Micah Peterson last Tuesday asked potential investors for $500,500 in funding for his customer support software company Twofowzand – $500,000 to help roll out the product, and $500 to take his wife on a trip to Halifax.

The Petersons’ third child had arrived about two weeks earlier, and Micah assured the audience at the Launch36 Demo Day that his wife’s vacation would be for the good of the company. There’s no word yet on whether he’s drawn any funding, but he sure drew a few laughs.

The crowd also chuckled warmly when he shared his impression of existing knowledge-based software used

Tapajyoti Das and his colleagues at LeadSift exemplify the spirit of the Launch36 technology accelerator – maybe more than we realize right now.

The main reason I say this is that LeadSift is a fascinating company, with algorithm-based technology that scans the tweets of people in a geographic location and automatically finds those who are intent on buying a specific item or service. LeadSift will help businesses generate leads and increase their sales. It’s one of 10 dynamic startups that just graduated from the New Brunswick accelerator at the Launch36 Demo Day last week.

But there’s

Last Tuesday was a pretty good day for Paula Morand: she got to present her company at the Launch36 Demo Day and found out she had been named the New Brunswick Female Entrepreneur of the Year for 2012.

The reason for all the excitement is that her company, JumpStart 720 International Inc. has developed a corporate mental wellness performance platform called GoLead that’s already gaining huge traction and boasts a stellar pipeline. Morand, who has spent more than 20 years in the leadership coaching and training field, aims to push the product out to 100,000 individuals in more than in 100

As it prepares to roll out its collaboration software, Tabture has already received investment commitments totaling $100,000 from Mariner Partners Chairman Gerry Pond and the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation.

The commitments are part of a $250,000 seed round that CEO Frank Lessard is raising to complete closed beta-tests on and develop new tools for the software, which revolutionizes link-sharing.

Lessard had the most succinct of the 10 presentations at PropelICT’s Launch36 Demo Day this week, efficiently explaining that he has developed technology that doesn’t exist elsewhere and is

Tribeonomics Inc. is trying to combat a problem posed by anonymity on the internet.

Companies and governments are often battered across the social media spectrum because a nameless, faceless online mob opposes what they are trying to do.  And John Doubt, the co-founder and President of Tribeonomics, says his company’s technology can help to analyze that cyber-gang to produce a deeper understanding of its members.

“If there was some knowledge of who those people were, maybe we could help mitigate the damage,” Doubt said Tuesday night in his pitch at the Launch36 Demo Day. It was the

One night a few months ago, a flurry of tweets flew out of New Brunswick congratulating Xiplinx, one of the companies going through the Launch36 accelerator, in landing a really impressive client as an early adopter.

I hadn’t heard of Xiplinx at the time, but over the next few months I heard more and more, and expect I’ll hear more still in the coming months.

Founded in November by Brent MacDonald of Saint John and Derek Roche of Dartmouth, Xiplinx helps companies with large facilities monitor what is happening on their production lines in real time. Such companies have a major

If there’s one conclusion to draw from the Launch36 Demo Day in Dieppe, N.B., it would probably be that the 250 lucky souls in the audience were witnessing the absolute apex of modern regional development.

I say probably because there are so many aspects of the celebration Tuesday night to reflect on. The 10 young companies on display were impressive. The delivery was entertaining and polished. The presentation was clean and concise. The show did not drag. The atmosphere was celebratory and all the better for seeing people who have very quickly become old friends.

But a day later, the

Twelve years since its launch, Atlantic Hydrogen Inc. is going through a watershed year.

The Fredericton company, whose technology extracts carbon from natural gas, is now in a key phase of commercializing both its platforms. And as it moves forward on these operational plans, AHI is working on a $10 million fundraising round and hoping to close the first tranche by September.

“We’ve been around a little longer than some and hope to be in a position soon to talk about some exciting things,” said David Wagner, President and CEO of the company.

In 2000, AHI began to commercialize

Enjoying media attention that few entrepreneurs receive, Vince Stuart is looking for a ``major equity partner’’ for his patented Bait Savour, a device that allows fishermen to reset their lobster trap while it is underwater.

Bait Savour, which won the $100,000 prize for the Annapolis Valley and Digby region in Innovacorp’s I-3 competition in January, allows lobster or crab fishermen to extend the period of time that their traps are baited. The device is a container with a small fuse that dissolves in water, releasing fresh bait into the trap. 

A trip out to check traps can cost lobster

The Launch36 Demo Day, which Propel ICT is hosting Tuesday night in Dieppe, is such a big deal that we’re doing something at Entrevestor that we haven’t done in all the years, er, months we’ve been publishing.

We'll be attending the extravaganza at the Dieppe Arts & Cultural Centre and, on Wednesday, I’ll file the first of five stories on the event, and discuss the presentations by three companies we’ve already covered: CyberPsyc; LeadSift; and VidCruiter. There is so much excitement about the companies that will be graduating from the accelerator that our complete coverage will then