Dartmouth-based sustainable packaging company Freshr Technologies has received a loan of $498,750 from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency to expand and improve its operations.

Freshr Technologies develops and manufactures a naturally derived antibacterial coating that can be applied on fully compostable food packaging film. It extends shelf life by 15 to 30 percent by inhibiting bacteria

Fredericton-based Chinova Bioworks and Nova Scotia/Ontario-based ALT-PRO Advantage are among seven early-stage companies to receive a total of $1.7 million from Natural Products Canada.

The funding is intended to help the companies address key challenges in their go-to-market journey, the group said.

“NPC’s contribution to these companies is an investment in a stronger Canada,” said Shelley

Dartmouth’s SimplyCast, whose platform helps companies to consolidate and automate their marketing efforts and communications, has signed an MOU with Pico Public Cloud, a technology provider in Bangladesh.

The collaboration provides organizations in Bangladesh with cloud solutions and services while ensuring that practices are culturally relevant and compliant, SimplyCast said in a statement.

Aeon Blue, the Cape Breton green fuel and carbon capture startup, is halfway through its bridge round, and is planning a seed round with the goal of becoming fully operational by 2027.

Based in Sydney River, Aeon Blue specializes in the production of sustainable eFuels by harnessing wind energy and seawater. The company’s technology and processes aim to integrate hydrogen production with carbon

Amid a funding landscape that has seen equity funding become increasingly scarce, some founders are continuing to find ways to raise capital.

Three founders spoke with Entrevestor about their experiences raising investment, with all three reporting that advance preparation and strategic planning have proven crucial to the process.

Retellio’s founding team includes two alumni of Newfoundland’s

The Foundry, the new innovation space on Charlottetown’s Great George Street, is seeking founder-members, especially those aiming at international markets, its new director told Entrevestor.

The Foundry seeks to foster innovation and community by enabling water cooler collisions and the rapid exploration and rejection or development of ideas.

“We are looking for founders striving for exports

The J Herbert Smith Centre at the University of New Brunswick is looking for applications for its next RBC Student Pitch Competition, which will take place at the Wu Conference Centre on March 19.

The competition is open to any full-time university student with an interest in driving technological or social innovation to better the world, the group said. Individuals or teams of up to four can

Revenues by private companies in the Prince Edward Island bioscience cluster logged in at $612 million in 2023, marking an increase of 84 percent since 2018, said the PEI BioAlliance in a statement.

The umbrella organization for the bioindustries on the Island releases data on the cluster’s economic performance each year. The most recent study of 50 bioscience sector companies based on 2023

Charlottetown’s latest innovation space, The Foundry, opened this week with an investment of $855,000 from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and $712,500 from the province.

The Foundry, which is run by the PEI IT Alliance, will support the delivery of essential programming and mentorship services for the province’s tech industry, ACOA said in a statement.

The new space on Great George

The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency has invested $545,249 in Saint John-based entrepreneurship hub ConnexionWorks and $3,007,434 in 10 New Brunswick Community Business Development Corporations and its association.

The ConnexionWorks funds allow the non-profit to offer its Premier Entrepreneurship Program over the next two years, providing early-stage entrepreneurs from Greater Saint John