Atlantic Canada made a strong showing this year at Startupfest in Montreal — one of the world’s largest startup conferences.

With Startupfest running from last Wednesday to Friday and now in its 13th year, the East Coast contingent fell into two groups. The first was a generalized startup contingent organized by recently created industry group Startup Atlantic, and the other was as part of an ocean-focused delegation that hosted its own events under the name OceanFest.

OceanFest was jointly organized by the federally backed Ocean Supercluster, its affiliated Ocean Startup Project and Quebec oceans hub Novarium.

Thunderstorms and even a tornado warning reportedly did little to dampen the festivities, with the group from Startup Atlantic having more than 70 members at OceanFest including just under 100 delegates, plus hundreds of attendees.

“The ocean startup ecosystem in Canada has so much momentum,” said Ocean Startup Project Executive Director Don Grant in a statement during the event.

“OceanFest brings together founders, partners, industry and a growing number of ocean investors. Oceans represent one of the biggest economic and impact opportunities Canada has in the next century and OceanFest will showcase that.”

The Atlantic Canadian delegation, which received funding of $121,043 from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency to attend the event, included representatives from more than a dozen support organizations. 

Alfred Burgesson, the CEO of the Tribe Network and a Startup Atlantic Executive Committee Member, said: “We are proud to create this united effort for Atlantic Canada and see the work within our region grow into something special. We live in a beautiful corner of the world where founders can realize a great quality of life and build great companies.”