A few months after musing with his father about new technologies for the automotive industry, Sam Jesso is one step away from capturing more than $200,000 in seed funding and services to develop such a product.

Jesso heads AutoPulse, a Fredericton startup designing technology that helps auto dealerships monitor their customers’ cars.

Last week, the University of New Brunswick software engineering student found out AutoPulse was a finalist for the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation’s Breakthru competition. The top three finalists, who will be named March 19, will divide a prize pot

The Centre for Local Prosperity has issued the following press release:

Regional Economics Conference planned for April 2015

(Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia) March 2, 2015.    It is widely known that small rural communities in Atlantic Canada are struggling.  A regional conference has been organized to address these issues with fresh ideas.  The conference is entitled “Local Prosperity: New Economics for Rural Canada” (localprosperity.ca), and is taking place April 9-12, 2015, in Annapolis County.

One of the organizers, Gregory Heming, an Annapolis County municipal councilor and

Propel ICT, Atlantic Canada’s startup accelerator, has issued the following press release:

Propel ICT Opens Up Applications For Next Round of Startup Programs

Programs Offered for New Startups or Established Early-Stage Companies.

St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador – Propel ICT, Atlantic Canada’s startup accelerator, today opened up applications for companies to take part in its next round of accelerator programs. Propel ICT’s Launch program is for new companies just getting started, while its ¬Build program is for more established early-stage companies. Applications will be

The final Fellow application deadline for this year's Venture4Canada cohort is March 1st, 2015.  

Venture for Canada is a career accelerator for recent grads, who want to learn how to build a business, while making an impact. 

Fellows join a cohort that includes a former Apple engineer, alumni of The Next 36, and a Top 20 Under 20 recipient.  Fellows have the opportunity of working at one of Venture for Canada's 90 Partner Startups, and receive five weeks of training at Queen's University.

The applications are available here.

After five years of volunteering as a high school entrepreneurship teacher, Robert Zed is working on a new venture of his own, one that will bring entrepreneurship education to many.

Zed, chairman of Triangle Strategies of Halifax, helps a teacher at Citadel High School teach an entrepreneurship program to Grade 12 students.

“It started when one of my sons took me into school for a show and

Entrevestor recently completed its second survey of Atlantic Canadian startups, and one of the striking figures was the number of companies that vanished in 2014.

Here are the basics. Of the 290 companies we surveyed last year, eight were acquired or merged with other startups. Nine moved outside the region. There were 43 that either went out of business or never really moved beyond a group of dreamers with an idea.

So the headline number is that about 15 per cent of the startups we were tracking at the end of 2013 went under or never got going. But the deeper truth is more complicated,

Fredericton-based VeroSource Solutions, a tech startup that incorporated last year, has launched its first product WaitShare, a free app that aims to inform the public about wait times at walk-in clinics and emergency rooms.

Though several startups have tried to tackle the problem of people spending too long to wait to see a doctor, WaitShare relies on crowdsourcing to build up information on wait times. The idea is to give a patients an idea which facilities near them would offer the fastest service so they can choose the most efficient option.

“As a mother, I’ve been in the situation

The Rowe School of Business at Dalhousie University has issued the following press release:

Call for Student Startups: Canada’s Business Model Competition

Dalhousie University’s Rowe School of Business is hosting Canada’s Business Model Competition (CBMC) on March 13th and 14th. The event gives student entrepreneurs from across Canada an opportunity to showcase their startups, expand their networks, and compete for prizes. This is the last week for students to submit an application before the deadline on February 28th at midnight AST.

The organizers are expecting 25-30 applications

RtTech Software, whose state-of-the-art automation helps industrial companies improve manufacturing processes, will announce Tuesday that it has closed a $3-million venture capital round led by the world’s leading industrial Internet of things fund.

McRock Capital's new McRock iNFund LP will invest as much as $2.5 million in the Moncton company, while the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation will contribute $500,000.

The fund is backed by major institutions, such as Cisco Investments, Teralys Capital Innovation LP and BDC Capital, and will be worth about $65 million when funding closes

The New Brunswick Innovation Foundation has issued the following press release:

BREAKTHRU FINALISTS ANNOUNCED!

After months of work for our five finalist teams, the idea of becoming entrepreneurs remains a dream. But three of them will become exactly that, receiving over $750,000 in investments and professional services from our partners to start their own company—and a new life.

Breakthru tickets are already selling fast. Get yours now before we sell out! Breakthru LIVE - March 19th at the Fredericton Convention Centre - is one of the most anticipated events of the season. In