As it announced ambitious organizational changes, PropelICT revealed Thursday that four startups that went through Cohort 4 of its Launch36 accelerator have received $150,000 convertible notes from BDC Venture Capital.

Propel held its annual general meeting Thursday night, formalizing its plan to hold three simultaneous cohorts this autumn and announcing a new board of directors and new role for executive director Trevor MacAusland.

The organization said the following companies have received a $150,000 convertible note from the venture capital arm of the Business Development Bank of

Having founded and successfully exited two tech startups by the time he was 43, Fredericton native Jeff Thompson brings a lot of street cred and star quality to his new role as chairman and president of regional startup support group, Propel ICT.

Thompson took up his role on Thursday, although he has been involved with Propel ICT, most recently as vice-president, since 2011 when he helped

Entrevestor will take its annual summer holiday next week and will not be covering news until after Labour Day. 

We will return as usual on Sept. 2. 

We hope all our readers have a happy and safe long weekend. 

Peter and Carol Moreira. 

 

Starting this week, a new Halifax startup is taking part in a boot camp for women in technology at Waterloo, Ont.-based Communitech, the country’s premiere startup lab.

GetGoing hopes to use its time in the Women Entrepreneurs Bootcamp to get feedback on its product for entrepreneurs. It has created a simple app that helps small businesses — traditional businesses as well as innovation-based startups — come up with a simple, effective business plan very quickly.

“What we’re trying to do is bring an added sense of confidence to small-business planning, especially people starting

BioPort Atlantic, the annual conference for the East Coast life sciences industry, is moving closer to being a truly regional event as it is now being promoted by organizations in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

BioNova, the Nova Scotia life sciences association, has announced that companies from the three provinces will be able to enter the BioInnovation Challenge, the $15,000 pitching contest at BioPort. And BioNB and the PEI BioAlliance will promote BioPort on a more regional basis. The parties also hope to secure the participation of Newfoundland and Labrador at

While most of the teens at the Shad Valley tech and entrepreneurship camp in July focused on their science projects, Alex Gillis might have been a bit distracted by the business he’d started two months before.

He is now launching the business, which places a small electronic monitor in retail locations like coffee shops to track the customer traffic and spending, and provide data on customer behaviour. Gillis and his partners call their service Bitness and the little device the Bitness Beacon. And he hopes to have them in scores of locations by the time he’s midway through Grade 12.

“I

FoodTender, the Shediac, N.B.-based online ordering system for restaurants, issued the following press release today:

FoodTender Launches Free Online Ordering Service In Major Technology Advance for Restaurants and Foodservice Suppliers

Web-based Platform Allows Restaurants to Easily Order from Multiple Suppliers

For Immediate Release - August 19, 2014

SHEDIAC, CANADA—FoodTender, the first comprehensive web-based ordering system for restaurants, is now available as a free service to restaurants in the United States and Canada. FoodTender’s founders are a restaurant owner and a chef

Entrepreneurs’ Forum will host a Pitch 101 competition Tuesday, August 19, at 12:30 pm at the Innovacorp offices at 1344 Summer St., Halifax.

Pitch 101 is an initiative launched by Bob Williamson of Invest Atlantic to encourage students and rookie entrepreneurs to hone and deliver concise pitches.

“The pitches are designed to be the first step in helping prepare these entrepreneurs and perhaps those in the audience to develop longer pitches for when they meet real-time investors and potential partners,” said a statement from Entrepreneurs’ Forum.

Each participant is given 60 seconds

Eight years after he attended a climate change conference as a student and realized that his carbon capture theory could help lessen climate change, Robert Niven is launching a ready-mix concrete product he expects to grow his company and cut pollution.

Niven is CEO and founder of Halifax’s CarbonCure Technologies, a clean-tech company that adds waste carbon dioxide to concrete production,

The Engage 2014 Conference, which will encourage innovation and commercialization at post-secondary institutions, will be held in Halifax on Sept. 25 and may lead to other similarly themed events throughout the region.

Although the number of events in the startup space has risen dramatically in recent years, organizer Mark Taylor said there is a need for an event examining how universities and colleges spawn innovation and then turn it into young businesses.

 “Atlantic Canada has a lot of world-class research and a lot of talented entrepreneurs, and the goal of Engage is to bring them