a regional equity tax credit that doesn’t involve legislation from the four Atlantic Provinces.

Instead, he is asking the federal government to handle it.

“What we’re trying to do is create a unified incentive to get money into the innovative companies that are the growth engine of the region,” said Nicoll, the Vice-President Deals at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Halifax.

Here’s the problem: Each province now grants equity tax credits, or ETCs, usually worth 35 percent to individuals if they invest in private companies within

The hunt has officially begun for Innovacorp’s CEO.

The Nova Scotia innovation agency announced Friday that the provincial government has assigned Wilson Executive Search to find the successor to Clifford Gross, who left the position in February after holding it for about one year.

The new boss at 1801 Hollis Street will have considerable success to build on and will also inherit an agency that is at a bit of a crossroads. The success comes first from a successful exit, having earned an estimated 10 times its investment in a year when GoInstant of Halifax sold out to Salesforce.com. And