Halifax’s Best Year for Funding

We were delighted to participate in the presentation of the Halifax Index on Thursday, explaining to the Halifax Partnership’s annual event the progress of the city’s startup community in 2022.

Each spring, the Partnership releases its Halifax Index, a detailed examination of every conceivable facet of the city’s economy and life. For the past few years, Entrevestor has participated by

Continue Reading

Shift Energy Strikes Partnership

Saint John-based Shift Energy, which uses machine learning to control energy use in large complexes, has partnered with Toronto’s Blackstone Energy Services, which plans to adopt Shift’s technology.

The two companies issued a press release on Wednesday saying Blackstone Energy would incorporate SHIFT’s artificial intelligence-driven technology into its energy management systems.

Shift Energy,

Continue Reading

Covina Biomedical Closes Down

Covina Biomedical, once considered one of the hottest young bio startups in the region, has shut down and filed for insolvency.

Covina, which grew out of research at Dalhousie University, aimed to use injectable bone cement to repair the bones in people’s knees so they would not need expensive and troublesome knee replacements.

A person familiar with the situation said the company had three

Continue Reading

Andrade Wins National Mitacs Award

Rafaela Andrade has received the Outstanding Entrepreneur award at the Mitacs Entrepreneur Awards, which took place in Waterloo, Ont., earlier this month.

The CEO and Co-Founder of Halifax medtech company Myomar Molecular received the national award presented to former participants in Mitacs programs. Mitacs is a national association that works with post-secondary institutions to provide

Continue Reading

Ignite To Host Youth Startup Camp

Ignite Atlantic has opened applications for its $100 youth startup challenge to help foster entrepreneurship in rural Nova Scotia.

The youth startup challenge is a four-day summer camp that allows individuals from Grades 7 to 11 to develop and refine their entrepreneurial skills. Ignite Atlantic, an innovation hub dedicated to fostering innovation in rural communities, said it will provide

Continue Reading

The Rise of the Parallel Entrepreneur

One of the more interesting and unheralded developments in the Atlantic Canadian Business Community recently is the ascent of parallel entrepreneurs.

A parallel entrepreneur is a founder or co-founder who develops multiple companies at the same time, as opposed to a serial entrepreneur, who starts a company, exits it, then starts another.

Mentors and gurus tend to advise against launching more

Continue Reading

OECD Says MUN Benefits Ocean Economy

Memorial University is benefiting Newfoundland and Labrador's ocean economy through research, teaching and public engagement, says a recent report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The organization, which comprises 38 of the world’s richest countries, wrote the report as a part of a broader research initiative into the role of Canadian universities in regional

Continue Reading

Picketa Raises $1.4M

Fredericton-based Picketa Systems, which makes hardware and software for analyzing plant tissues, has raised a $1.4 million seed round led by the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation ahead of an early adopter program. 

The agtech startup is preparing to ship 10 units this summer to locations ranging from Alberta, to Prince Edward Island, to the United Kingdom.

In November, Picketa announced the

Continue Reading

Appili Wins Liquid Antibiotic Patent in US

Halifax drug discovery company Appili Therapeutics, which specializes in developing infectious disease treatments, has bagged a United States patent for its liquid formulation of the antibiotic metronidazole.

For Appili, which was founded in 2015, the patent offers control of an alternative to metronidazole’s usual tablet form, which tastes bitter and can prove problematic for patients with

Continue Reading