If there is a theme developing in the pitches we’ve seen this week in Halifax, it is that East Coast startups are finding their paths to an initial market.

In the Propel Demo Day on Tuesday and the first day of the Atlantic Venture Forum on Wednesday, we’re seeing pitches that highlight sales or lay out (for the most part) credible plans on getting to market.

At its heart, the AVF is a meeting place for Atlantic Canadian entrepreneurs and investors from outside the region. And the underlying message in many of the meetings is that the founders have identified their first markets and know

In a landmark venture capital funding, Fredericton agriculture technology company Resson has raised US$11 million (C$14 million) from Monsanto Growth Ventures and other investors to expand its team and open a Silicon Valley office.

Resson said in a statement today that the investment was led by the VC arm of Monsanto, the St. Louis-based agrichemical and agritech giant that is best known for its

Six companies from the Propel ICT Build Program displayed last night the budding revenue streams that place them in the top tier of the Atlantic Canadian regional accelerator – at least, for now.

Up until now, Propel has been divided into two programs – Build for more advanced companies and Launch for seed stage startups. And six Build companies last night made their case for investment by

Eight companies from the Propel ICT Launch program pitched at Demo Day today Tuesday night, seeking in total investment of more than $3 million.

The companies – two from each Atlantic Province -- entered the program at an early stage less four months ago, and displayed in their pitches their paths to their markets.

The companies are:

Airbly

Argyle Shore, P.E.I.

Led by Chris VanHorn, Airbly

In the next three days, 26 Atlantic Canadian startups will pitch publicly in Halifax, and we’d like to help people learn more about them.

The Propel ICT Demo Day at Neptune Theatre tonight, and the Atlantic Venture Forum at the Nova Scotian Westin Wednesday and Thursday both feature pitches by 14 companies from around the region. Two companies, Airbly of Argyle Shore, P.E.I., and WoodsCamp of

Sean Fahey is keeping some impressive company today.

The Founder and CEO of Moncton-based HR software maker VidCruiter is in Washington, D.C., where he is attending the Select USA conference. He’s been meeting with the American ambassador to Canada Bruce Heyman, and later in the day will hear a keynote address by President Barack Obama.

It’s interesting that Fahey is visiting the American

Two sales and/or marketing positions and an opening for a full stack IoT developer headline our Jobs of the Week column today.

Our offerings this week are located across the region. In St. John’s, Celtx, which makes software for the film industry, has an opening for an independent and energetic person as Vice-President of sales. Dynagen, which makes controllers to automatically start, monitor,

Young entrepreneur Alex Gillis was keen to share his views on education with the Prime Minister when they met earlier this month.

Gillis was one of eight young Canadians, (Halifax-based Sage Franch was another) to be invited to meet the PM to discuss how education has fueled their success.  

“I told the PM there isn’t enough creativity in our school curricula,” said Gillis, who two years ago

BioNova, the Nova Scotian life sciences industry association, has chosen Nature’s Way’s acquisition of Ascenta Health as its good news story of the past year.

The association last night held its annual Good News and Blues festivity – a chance to celebrate a good news story in the biotech sphere, and listen to blues played by members of the life sciences community. And it announced the best news

Moncton-based Qimple, whose software helps companies recruit talent, has raised a $1.1 million round of seed capital from the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation and Toronto-based Green Century Investment.

The funding means the two-year-old company, which last year attended the 500 Startups accelerator in Silicon Valley, has raised a total of $1.6 million. Having launched its product last year,