Innovacorp has named five Nova Scotian companies to its six-month Accelerate Program, each of them receiving $50,000 in development capital and access to mentors and incubation facilities.

The Nova Scotia government’s early-stage venture capital agency on Wednesday released the names of the winners, who between them will divide more than $250,000 in funding.

The goal of the program, which received 49 submissions, is to help participating startups hit key technical and business milestones and prepare them to seek equity investment.

“When we launched a call for submissions for several of our programs last month, we braced ourselves a little, wondering what the impact of COVID-19 would be on our start-ups,” said Innovacorp President and CEO Malcolm Fraser in a statement. “Nova Scotia companies once again demonstrated their resilience and quality.”

The five companies are:

Copsys Industries – Farzad Hashemi, Mike Maguire – Halifax 

The company is developing corrosion-management technology to protect vessels and structures and reduce maintenance.

Dartmouth Ocean Technologies – Arnold Furlong, Vince Sieben – Dartmouth

The company has produced lab-on-chip sensors to reduce labour and environmental burden of ocean health monitoring.

Dr. Gordon’s Bum Cream – Dr. A.K. Gordon, Johanna Mercer – Port Williams

Gordon is commercializing a skin cream she’s developed to treat moisture-associated skin damage.

Greenlight Analytical – James Wylde, Simon Benwell – Dartmouth

Greenlight is working on a portable analyzer to measure cannabis safety and quality.

Korr AI Technologies – Rahul Anand, Jeff Burke – Halifax 

Korr AI produced artificial intelligence software for precision mapping in the natural resources and environmental sectors.

Innovacorp has surveyed members of previous cohorts and learned more than 70 per cent of them have already secured early-stage equity investment.