Side Door Closes US$3M Round

Side Door, the Halifax startup that arranges performances at unconventional venues, has closed an equity funding round of US$3 million (C$3.7 million), with which it hopes to increase its presence in the U.S.

Entrepreneurs Laura Simpson and Dan Mangan founded the company in 2017 with the mission of building a platform that would connect music acts with people willing to host performances in

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BioInnovation Challenge Seeks Entrants

Life sciences industry group BioNova is looking for startups to compete in its annual BioInnovation Challenge, which will be held virtually again this year and offer a $55,000 prize of funding and in-kind services.

Now in its eleventh year, the pitching competition will be held during BioPort Atlantic -- the annual conference for life sciences and biotech in Atlantic Canada -- between November 2

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Female-Led Firms Under-Funded

Atlantic Canada looks set to post a banner year for startup funding, but one category of company represents a well of untapped potential: those led by women.

Companies with women in their c-suites are not only underrepresented in the innovation community, but also raise far less money on a proportional basis than do male-run businesses. Entrevestor’s 2020 Startup Data Report, released last

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Nasdaq Elevates Meta to Unicorn

Atlantic Canada has minted its first publicly traded unicorn: Dartmouth’s Metamaterial Inc.

The company began trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange Monday thanks to a reverse acquisition of Texas-based Torchlight Energy Resources. By the close, Meta boasted a market capitalization (the total value of its shares) of about US$2.2 billion, or more than C$2.7 billion.

The deal is part of a trend of

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MareComms, Sedna in MassChallenge

Two Dartmouth-based oceantech startups, Marecomms and Sedna Technologies, have been accepted into the MassChallenge accelerator, one of the top startup programs in the U.S.

Participation in the prestigious program would benefit any startup, but it is especially significant in the development of Marecomms, whose solution aims to improve communications with autonomous underwater vehicles, or AUVs.

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Nine Enter Innovacorp Accelerate

Nova Scotia venture capital Crown corporation Innovacorp has announced nine participants for the inaugural cohort of its revamped Accelerate program.

The program will replace both the old, longer program of the same name and the shorter Sprint accelerator. It will be completely virtual and focus on oceantech, medtech, agtech and cleantech. The program is meant for companies that have established

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GoodLeaf Starts Montreal Plant

Vertical farm operator GoodLeaf Farms announced last week it expects to break ground on a new indoor vertical farm in the Montreal area by autumn – its first expansion since building its Guelph, Ont. plant in 2019.

Founded by Halifax entrepreneur Gregg Curwin in 2011, GoodLeaf grows micro greens indoors year-round using data science, LED lighting and advanced watering and fertilizing techniques

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Job Openings: Passiv, Dalhousie U

Our Jobs of the Week column today features a pair of openings: Fredericton-based Passiv is looking for a Marketing Associate, while Dalhousie University in Halifax needs a Manager for its Mentorship Skills Project.

Passiv has developed software that helps passive investors – who use low-fee investment vehicles like ETFs – rebalance their portfolios. The company has been growing strongly and

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Startups Land $1b in Funding in 30 Months

Atlantic Canadian startups have raised more than $1 billion in growth capital in the last 30 months, according to research released today by Entrevestor.

Today we're publishing the 2020 Atlantic Canadian Startup Data Report, which shows that East Coast startups rebounded with vigor from the initial shock of the pandemic. Though the creation of new companies slowed down, employment and revenue

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