Q1 Labs Exit Still Paying Dividends

If any exit can demonstrate how the economy benefits when a young company is bought by a larger company, it was IBM’s purchase of Q1 Labs of Fredericton in early 2012.

That purchase, reportedly worth more than $600 million, did more than just reward investors and staff at the cybersecurity company. It has led to hundreds of jobs in cybersecurity R&D in the New Brunswick capital, and made New

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Budget May Impact Some Startups

Startup founders should be aware of a subtle change coming to the Income Tax Act (Canada) based on wording revealed in the recent federal budget. It could impact their tax rate or ability to participate in programs like SR&ED.

The change centres around Canadian Controlled Private Corporations, or CCPCs, and it’s important because they have much lower tax rates (by as much as half) than

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Venture for Canada Launches in NB

Venture for Canada, the program that matches leading Canadian graduates to jobs in the country’s startups, will announce its launch in New Brunswick on Tuesday.

The organization will hold a launch event, open to the public, at Planet Hatch in Fredericton at noon tomorrow. Tech evangelist David Alston and Chinova Bioworks CEO Natasha Dhayagude (a former Venture for Canada fellow) will be the

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Spark Zone Hits Its Stride

One snowy evening last month, the Spark Zone finally got a chance to show what it had been up to in the past year or two.

The entrepreneurship group hosted its New Product Competition finals at Saint Mary’s University, showcasing three student-led companies it has been working with for the past few months. What was notable was the quality of the presenting companies. It wasn’t just that the

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PocketPass Wins Collide Event

PocketPass, which plans to use blockchain technology to stop scalpers from jacking up ticket prices, won the $3000 first prize at Dalhousie University’s Collide pitching competition Thursday night.

Founded by Conor Daly and Kyle Gardiner, PocketPass is using blockchain, the technology that underpins the cryptocurrency bitcoin, to make sure scalpers don’t raise the price of tickets above a

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Kognitiv Spark Gains Traction

Kognitiv Spark has plunged into the heady market for augmented realty training products, and is now using its traction to raise capital.

The Fredericton company offers an augmented reality solution to help the military and industries with training or instructing remote workers using complex equipment.

Yan Simard – a serial entrepreneur who founded another Fredericton startup, Zaptap – said the

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Canada’s First AngelList Syndicate

Charlottetown-based Forestry.io has become the first startup in Canada to close a round of funding that includes an AngelList syndicate — a development that opens a new avenue of financing for Canadian startups.

Forestry.io, which has developed a platform for posting content on static websites, closed its US$560,000 (C$747,000) seed round in February. The investors included an AngelList

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Briefs: Deacon, Dal, Appili, CarbonCure

Startup Zone Names Deacon as Entrepreneur-in-Residence

Startup Zone, the startup hub in downtown Charlottetown, has announced that Colin Deacon will be joining the Startup Zone team as Entrepreneur-in-Residence. Deacon brings years of experience and know-how from investment, venture capital, and business building, said the organization in a statement. Deacon is the Founder of BlueLight Analytics

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A New BoomersPlus Enters Ontario

BoomersWork, the Halifax company that helps retired executives find part-time work, is rebranding itself as BoomersPlus and launching operations in Ontario.

The new branding is part of an expanded service that will offer its clients — largely people over the age of 50 —various lifestyle services, such as travel bookings and financial services.

Since it began in 2012, the goal of BoomersWork has

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