The venture capital investor didn’t bother trying to hide his contempt for my theory. ``It’s just because of one deal,’’ he shot back as we chatted last week.

I’d just said that the investment, entrepreneurship and innovation community in Atlantic Canada was at a watershed moment, that the environment had changed just in the past year and that the change was permanent. For example, I cited Thomson Reuters data showing the total VC investments in Nova Scotia had averaged $17.5 million in 2009 and 2010. Already in 2011, six deals have been announced worth more than $42 million. So, with

Kudos to Atlantic Canadian startups that have recently received recognition beyond our borders.

TitanFile, the Dartmouth digital file-sharing company, received glowing coverage Friday from the Financial Post, in its special reporting on the 50 best-managed companies in Canada. The story noted how aggressive CEO Milan Vrekic is, hoping for $10 million in revenue in Year 3, compared with an estimated $500,000 this year.

Meanwhile, Halifax-based multi-channel marketing company SimplyCast was listed as one of the top 100 Canadian startups this week in ranking compiled by global web

As it works on raising as much as $1 million in new capital, Adfinitum has just increased its revenue by signing up a huge new client.

On Wednesday, St. John’s-based Adfinitum signed up the third largest advertising holding company in the world as a client. Adfinitum CEO Ed Clarke declined to name the new customer, but he did say that Adfinitum’s system would allow any of its thousands of staff members on five continents to use data on existing ads as a research tool for planning ad campaigns.  

Usually when Adfinitum grows, it does so by expanding its massive databank of

The tech media in San Francisco was abuzz last night with the launch of GoInstant, the latest venture of Jevon MacDonald, until recently the entrepreneur-in-residence at Innovacorp in Halifax.

Forbes, PC Magazine, TechCrunch, ZDnet and CNet all reported on the launch of the Halifax-based venture at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in Silicon Valley.

MacDonald, a PEI native who came to Halifax by way of Austin, Texas, amicably left the one-year post at Innovacorp earlier this year and has been known to be working on his next venture with a group of collaborators. GoInstant’s technology

Smart Skin is the gift that keeps on giving to Kumaran Thillainadarajah.

A few years ago, the Fredericton resident developed a thin pressure-sensitive material that could relay information when someone pressed any specific place on the surface. He began to explore practical applications for the technology, such as applying it to artificial limbs so amputees could feel pressure on their prosthetics. However, the development process was long and expensive.

Finally he hit on the right application and in November, 2009, Smart Skin Technologies was born. The company’s main objective is to

I'm pleased to say I signed up yesterday for DemoCamp Halifax 2011, a one-evening event hosted by file-sharing company TitanFile. The DemoCamp will take place Friday, Sept. 23 from 5-8:30 pm at the Dalhousie University Computer Science Building.

The DemoCamp boasts an excellent array of speakers, including TitanFile CEO Milan Vrekic. Other speakers include: Compilr CEO Patrick Hankinson; Tether CEO Tim Burke; GoInstant boss Jevon MacDonald; Monica Goyal, co-founderof MyLegalBriefcase.com; noted startup lawyer Christian Weisenburger of Beyond the Box Law; NewPace CEO Brent Newsome; and

Some interesting data flowed from Business Development Bank of Canada late last week, which shows that Atlantic Canadians are less entrepreneurial than most other parts of Canada, but we’re generally running with the herd.

The problem is, we need entrepreneurship more than other parts of the country, so we should be near the top.

In a report titled ``Canadian Entrepreneurship Status 2010’’, the federal business generation agency said that 8.8% of Atlantic Canadians intend to start a business. That’s about half of the 17% in Alberta and BC, but within striking distance of the roughly 11%

Scott Walton has a long journey in front of him – geographically, financially and likely in other ways. But he’s well under way.

Walton, the 24-year-old founder and CEO of the Saint John carbon capture enterprise Enovex Corp., will leave Monday for an eight-week road show that will take him to Colorado, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Calgary, New York City, Banff and Toronto in search of capital and customers. He will attend the Modern Energy Forum in Denver, and is one of 10 Canadian cleantech companies invited to the Northern CleanTech Showcase in Beijing and Shanghai.

He’s got an

A roundup of news on the Atlantic Canadian startup community:

-- KnowCharge Inc. of Saint John announced its first round of funding: $438,000 from the First Angel Network and $200,000 from the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation.

-- New Brunswick Information Technology Council CEO Larry Sampson's ode to productivity. And his warning that New Brunswick is lagging in the gaming industry.

-- Bio Food Tech of Charlottetown changes its name.

 

 

 

Now that it’s secured $500,000 in funding, Marcato Digital Solutions, Inc. is setting its sights on a $2 million fundraising to finance the international roll-out of its administration system for musicians and music festivals.

``We’re pretty much positioned now to engage in some really serious ass-kicking,’’ Darren Gallop, the CEO and co-founder of the Sydney, NS-based company, said in an interview late last month. ``We’ve signed up four clients in the last two weeks alone that we’re really excited about.’’

For at least a year, there’s been a feeling of excitement surrounding Marcato.