The important activity in the Nova Scotia startup community in 2019 was in the development of the ecosystem rather than the performance of companies.

Certainly, many companies had highlights, which we’ve already cited. ABK Biomedical raised $40 million in a VC round. CarbonCure Technologies was named the 2020 North America Cleantech Company of the Year. Appili Therapeutics listed on the TSX

Nova Box, which sells gift boxes stuffed with goods made in Nova Scotia, is expanding across Atlantic Canada with the acquisition of The East Coast Box Company.

Allyson England, who started Halifax-based Nova Box four years ago, said the acquisition will allow her to work with producers in all four Atlantic Provinces, and distribute their goods to customers across Canada and in foreign

Charlottetown-based AffinityImmuno is looking for a larger partner to licence out its product that tests whether a person has antibodies that can ward off COVID-19.

The four-year-old company specializes in antibodies, which are proteins used by the human body’s immune system to search out “foreign invaders” like viruses, bacteria, fungi or parasites. Once the antibodies detect these invaders,

Our Job of the Week column this week features an opening for a Senior Full Stack Developer at Dash Hudson in Halifax.

Dash Hudson is a visual marketing Software-as-a-Service company that helps its clients increase engagement on their social media. Its software, called Vision, is a one-stop spot for clients to manage, source and engage with the traffic of their photos and videos.

The Job of the

The wheels are in motion to create an Atlantic Canadian angel funding group, but its effectiveness will be restricted by the lack of a pan-regional investment tax credit.

We’ve written before about the decline in angel funding in 2019, and the likelihood it will decline further in 2020. One solution is to institute an angel funding group that spans the region, and that will likely happen. In

Swiftsure Innovations captured the $55,000 prize at the 10th annual BioInnovation Challenge pitch competition on Wednesday.

Swiftsure, which was selected from three finalists in a virtual event, will receive a $25,000 grant and $30,000 worth of in-kind services. For the past decade, the pitch competition has been a highlight of BioPort Atlantic, the annual conference for life sciences in the

The thing that stood out in Prince Edward Island’s startup community in 2019 was the big deals, especially in the Island’s vaunted life sciences sector. Led by the PEI BioAlliance, life sciences has long been a strength on PEI and in 2019 it produced transactions that brought in capital for the biotech community.

There were several deals involving BioVectra, MicroSintesis and the Centre for

The Halifax Innovation District and the professional services firm Davis Pier have launched the new Food Security Innovation initiative to seek innovative ways to improve access to food in Halifax.

The two groups are asking to hear from community members and organizations, such as restaurants, farmers’ markets, schools or food banks, who are interested in developing and testing new ideas to

On Nov. 25, I will be presenting Entrevestor’s 2019 Startup Data analysis with a special focus on Newfoundland and Labrador as part of Research Week at Memorial University.

The presentation will be a virtual event on Hopin, and you can register for it on Hopin or Eventbrite. It begins at 1 pm Newfoundland time. 

I’d like to thank Paula Mendonça, Memorial’s director of innovation and

Sixteen early-stage startups – most of them based outside Metro Halifax – will pitch for as much as $25,000 each in equity funding at the next Volta Cohort Pitch Event on Nov. 25.

And for the first time, Volta has announced that members of the Volta Cohort are eligible for follow-on funding.

Volta, the Halifax innovation hub, initiated the funding program three years ago, and so far 29 startups