We'd like take this opportunity to wish all our readers, advertisers, clients and friends the happiest of holidays. We're shutting down until Jan. 2, and are looking forward to a great holiday. We hope all of you have a great break as well. 

Before we take our year-end break, we want to update our clients and readers about our progress in 2017.

It’s been a wonderful year for Entrevestor, and the highlight has been hiring a tremendous young reporter, Jennifer Lee. Jennifer is a graduate of the King’s College School of Journalism and she’s a great addition to our team.

With Jennifer, Carol and I all hard at it, we’re producing more

At Entrevestor, we’re about to take our annual Christmas-to-New-Year’s break, so this column will try to sum up what’s been good and bad in the startup ecosystem in the past year. The community grows each year, but here are some high and low points for the ecosystem that leap out for 2017:

GOOD NEWS

Startups are joining the oceans extravaganza. We’re seeing the first evidence that Atlantic

Five New Brunswick growth-stage companies will join the second cohort of Ignite Fredericton’s Export Igniter in January to learn how to build a viable export strategy.  

Cleantech, sporting goods and natural beauty products are what some of the companies will bring to this 12-week program. The five companies are:

• Anointment Natural Skin Care Inc: This Sackville-based company has been making

Jason Trask’s journey to San Francisco has followed a long, hard and often personal road, but he hopes it will eventually lead to clients and funding for his fintech startup.

Trask is the founder and CEO of Zambara, a new St. John’s company that has developed a product that helps providers of group benefits identify members who are under-insured and thereby increase sales to these customers. In

The federal government has announced two new programs in the last week that should channel hundreds of millions of dollars into startups and innovative companies.

Last week, the government launched Innovative Solutions Canada, under which 20 federal departments will spend $100 million annually to work with innovative companies to develop new products. And on Monday, the government announced that

The federal government and Halifax-based Emera Inc. have committed more than $4.3 million to develop smart grid expertise and infrastructure at the University of New Brunswick.

The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency issued a press release Wednesday saying the organizations are working on clean energy technologies that will advance Canada’s efforts to build a clean economy.

“The partnership

The Dartmouth-based company that developed a bionic knee brace has been listed in a Forbes article titled, “The Top Seven Startups for Souped-Up Senior Care”.

The American business magazine praised Spring Loaded Technology’s shock-absorbent knee brace Levitation and commended its potential to meet a real need in Canada, where seniors outnumber children under 15.  

The carbon-fibre brace is

Halifax-based Ocean Executive, which provides an online marketplace for the seafood industry, has signed enterprise software licensing agreements with two major clients.

The company said in a press release Tuesday that it has signed deals with Ocean Perfect, a live seafood supplier based in The Netherlands, and an oyster company based in New York City, Empire Oyster.

Ocean Executive is offering

GroupThinq is a Halifax startup that has been in stealth mode for a few years, and its coyness is surprising when you consider the international traction it’s gained.

The company, which grew out of Ekistics Planning & Design, has created a cloud-based software that helps consultancies with project management and other tasks associated with accounting. The product is now being tested with about