Halifax startup hub Volta has announced the 16 finalists for its Volta Cohort pitch competition, to be held virtually on Nov. 24 with a combined $125,000 in potential prizes for up to five winners.
Volta started holding its Cohort events nearly four years ago and the upcoming event will be the ninth Volta Cohort event. So far, there have been 39 winners. The prize money -- up to $25,000 per company -- also comes with mentorship services and office space in Volta or another innovation hub in the region. The coming event has a strong showing of teams working on medical technology.
The program has also been expanded to offer winning companies up to another $25,000 each on top of the prize money, if they stay in the Cohort accelerator program for six months and meet a set of prescribed growth milestones.
“At our upcoming Cohort Pitch Event, we are thrilled to have companies that span multiple sectors and industries, and significant women representation, with 43% of the companies having at least one woman Founder,” said Volta CEO Martha Casey in a press release.
“We can’t wait to continue to work with these companies and help them with building impressive technologies so that they can flourish in our region and beyond.”
You can register here for the event, which begins at 5:30 on Nov. 24. Here are the finalists:
Air Clarity is developing an air filtration system to reduce indoor air pollution.
Amp has developed an app, called Struggled, to use machine learning and behavioural modification to help pre-diabetic people from becoming fully diabetic.
BlueThumb is a fintech company that develops socially innovative products with the stated goal of eliminating poverty in Canada.
Detectica has developed a nanosensor-based system to test for viruses in saliva, blood or via a nasal swab in both humans and animals.
HOLLO Medical
HOLLO is developing a spacer for use with asthma inhalers that is small enough to fit in a child’s pocket, unlike existing, cumbersome products.
HosTech
HosTech describes itself as a “one-stop virtual solution for all your health problems.”
Maritime Reused Plastic Products
Maritime has developed a “circular economy” system that diverts plastic waste from landfills for use in post-industrial recycled plastic products.
Materiality is an intelligence-sharing platform for tracking and communicating environmental and social governance issues to an organization’s stakeholders.
MOC has developed technology for 3D printing medical implants and other items compatible with human biology, including both hard, structural implants and scaffoldings for tissues and organs.
Myomar Molecular
Myomar is developing technology for tracking muscle health and muscle loss via chemicals in people's bloodstreams.
MyPAQ hopes to operate a chain of self-serve refill stations for staple food and drink products.
Parados has developed a data analytics platform for tracking and preventing head injuries in sports by using sensors to monitor the forces an athlete’s head is subjected to.
Reno Tree is an online platform that helps customers find financing and contractors for home renovations. Its revenue model includes administrative fees and commissions from loans it helps arrange.
Shifting Shap3s has developed technology to help recover and reuse plastic waste from 3D printing.
Spokesfan
Spokesfan is a social media platform for word-of-mouth recommendations.
Storybox
Storybox is an interactive website that says it “both informs and establishes a sense of community through one-on-one mentorship, videos, blogs, and podcasts.”
