Two new initiatives have emerged from a weekend competition this month in the Halifax startup community that could soon be helping commuters and drivers in the city.

It would be premature to call KNOWtime and Vallet.me businesses because these groups have only been working on their projects for less than two weeks. Let’s call them teams that are interested in continuing with their projects and possibly to turn them into commercial ventures that would help Haligonians.

A few weeks ago, we reported that the Volta co-working space would host a hackathon, at which 140 tech enthusiasts would

Toronto-based private equity firm Imperial Capital agreed Wednesday to invest $17 million in Halifax pharmaceutical services company STI Technologies Ltd., which includes the buyout of several existing investors, such as venture capital company GrowthWorks Atlantic.

Steve Nicolle, CEO of the Halifax company, opened a pre-arranged speech at the Invest Atlantic conference by flashing the press release announcing the deal, which will help to finance the company’s expansion.

Though he declined to provide details, Nicolle said a “healthy amount” of the $17 million funding will remain with

Here is a selection of notable quotes from the Invest Atlantic conference yesterday. Apologies to those in the afternoon sessions, which I had to miss.

“I have a deeply held belief that you should live where you choose and build your life and your business there. If you’re excited about living in Halifax, you will have a more fulfilling life there, and your business will probably be more successful.”

Brad Feld, author, Startup Communities

 

“It’s not about the exit for me. It’s about: we need to change the culture in Atlantic Canada.”

Trevor MacAusland, Executive Director,

Grey Island Energy, a St. John’s-based cleantech company, was the run-away winner of the PitchCamp competition that opened Invest Atlantic  on Tuesday.

CEO Daniel Hoyles explained in his one-minute pitch that his company is developing a device that produces electricity using the motion of waves, which could power coastal towns or oil rigs at half the cost of diesel-powered electricity.

“We’re developing a device that is elegant in its simplicity and that can be built in any shipyard,” said Hoyles, whose company operates out of the Genesis Centre at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

With a new feature that is attracting more users, Moncton-based Clarity is accelerating the development of its so-called “micro-consultancy” business that helps contract and knowledge workers complete jobs for clients.

Dan Martell, the serial entrepreneur who founded the company almost two years ago, said in an interview Monday that Clarity has exceeded its targets and is now ahead of schedule in developing its micro-consultancy.  And its latest feature – a free service called Answers – is drawing more users and extending its market reach, which is only hastening the company’s growth.

I was depressed after the meeting. Bob Williamson was defiant. It was the spring of 2010, and we had just met with an eminent person in the start-up community. We had outlined Williamson’s plan for a regional conference to unite start-ups and investors in Atlantic Canada. Williamson was insistent that the conference, to be called Invest Atlantic, be pan-regional, even though some sponsors would have preferred an event focused on one province.

What we heard from this person was discouraging. He insisted that the number of regional start-ups was too small to sustain such a conference, and

When Peter Conlon looks back at his career, he may muse that September 2013 was the month in which the revolution he has brought to Nautel Ltd. bore fruit.

Started in 1969, the Hackett’s Cove manufacturer was a maker of niche radio transmitters before Conlon became CEO in 2006. But as the world entered its economic catastrophe in 2008, he led Nautel in an initiative to ramp up investment and branch into new markets. As a result the company’s annual revenue has soared from about $15 million in 2006 to about $40 million today, and its estimated market share has more than quintupled.

A University of New Brunswick researcher whose technology has helped to stabilize huge sand dunes in Iran is now forming a company to develop commercial applications for the North American market, including the mining and agricultural industries.

Mostafa Aghaei has developed his environmentally friendly Nanocoil product from natural polymers to be mixed with water and used to prevent erosion or other movement of soil, sand or dust. He is now working with the university and Stiletto Consulting of Fredericton to develop the company, whose name is BIOpolynet, and is looking for a business

Hannes Weiland and Robert Niven at CarbonCure Technologies in Halifax asked on Twitter last week why no one in the Nova Scotia election is discussing the potential of startups, and asked me to weigh in on the matter.

“I'll bet I'm not alone in voting for the party that credibly addresses the #startupNS economy,” tweeted Niven, the cleantech company’s CEO.

They have a point. If politicians are unveiling policies that would hasten the development of IT, biotech and cleantech companies in Nova Scotia, the message certainly isn’t reaching the voting public. It’s a shame, because startups

Puritas Energy Inc. is striving to make sure that calamities like Hurricane Sandy aren’t exacerbated by failing emergency generators, brought on by changes in the composition of diesel fuel in the past five or six years.

The Halifax company has secured the North American licence to sell DieselPure filters, which were invented by Halifax entrepreneur Peter Kerrin. The device is designed to make sure that diesel sitting in storage tanks for four to six months or longer maintains its potency so it can work when it’s needed.

“One of the challenges in an emergency situation is access to