Could there be a more auspicious time to unveil the program for the Pond-Deshpande Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of New Brunswick?

Doubt it.

New Brunswick is still basking in the glow of the Radian6 and Q1 Labs exits. The province has not one but two thriving accelerator programs. The federal government recently released a report on funding innovation, and the provincial government is due to follow suit any time now. There’s never been a better time to delve into the world of startups in New Brunswick.

“People are starting to coin the phrase, Silicon

Now that its only VC backer has converted its debt to equity, Halifax-based STI Technologies Ltd. Is embarking on a fundraising campaign it hopes will raise $5 million to $10 million in follow on funding this year.

The company formerly called Sampling Technologies has doubled its revenue in the past year, and it’s now seeking funding from major venture capital firms or strategic partners to back its international expansion.

On Thursday, GrowthWorks Atlantic Venture Fund announced in a press release it would convert its $2 million of debentures in the company into common stock. The fund

Six months into its existence, RtTech Software of Riverview, N.B., has raised $750,000 in equity financing and is just about breaking even.

The company – whose software helps companies become more efficient with energy and their machinery – hopes that a round of seed financing will see it through to profitability, and it will not be distracted by fundraising again.

“We are a startup but we have a great pipeline and we have about 40 clients,” said RtTech CEO Pablo Asiron in an interview. “After only six months, we are almost breaking even.”

The New Brunswick Innovation Foundation

Tapajyoti Das has put his Masters degree in computer science on hold so that he can focus all his (considerable) energy on the demo and launch of his young lead-generation company, LeadSift.

LeadSift can scan the tweets of people in a geographic location and automatically find those who are intent on making a purchase. The purpose is targeted marketing, so an auto dealer, for example, could find a person who’s looking for a certain make of car, track that person down and help him or her find a suitable vehicle. What’s more, LeadSift can rank the people tweeting about a purchase so the

After growing 250 percent in each of the last three years, Charlottetown-based ScreenScape Networks is planning a major change this year on the presentation of its public video screens.

ScreenScape provides software that allows companies and organizations to broadcast messages on TV screens in public places. CEO and founder Mark Hemphill said in an interview last week that its oldest code is the three-year-old system it uses for the displays themselves. Now, these displays are getting an upgrade, probably in August.

“We’re beefing up the technology to have the best-looking displays in

Equals6, the Halifax-based social network that links students and prospective employers, has secured a $250,000 seed round of financing from Innovacorp, the Nova Scotian innovation agency.

We last featured Equals6 in September, when the company had signed up about 5,000 students and 75 employers to its site. In the ensuing eight months, it has almost tripled the number of students registered on its site to 13,000, and the number of employers has risen to 125.

Now with its first external funding – the founders have financed the project themselves and bootstrapped thus far – the company

Fredericton-based Zaptap is on the threshold of closing a round of funding as it prepares for the North American launch of its system by a handful of luxury product makers this autumn.

Headed by founder and CEO Yan Simard, Zaptap’s software allows consumers to ``zap’’ a product label in a store with their smartphones, and immediately receive information on the product such as technical specifications, warranty information, etc. The system allows a retailer or maker of a consumer product to design and produce a label, control the information it delivers to consumers, and track the

My latest column for Progress Magazine looks into the myths and realities of exits, arguing that they are good for the economy and society. Some economic development experts tend to wonder why government should back startups when the likely outcome is they sell out and the jobs vanish. This article points out correctly that often the companies and the employees remain in the area after an exit. More important, the investment capital base expends and other people are encouraged to start knowledge-based businesses.

I'd encourage everyone to jump over to Progress and give it a read, as this

The tech community in New Brunswick has organized a bus tour of the tech world in the Boston area from May 22 to 24 with the aim of exposing entrepreneurs to people, processes and capital in the second-largest tech centre in the U.S.

The tour is sponsored by the Moncton Cybersocial Committee, Propel ICT, the McKenzie Accelerator at McKenzie College and Speilo, the Moncton-based maker of gaming cabinets, equipment and software.

“The purpose of the trip is to help develop relationships and linkages with other companies and suppliers for export and development, and to inspire and motivate

Adfinitum, the St. John’s-based advertising data bank, has learned that it is one of six companies invited to participate in the Canadian Technology Accelerator, or CTA, program in New York this summer.

The CTA is a three-month program organized by the Canadian Consulate in New York that will help six Canadian tech startups learn from the digital industries that have clustered in the largest U.S. city. The program offers communal office space for all the qualifying entrepreneurs, introductions to potential mentors and investors,  and support from the Trade Commissioner Service.