The most important trend in the Atlantic Canadian startup community last year was that provincial government agencies played a smaller role in financing startups than funds based outside the region and local private venture capital funds.

The June 2014 Entrevestor Intelligence Report, which we’re publishing here today, focuses on startup financing in the region, especially on equity financing for innovative young companies. Providing equity financing for these innovative young companies was until recently the domain of provincial agencies — the Nova Scotia Crown corporations Innovacorp

We’re pleased today to unveil the first Atlantic Canada Startup Directory, sponsored by Launch36.

The directory is published today in the Spring 2014 Entrevestor Intelligence report, which is now on our site. Hard copies will be available next week, and will be available at the Atlantic Venture Forum. We’ll do our best to get copies out to groups in all four provinces.

The directory includes the coordinates for 159 startups, arranged in four main groups, IT, Life Sciences, Cleantech and Advanced Manufacturing. It also has a selection of service companies that are part of the community.

Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil yesterday unveiled an economic planning panel that is rich with talent from the startup community.

The 17-member panel, to be chaired by the premier, will take a year and a half to devise a 10-year economic plan in keeping with the report of the recent Ivany Commission on the Nova Scotian economy. The panel is being greeted with some skepticism, but there are a few things I really like about it.

First, it’s remarkably similar in structure to Premier David Alward’s New Brunswick Research and Innovation Council, announced last year. Both bodies include

SimplyCast in Partnership with Saint Mary's University Executive and Professional Development to Launch Leadership Training Course

SimplyCast is looking to create leaders among its team by offering comprehensive communication and management training.

The Saint Mary's program, designed by instructor Brenda Fair, develops communication skills and strategies through team building exercises and ongoing communication challenges.

Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, May 28, 2014 - SimplyCast.com, a global leader in multi-channel marketing Platform-as-a-Service solutions, today announced that the company

Ambir Solutions, one of Atlantic Canada’s leading technology consultancies, has agreed to join EY Canada (formerly Ernest & Young) as part of its business consultancy division.

The Saint John-based service company, which has offices in Halifax, Fredericton and St. John’s,  said in a statement it had signed a letter of intent to join EY. The organization’s 60 employees will all be joining the international firm.

“We decided last year that we were going to embark on a growth strategy, only we envisioned it would be as independent company,” said Ambir CEO Ian Cavanagh in an interview

They are stars in the regional startup community, enjoying a high degree of success at a young age.

When they are asked to explain their early achievements, brothers Stephen and Patrick Hankinson say that growing up in rural Nova Scotia they had few leisure options, so they began tinkering with their dad’s computer, learning a passion for tech and entrepreneurialism from him.

Both credit

Paul Singh has a message that Atlantic Canadian startups need to listen to.

Singh is the founder of Disruption Corp. in Arlington, Va., which recently announced a $50 million post-seed fund for startups.

Last year, when he was working for another investor group called 500 Startups, he visited Halifax twice. He will return next month to be one of the speakers at the Atlantic Venture Forum.

Frequently, when he travels, he sends out tweets along the lines of the one he posted May 20, which said:

“How to build a Silicon Valley in your own city:

1. Focus on importing urgency.

2.

The organizers of Atlantic Venture Forum have named 24 companies to present at the two-day event next month, representing all the main segments of the startup community.

The second annual AVF, presented by Critical Path Group, will take place at the Westin Nova Scotian in Halifax on June 17-18. One of the great features of the event is that local companies get to pitch to the entire forum, which includes local and international investors.  

There will be two more presenting companies than last year, and one person familiar with the deliberations said the organizers had a tough time

Many in the region’s business world are saddened by the death of David McNamara, former vice president of incubation at Innovacorp in Halifax, who has died at the age of 63 after just two months of retirement.

Business leaders have been quick to praise McNamara’s long service to the province, both at Innovacorp and in many senior positions in community, economic and business development.

Joe Catalfamo had heard the story of Radian6 before, but he certainly didn’t seem to mind hearing it again.

The managing partner of the Toronto venture capital fund Summerhill Venture Partners sat happily at the back of the hall during a panel discussion at Canada’s Venture Capital & Private Equity Association's annual meeting in Ottawa last week.

On the stage, Radian6 CEO Marcel LeBrun told the story of how angel investor Gerry Pond got him together with fellow entrepreneurs Chris Newton and Chris Ramsey. Together, they decided to launch a company that would help corporations monitor