The federal government’s announcement Thursday of $1.2 million in loans for four Halifax-area tech companies highlighted the benefits of both debt and equity financing from public and private sectors for the region’s startups.

As other news outlets have reported, Bernard Valcourt, the Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, was in Dartmouth to announce loans to Ad-Dispatch.com Inc., NovaWise Inc., B4Checkin Limited and 2nd Act Innovations Inc.

What I thought was interesting is that three of the companies had raised equity financing recently and a fourth was looking at raising money for one of its units. Check it out:

• B4Checkin received a $128,742 loan from ACOA to help market its hotel reservation software, which is designed for independent hotels. CEO Saar Fabrikant said the company has raised $1.1 million of angel financing in the last 14 months, including investments  from such prominent businessmen as former Imasco chairman Purdy Crawford and former Emera CEO David Mann. B4Checkin also announced Thursday that it had signed its first client in Africa -- Sarova Hotels, Resorts and Game Lodges in Kenya and East Africa.
• Ad-Dispatch received a $225,000 loan to develop a mobile version of its augmented reality software. This software allows users to focus the camera of their handheld device on an item – it could be a T-shirt or a poster – and a 3-D animated figure will appear on the screen. President Nathan Kroll said customers now include four of the six largest outdoor advertisers in the country. He added that he has begun discussions on raising equity capital for one of Ad-Dispatch’s units.
• NovaWise was granted a $500,000 loan to develop and market its software that enables companies to gain insight into customer relationships with every meeting. The company has so far focused its efforts on the pharma industry, and the software allows reps in the field to record and analyse customers’ responses to the product they’re selling. CEO David MacKinnon said the technology has applications for other industries, and that the company has raised a “bit of money” from private investors.
• 2^nd Act Innovations, which we’ve profiled previously, received a $350,000 loan to design and develop its unique business information management software. The company in April closed a $1.1 million equity and debt round led by Innovacorp and GrowthWorks Atlantic.

The benefits of the capital going into the companies are obvious once you look at the growth.

NovaWise comprised only MacKinnon and CTO Steve MacDonald when I met them last October. Now the company employs 10 people and intends to hire more soon.