In a further sign that the ecosystem for startups in the region is continuing to evolve, Espresso Capital of Vancouver has hired Ben Forcier, Innovacorp’s former Vice-President of Investments, with primary responsibility for Atlantic Canada.

Differing from standard VC funds, Espresso issues short-term loans to tech and cleantech startups, especially those receiving support from the federal government’s Scientific Research and Experimental Development Program, commonly known as SR&ED. Espresso takes no equity and the loans of $100,000 to $1.5 million are customarily repaid in less than two

Afinin Labs Inc. of St. John’s is quickly becoming one of the stars of the tech community in Newfoundland and Labrador, largely because of the commercial potential of its stock-price prediction software, Zenquant. Recently, the company announced that it’s in the final stages of negotiations with a large financial institution to test Zenquant in a six-month trial.

The company was founded in 2009 by Memorial University researchers Garnett Wilson and Wolfgang Banzhaf. Zenquent applies algorithms based on minute-by-minute stock feed from the Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange; then alerts

The quarterly Herald Magazine came out yesterday, and its theme is a favourite of mine -- innovation. My column in the publication calls for a regional equity tax credit. I argue that ETCs are a proven means of channeling capital into innovative companies. However, the overall pool of capital in the region is too small if investors only qualify for ETCs by investing in companies in their home province. Check out my old friend John DeMont's interview with Gerry Pond, Erica Fraser and Ray Ivany.

The recent news has not all been good for the First Angel Network, but Director and Co-Founder Ross Finlay is focusing on the positive, especially his chance to once again host the National Angel Capital Organization, or NACO, Summit in October.

``It will be fabulous,’’ Finlay said in an interview Friday. ``It’s going to be even better than the last one.’’

Anyone who’s spent time with Finlay might find it difficult to believe anything could be better than the last Naco Summit in Halifax in 2008. He’s never been shy about describing its wonders (and, incidentally, others agree with him)

Smart Skin Technologies, the Fredericton company commercializing a thin material that relays information to a computer when it senses pressure, has closed a round of funding from a group of blue-chip New Brunswick investors.

Though he declined to name his new backers or say how much they invested, CEO Kumaran Thillainadarajah said they were early-stage investors in Radian6, the social media analysis company that sold out for $370 million to Salesforce.com last year.

“We actually raised 33 percent more than our target,” said Thillainadarajah. “We literally couldn’t say no to these

Just as they used to say in an old TV commercial for Alexander Keith's India Pale Ale, the people putting together the regional venture capital fund are taking the time to get it right.

Of all the accusations that may be hurled against the planning committee, obsessive punctuality won’t be among them. Premiers Darrell Dexter of Nova Scotia and David Alward of New Brunswick said last year the manager of the fund would be announced in February, then word on the street said March.

Well, I’m hearing rumblings on this brief again and people familiar with the matter say there is a movement

The $540 million exit of Dartmouth-based Ocean Nutrition has taught us three things: Ocean Nutrition is a really good company; Atlantic Canada has a good ecosystem for young companies; and the knowledge economy in the region has matured in just two years.

ONC announced Friday that its owners, Clearwater Fine Foods and Winnipeg’s Richardson Capital, have sold the maker of fish-oil derived Omega-3 fatty acids to Royal DSM, a Dutch conglomerate involved in health, nutrition and materials. The fact that DSM has annual sales of about C$12 billion means that its massive sales force should be

TitanFile Inc. is a young company with a mighty full trophy cabinet.

The Dartmouth enterprise on Tuesday was named runner-up in the Alpha Exchange Innovation Campaign Live Pitch-Off Competition at the OCE Discovery 2012 show in Toronto.

More than 200 innovators from across the country entered the contest, and 10 finalists were invited to attend OCE Discovery, an event showcasing the leading-edge technologies from the health, manufacturing and technology sectors.

TitanFile, whose technology offers better ways to communicate and collaborate online without having to worry about security

With the launch of its new Extrify product, Halifax website-design firm Headspace is taking another step closer to being predominantly a software company.

On Monday, the company headed by Kyle Racki and Kevin Springer launched extrify.com, an extranet collaboration product that allows staff of medium-sized to large companies to simply and affordably work together and share documents online.

That follows the soft launch late last year of PerfectPitch, an online instrument that helps graphic artists perfect their pitches to clients. Meanwhile, the eight people working at Headspace have

Could there be a more auspicious time to unveil the program for the Pond-Deshpande Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of New Brunswick?

Doubt it.

New Brunswick is still basking in the glow of the Radian6 and Q1 Labs exits. The province has not one but two thriving accelerator programs. The federal government recently released a report on funding innovation, and the provincial government is due to follow suit any time now. There’s never been a better time to delve into the world of startups in New Brunswick.

“People are starting to coin the phrase, Silicon