MTI Buys Rolith’s Business, Assets

Metamaterial Technologies Inc., the Halifax developer of special materials that alter light, has bought the business of Silicon Valley peer Rolith to accelerate the development of its manufacturing facility.

The purchase, the terms of which were not disclosed, will help MTI produce large-scale sheets of metamaterials needed for industrial applications. But the deal also diversifies the company’s

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IDEA Program Focuses on Healthcare

Healthcare and medical devices are the focus of this year’s IDEA Product Development Bootcamp. The themed approach is in contrast to last year’s bootcamp where participants worked on ideas in any field.

The Halifax-based project asks participants, who are all students of design, engineering or business, to work together in teams of three for six weeks. The aim is to share diverse talents and

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Biorefinery Conference Starts Monday

The Atlantic Biorefinery Conference will take place Monday to Wednesday in Halifax. Now in its fifth year, the three-day event aims to spark new projects that will turn natural resources into value-added products and business opportunities.

Biorefining is a set of technologies that enables the transformation of natural resources and industrial by-products into value-added products.

Over a dozen

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Curbza Sets Out to Aid Fort McMurray

A Dartmouth startup has accelerated the launch of its mobile app because its founders believe the product could help distressed families rebuild their lives in fire-ravaged Fort McMurray.

Curbza has developed an app for Apple and Android devices that can help people inventory their personal possessions and quickly sell or donate things they don’t want.

It can also build a virtual warehouse, so

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Appili Lands $3.3M, Starts Next Round

Halifax-based drug discovery company Appili Therapeutics Inc. has announced $3.3 million in funding and outlined a strategy based on “hitting singles and home runs”.

Standing in his recently opened lab, Founder and CEO Kevin Sullivan said the company is now working on a drug with a limited market that should be on the market in a few years, and a larger, riskier project to combat

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Propel To Showcase 12 Teams June 21

Propel ICT, the Atlantic Canadian tech accelerator, will hold a series of demo days for its current cohort in the next month, culminating with the main Demo Day June 21 at Neptune Theatre in Halifax.

Twelve companies will pitch at this event – including all the companies that are completing the Propel Build program for more advanced startups. In addition to these eight companies, Propel will select one team from each of the local demo days, which will be held May 31 and June 2. Propel will announce the 12 teams in early June. 

The main Demo Day will take place on the eve of the Atlantic

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Beijing’s Skyline Sets Up Halifax Base

Beijing-based Skyline’s core founders have arrived in Nova Scotia through the Startup Visa program and are now starting to build a development team in Halifax for future versions of its enterprise software product.

Skyline CEO Hai Hu and his three co-founders have already made their first local hire, Mark Slaunwhite, a fellow at Venture for Canada. It’s the beginning of what they envision as an

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Briefs: Genesis, Big Data, YEC

Genesis Centre to hold Evolution Program

The Genesis Centre in St. John’s is seeking participants for its Evolution summer program. The Evolution program helps entrepreneurs at or just past the conceptual stage nail down what their product does, validate the theory and begin to move toward the market. The program brings in mentors to work with entrepreneurs and show them how to work on their product. Applications are open until June 3 and can be found here.

Big Data and Oceans Conference

A mini-conference on Big Data and oceans will be held on June 8 at the Harbourview Inn in Dartmouth.

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Bringing Global Experience to Propel

Growth is what Atlantic Canada’s startup community aims for, and the pursuit of growth motivates Anita Punamiya in her new role as CEO of regional accelerator Propel ICT.

Propel is Atlantic Canada’s accelerator for ICT startups. Begun in 2004 in Saint John, it has evolved from a tech promotion group to a thriving growth promoter. It offers two accelerators: Launch and Build. Launch is for

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Norex Builds Front End for Lexumo

When Lexumo, a Boston-area cybersecurity company that protects automated machinery, needed an accessible user interface to complement its sophisticated systems, it contracted the work out to Norex of Halifax.

Norex, a website-development firm that developed into an incubation lab, has built the so-called front-end of Lexumo – that is, the parts of the product that the user sees and operates.

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