Innovacorp has awarded a total of $125,000 to five winners of its latest Sprint Competition, which provides development capital to early-stage startups in Nova Scotia.

The Nova Scotia government’s early-stage venture capital agency on Thursday announced the five winners of the 2020 competition, which received 41 applications from across the province. Ten companies were shortlisted to pitch to the judges.

The winners are:

Phase I

Electric Owl – Margaret Dron – The company is developing its Garden Manager product, which helps people grow food in urban environments and small-scale farms. The Garden Manager will advise users on how to grow fresh and nutritious food to improve food supply and reduce the environmental impacts of food transportation.

Marecomms – Ulaş Güntürkün – Güntürkün is using his research on fifth-generation cellular communication technology and physics to create an underwater communication system that will deliver data on the ocean, even in the harshest conditions.

Phase II

Greenlight Analytical – James Wylde, Simon Benwell, Louise Richardson, Nicole Wylde – The company is developing a portable analyzer to measure cannabis and narcotics for safety, quality control, medical and law enforcement applications.

SeaChange Biochemistry – Brad Park – SeaChange is using a new bio-refinery process to produce high-value compounds from sustainably harvested seaweed. The company, which was a finalist in the BioInnovation Challenge in 2019, has found a method to use a form of biomass to produce three industrial compounds.

SmartMed – Arman Izadi, Tim Coolen, Ayda Afshar – The company is developing software for scheduling shiftwork. Its website says its automated system can schedule 700 positions in a minute.

As well as grants of $25,000, the winners will receive guidance from seasoned business professionals to help them reach their next milestones.

Disclosure: Innovacorp is a client of Entrevestor.