A well-deserved award caught up with Costa Zafiris last week, validation for his dogged pursuit of the entrepreneurial dream.

Zafiris, 24, graduated from Dalhousie University in May with a commerce degree and a major in entrepreneurship.

During his time at Dal, he was a common sight at the various startup initiatives and he is a founder of three budding startups — Date Caddie, Unify and

Faced with the burden of sudden success, the Fredericton mental-health-focused clothing company Wear Your Label is hoping to hire a chief operating officer by December.

Wear Your Label designs and sells T-shirts, tank tops, leggings and sweaters that have sayings and designs on them that can create conversation around mental health. The wording is subtle and designed to create discussion

Mashup Lab, the Nova Scotia organization dedicated to nurturing startups in rural areas, is about to launch an online incubator to any Atlantic Canadian entrepreneur, regardless of where he or she lives.

The group headed by former regional development exec Andrew Button will launch the Mashup Lab Virtual Incubation Program on Sept. 8. It’s presenting the program in collaboration with Spring,

Regional tech accelerator Propel ICT has rounded out its management team by hiring Gillian McCrae, former CEO of Charlottetown-based GetGifted, as a vice-president.

Now based mainly in Halifax, McCrae will work with President Gary Dinn and the accelerator’s entrepreneurs-in-resident to develop new curriculum. She will also be responsible for business development, which includes increasing

With the signing of the Toronto Blue Jays as a client, Travis McDonough’s decision to build Kinduct Technologies in Halifax has received further validation.

The major league baseball team joins other high-profile users of the Kinduct software.

These include the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers, and three world champion teams.

It’s all good news for Kinduct as it attempts to

The new Venture Newfoundland and Labrador fund has announced its first investment is in St. John’s-based Sequence Bioinformatics, which analyzes genetic data to help prevent diseases.

Venture NL said Tuesday it has invested $300,000 in Sequence as part of a seed round worth $500,000 in equity funding. The other $200,000 came from an angel investor based in Ontario.

The announcement marks the beginning of the portfolio for Venture NL, which has received funding from the Newfoundland and Labrador government, BDC Capital and private investors. It is being managed by Pelorus Venture Capital

Saint John-based Xiplinx Technologies Ltd. has partnered with U.S. distributor R.V. Evans Co. to help increase sales of its flagship product Siteflo.

It is the fourth distribution partnership for Xiplinx, whose technology helps manufacturing plant managers monitor data from around their factories. The company already had partnerships with Shurtape Technologies, Blue Water Automation, and BNAP. It expects to add a fifth, a Michigan-based company, within a few weeks.

Founded in 1937, R.V. Evans is a full-service distributor of industrial packaging and fastening systems based in Decatur,

Social Navigator, a Halifax startup that warns authorities of threats on social media, has issued the following press release:

Social Navigator launches LifeRaft™ cyberbullying and threat detection solution for schools and law enforcement

Intelligent social media monitoring gives schools and law enforcement tools and insight to prevent potential tragedies

HALIFAX, July 15, 2014 /CNW/ - Social Navigator delivers the first release of LifeRaft, an intelligent big data platform that enables schools and law enforcement agencies to understand what is being said on social media channels, the

Assuming all goes well with its Phase 1 trials this year, Sackville, N.B.-based Soricimed Biopharma Inc. expects to select a major drug-maker as a partner with which it can take its flagship product Soricidin through Phase 2 trials.

SOR-C13 is a peptide, or a naturally occurring biological molecule, that binds to TRPV6, a calcium channel found in a cancer cell and deprives the cell of calcium, thereby killing the tumour. Soricimed hopes to establish that it is an effective means of treating cancer with minimal suffering for the patient.

The company is now conducting trials with about 20

Verafin, the St. John’s startup whose software fights financial crimes, has received a $6 million non-repayable loan from the government of Newfoundland and Labrador to help increase its workforce.

The government said Tuesday the loan would help to create about 90 jobs with the company, which employed 200 people as of the summer of 2014. Verafin and Spectrum Equity, a private equity fund based in Boston and Silicon Valley, will invest $4.8 million in the expansion project.

The money from the provincial government will not have to be repaid as long as Verafin creates the 90 jobs over a