The New Brunswick Innovation Foundation announced yesterday that the total prize value of its Breakthru competition – which assesses the business plans of embryonic companies -- has risen to a total of as much as $406,000, making it the largest competition of its kind in Canada.

The NBIF and the law firm Cox & Palmer are staging the fourth bi-annual Breakthru competition, which assesses viable business ideas and teams’ ability to plot out their development and then execute on the plans. No business is too early for the competition, the entries for which close on Dec. 20.

The foundation

Our Guest Columnist today is Ian Cavanagh, Chief Executive Officer of Ambir Co., founding Chairman of the NB IT Council and Member of the New Brunswick Business Council. Ian is also a mentor with Launch36. This article has appeared already on the Ambir website and in the Telegraph Journal of Saint John.

 

As we head towards the end of another year, ongoing economic uncertainty faces both businesses and governments around the globe.  We are reminded daily of the challenging fiscal climate we are experiencing here in New Brunswick.  The picture that gets painted is a bleak one, lacking

Clarity, the Moncton-based startup that connects entrepreneurs with advisers around the world, has announced a $1.6 million round of investment, which is a key step in founder Dan Martell’s plan to develop a multinational company over the next decade or so.

The financing includes investment by two Silicon Valley venture capital funds that backed Halifax-based co-browsing sensation GoInstant, as well as a range of funds and individuals from across North America. While it is one of the largest VC deals in the region this year, it is most notable because of the quality of investor.

The founders of Execute Skate, a Halifax startup developing an app for skateboarders, are casting an eye to California so they can work with the best tech experts — and skateboarders — in the world.

The quartet of entrepreneurs met in September when they enrolled in Dalhousie University’s Lean Startup course, which teaches entrepreneurship by having students start a business. They began to devise a piece of hardware that attaches to the bottom of a skateboard and monitors what tricks the skateboarder is performing. This is accompanied by software that shows the data on a mobile device,

Adeptio, a Charlottetown Software-as-a-Service company aiming to improve wellness and productivity, has closed a $500,000 round of seed financing and is working on plans to raise more than $2 million from venture capital investors next year.

The company was spun out of Fredericton-based tech consultancy SwiftRadius in July with seven employees. In just four months, it has gained traction, secured corporate clients, hired three more employees, and continues to add features to its personal achievement software.

“We have nine companies on board and a very active (sales) funnel — quality

You tend to sit up and take notice when someone pitching an online music product says they’ve conducted their customer validation with a community that includes Janis Joplin’s former manager.

Becky Jefferson and Bill McEwen did just that at Startup Weekend Halifax this month when they pitched Backstage Sessions, a proposed website that would allow music fans to experience online get-togethers with bands.

The company is in its infancy. In fact, Jefferson and McEwen first met at Startup Weekend at Dalhousie University on Nov. 16-18. And they are still working out the finer points of their

Fredericton-based Atlantic Hydrogen Inc. will build its first industrial-scale facility at Emera’s Bayside electrical generating station near Saint John in a deal that includes an equity investment worth more than $5 million.

AHI released a statement on Wednesday saying that Halifax-based Emera, which is the parent of Nova Scotia Power Inc., has hired AHI to install a CarbonSaver system at the gas-fired Bayside plant – the first such facility aside from the prototype at AHI’s Fredericton headquarters. The company plans to begin construction in the spring of 2013.

AHI has spent 12 years

MedRunner, a Saint John company developing an electronic prescription product, may soon pioneer  a new product to improve patient safety in the delivery of medication at hospitals, clinics and other outlets.

The company, which started  about three years ago, already has a Software-as-a-Service product in the New Brunswick market that allows doctors to order drugs for patients through computers or devices, thus improving the accuracy and recording of prescriptions. While it pushes that project forward, the company is also looking at a second product that would provide a digital record of a

Like many journalists, I pay more attention to fundraising by startups than I should, but it’s hard not to sit up and take notice when we had a week like last week.

Four Atlantic Canadian startups announced that they raised a total of $10 million, the lion’s share coming from an $8 million investment in AioTV by a Chinese tech company. That’s a lot of money for one week.  And then this week the investment rose again when LeadSift said it raised $635,000 from OMERS Ventures and several angels.

Consider the funding of companies in the region two years ago. Data from Thomson Reuters show

It seemed appropriate that Equals6, the Halifax-based social network for students, should win a startup award in Boston on the same day that entrepreneurs gathered in downtown Halifax to unveil a national networking scheme for young enterprises.

The news of Equals6’s success came just before StartUp Canada unveiled its plan to link the entrepreneurial communities across the country through meetings, online tools and a campaign.

Equals6 CEO Andy Osburn said yesterday that his company, which helps students around the world connect with prospective employers, was voted the Hottest Startup