The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency last week announced loans totalling $664,000 for two Halifax-area companies, Meridian DLT and Nautics Group.

The federal government’s regional development agency issued the loans through the Regional Economic Growth through Innovation program.

ACOA said it is lending $363,750 to Meridian DLT, based in Lower Sackville, N.S. It has developed a digital data sharing and storage service that is powered by renewable energy to help companies using huge amounts of data to reduce their environmental footprint.

The company has a network of energy-efficient servers and equipment, distributed across several locations, to take advantage of such clean energy sources as wind, hydro, solar and geothermal.

"We are extremely confident in our ability to launch new technology from here in Atlantic Canada that competes globally at the highest levels,” said Meridian DLT Director of Technology Matthew Pickup in a statement. “This funding positions us strongly in expanding the impact of our green network, research and development and overall technology infrastructure.”

Meridian DLT’s technology is used by companies in renewable energy, healthcare, building efficiency and carbon offsetting.

The statement said the funding will allow Meridian to scale up and increase the variety of services it offers, as well as the speed and diversity of its servers and machines. The company hopes to use the money to grow its team, market its technology and increase revenue.

The second company to receive ACOA money is Nautics, which makes surveillance technology for law enforcement, military and intelligence clients. ACOA is lending the company $300,000 to get two next-generation audio devices on the market.

Nautics was first established in Australia several years ago and moved to Bedford, N.S., in 2018 to have a base in the North American market.

ACOA said the funding allows the company to create five new positions, bringing its headcount to 17. It also helps Nautics to meet evolving industry needs and growing demand for cost-effective surveillance technology. More than half the company’s clients are outside Canada, and it hopes to expand aggressively in the U.S.

“We are pleased to receive support from ACOA that helps us achieve our goal of being the top provider in covert technical surveillance equipment to our core law enforcement market with new, reliable and proven technologies,” said Nautics President Michael Peach. “The past year has been challenging, but we are continuing to move aggressively ahead with our product road map and, as such, have added several new employees over the last year.”

Disclosure: ACOA is a client of Entrevestor.