When John Hamblin envisioned his retirement years ago, he didn’t foresee it including a turn as CEO of a tech startup that was building monitoring technology for the world’s trucking companies.

But Hamblin, who retired in the spring from Clarke IT Solutions Inc., last month took the helm at Fredericton-based Geode Technology, working remotely from his base in Halifax. As the leader of the young company that is now closing its first round of equity funding, Hamblin hopes to establish a structure that will help the company gain some traction with corporate clients by next summer.

 “What

Something interesting is happening: local government are discovering startups.

There are signs in a few places that municipal governments are working with startups on new projects that could increase governmental efficiency and provide a leg up to the young companies.

The city of Fredericton is on a roll right now. The city’s not-for-profit internet provider, e-Novations recently slashed its fees so businesses and startups in the city pay about 75 percent less than companies in other Atlantic Canadian cities.

The city is also working on another initiative with HotSpot Parking, a local

The fourth annual Invest Atlantic conference will focus on talent, strategic investment and startup communities, and include a new feature, PitchCamp, which will give startups from around the region an opportunity to deliver 60-second presentations.

Invest Atlantic began in 2010, before Radian6 had announced its groundbreaking exit and no one had even thought of the Atlantic Canadian startup community. Over the years, the program has evolved as the startup community became more of a presence in the region.

The 2013 conference, to be held at the Halifax World Trade and Convention Centre

If your app caters to the fashion industry, it can only help if one of the world’s most famous models invests in your company and features your product on her TV show.

Philippe LeBlanc certainly found that out last Thursday when the U.S. reality show America’s Next Top Model featured his company Flixel, which has developed an app for cinemagraphs — that is, digital photographs that highlight one thing by having it move. The show’s producer, former supermodel Tyra Banks, sought out Flixel last September and was so impressed that she became an investor.

Flixel, which works on Apple

Two leading Canadian authorities on startups and seed funding will hold an educational session on pitching in Halifax next month as part of a nationwide campaign to improve startups’ presentations.

Ian Jeffrey from FounderFuel and John Stokes from Real Ventures, both of Montreal, will host Pitch It at the Volta startup house on Spring Garden Road on September 26 at 2 pm. The Halifax date is part of a seven-city Pitch It tour.

Tickets cost $15, and could go quickly. The Montreal event is already sold out.

Pitch It consists of two lectures, and then an opportunity for the startups in

The Sobey School of Business at St. Mary’s University wants to measure and assess all the components of the Atlantic Canadian startup ecosystem, and is looking for a range of people to help out.

Professor Ellen Farrell, well known for her work in entrepreneurship, is conducting a survey of the members of the startup community and is asking that a range of people involved with startups take 15 to 25 minutes to fill out the team’s survey .

Yes, her team at Halifax-based St. Mary’s is hoping that founders of startups and young high-growth companies will fill out the survey, but she is also

Canadian Entrepreneurs in New England, a network of Canuck expats in the Boston area, announced Tuesday it is accepting applications of its inaugural 48 Hours in the Hub event, to be held Sept. 29-Oct. 1.

Modeled on 48 Hours in the Valley hosted by the C100 group in Silicon Valley, the event is intended to be an intense two-day session that can expose 20 of the hottest startups in Canada to the booming tech and life sciences community in and around Boston.  The big difference with its West Coast counterpart is CENE is looking for life sciences as well as IT and Cleantech companies,

I don’t often post videos on Entrevestor, feeling that area is best left to my friends at Startup Kitchen. But Sally Ng has released this really cool video of the new ACcelr8 accelerator in Fredericton.  It looks amazing.

Ng, the Executive Director of ACcelr8, is planning a grand opening for the new centre in Fredericton’s Knowledge Park on Sept. 12, and startups will soon be moving in.

After a long and hectic summer, a group of entrepreneurs from Dalhousie University will unveil their financial app Purchext to angel investors in Toronto today as the final segment of the grueling Next 36 course.

Purchext is a company formed at Dalhousie last spring and its founders — Cam McDonald, Zachary Levy, and Daniel Bartek — took the project to the Next 36 program, a three-month academic/mentoring program for undergraduate entrepreneurs. The graduation from the program includes pitches to angel investors.

Having worked and reworked their proposal and technology over the summer,

Fredericton-based businesses – including the startups in the two incubators that will open this autumn -- will soon be offered a massive saving on their internet fees, which the city hopes will further develop its burgeoning startup community.

E-Novations, the not-for-profit internet provider owned by the City of Fredericton, announced last week it would offer a commercial internet service to local businesses at a discount, which is about 75 percent less than rates available in the rest of Atlantic Canada.

More than a decade ago, Fredericton set up e-Novations as a vehicle for providing