Matt Stewart and Rob Myers should be poster boys for holding down business development costs.

Last year, the two residents of Sydney won $10,000 from the initial Spark Cape Breton competition, which Innovacorp held to encourage startups on the island. The pair won for a company called InstantDiner, which they hoped would become an online ordering and reservation system for independent restaurants.

After a pivot earlier this year, they are beta-testing a new business called PizzaGO, an online site that lets local pizzerias take orders quickly and easily. They have one paying client in

As the Oceans ’14 conference gets under way in St. John’s today, a local startup will debut the 3D underwater visualization system it has been working on for several years.

Whitecap Scientific has developed a product called ROV3D, which creates interactive three-dimensional diagrams of underwater structures and objects using information collected by cameras on un-manned rovers. The company has been working for three years at the Genesis Centre – the Memorial University commercialization centre – with the goal of improving companies’ ability to view underwater topography and structures

The problem of attracting early adopters once again showed itself at the Entrevestor-Entrepreneurs’ Forum luncheon in St. John’s on Thursday, even though it hadn’t been invited.

We had a great turnout and a truly superb meal at the Junior Common Room at Gushue Hall, Memorial University of Newfoundland. About 45 people turned out to join in two discussions – one about the coming Venture Newfoundland and Labrador Fund, and another on encouraging corporations to invest in startups.

Rather than feature keynote speakers, the Entrevestor-EF events are an opportunity for the startup community

Norex, the Halifax web development company, has issued the following press release:

Halifax based innovation and web firm Norex presenting at the world’s largest AdTech conference in Tokyo

Halifax, NS -- September 9, 2014 – It is not every day that one of our Halifax based technology companies is featured at the largest AdTech conference on the other side of the world but on September 18, Partner Leah Skerry of Norex.ca will be on stage presenting to a crowd of over 14,000 delegates about Norex’s products and innovation.

Hosting marketing and advertising delegates from over 40

Failure isn’t something most of us celebrate, but Kathleen Rayworth said her failures help her to be an effective executive director of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum, a regional organization that links entrepreneurs with seasoned advisers from the business world.

Rayworth has been working at the forum since 2007, becoming executive director in 2010. Despite her characteristic modesty, she is

The fifth annual Invest Atlantic conference will shine a spotlight on a problem that hounds every startup community — how to encourage more wealthy individuals to invest in local young companies?

Since it began in 2010, Invest Atlantic has chosen a theme each year, such as partnering with corporations or global investing, and in 2014 is focusing on angel investment. That’s investment in startups by individuals, either on their own or through organized networks.

The growth of angel investment makes sense because there are individuals in the region who have money to invest, and angel

When Claire Ciel Zimmerman entered the Summ’er Up entrepreneurship program at Dalhousie University this summer, she hadn’t even heard of a lean canvas.

The co-founder of the magazine publishing startup Bootstrap had to learn how to use the nine panels of the canvas to test theories on developing a business.

“As my colleagues and I moved through the program we began to see the value of the lean canvas as a set of guiding principles, which became very useful in considering how to establish a viable business with a sustainable revenue model,” said Zimmerman.

She has now joined the

BioNova, the life sciences association in Nova Scotia, has issued the following press release:  

BioInnovation Challenge Semi-Finalists Announced

Halifax, NS -- September 9, 2014 -- The semi-finalists have been chosen for the 2014 edition of The BioInnovation Challenge (BIC).

Scott Moffitt, Managing Director of BioNova, the host of BIC, announced today that a selection committee has chosen the semi-finalists who will take part in the program. The semi-finalists will receive professional pitch training between now and the semi-final run off, which will be held in Halifax on October 20.

When Shea Kewin and Tim Priamo were playing hockey together as children in Guelph, Ont., they couldn’t have known they’d one day form a company to help players improve their game.

The two former teammates are the co-founders of HWKI, which has developed a camera that fits on a hockey helmet. The device lets players record what they see as they play a game or practise, and then review it later on a mobile or computer device, and share it with coaches or other players.

 “We’re producing a wearable video camera for hockey players,” said Kewin in a phone interview last week. “It lets them

Cellufuel, a Halifax renewable energy company, and PwC Corporate Finance have released the following statement:

CelluFuel raises $5 million in capital, launches demonstration scale project

PwC Corporate Finance Inc. acted as lead advisor on the transaction and secured private equity investors

HALIFAX, Sept. 3, 2014  - Today, Halifax, NS-based CelluFuel Inc. announced that it has completed a $5 million capital raise to begin construction of its demonstration scale plant for the production of synthetic, renewable diesel fuel from woody biomass. CelluFuel will construct its demonstration