Jason Pearson hopes that chemists around the world will soon be using a machine-learning system to accelerate the discovery and development of new compounds.

In fact, he’s preparing to release such a platform to a restricted group in July.

A professor at University of Prince Edward Island, Pearson is a computational chemist — that is, a chemist who uses computers in the development and analysis

Ridesharing platform HitchPlanet has bought Maritime Rideshare, adding 8,000 East Coast users to its base of more than 20,000 customers in the West.

Vancouver-based HitchPlanet and Maritime Rideshare are both ridesharing services – that is, they allow drivers with empty seats in their car to link up with people who need a lift, cutting travel costs and reducing fuel consumption. The companies

I was really lucky in February to drop by the coolest accelerator I’ve ever heard of – Project Music in Nashville.

At an old brick transit garage in the heart of Nashville, two cohorts of music-related startups have been held, mentored by business leaders in one of the hottest music markets in the world. The focus is not, as you’d expect, on country music. It’s on any startup that could disrupt

We want to heartily thank the dozens of founders who have completed our survey, and remind those of you who haven’t done so to please fill it out.

We’re thrilled with the response we’ve had to the survey. A vast range of founders have taken a few minutes to fill out our 23 questions, and we’re starting to get a picture of what happened in the community last year.

You can find the survey here,

Livelenz, a Bedford-based company that analyzes data for fast food restaurants, has been sold to Mobivity Holding Corp. for less than $1 million in stock in a bid to grow with the larger company.

Chandler, Arizona-based Mobivity, whose shares trade over-the-counter in the U.S., said in a regulatory filing that in January it paid 1.015 million of its shares for all the stock of Livelenz. Mobivity

Spring Loaded Technology, the Dartmouth company that is making the bionic knee a reality, is staffing up its marketing department and looking for two individuals for key positions.

The company, which announced a $1.9 million venture capital investment in March, has posted openings for a Vice-President of Sales and Marketing and a Marketing Coordinator on the Entrevestor Job Board.

The

After a successful first year in which he invested in four new companies, Chris Moyer believes that Venture Newfoundland and Labrador provides an investment model that other Atlantic provinces should emulate.

Moyer is the Director of Pelorus Venture Capital, the young firm that manages Venture Newfoundland and Labrador. Moyer and his partners worked together for years at GrowthWorks Atlantic.

Fiddlehead Technology, which makes forecasting systems for the food and beverage industries, has closed a $1.8 million round of seed financing from Build Ventures and the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation.

Halifax-based Build Venture accounted for $1.5 million of the round.

Moncton-based Fiddlehead said it will use the money to increase its development and data analytics team, and to expand

Venture for Canada unveils cohort

After receiving a record 1670 applications, Venture for Canada has announced its 2016 cohort of fellows, awarded to students representing 22 universities from across the country.

The group received twice the number of applications from a year earlier. This year’s applicants were vetted through a four-step process involving a written application, video

Google has invited two up-and-coming Canadian startups – Waterloo-based EdTech company Knowledgehook and Halifax-based contract management startup PACTA – to pitch at its annual Demo Day next month in Silicon Valley.

They are the only Canadian companies to pitch to investors and respected judges at the event at the Google Headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., on May 4. In total, 11 companies