Charlottetown’s Emergence Bioscience Business Incubator has received a $2.6 million grant from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency to support the delivery of Emergence 4.0 by BioAlliance.

The PEI BioAlliance is the private sector-led non-profit that is responsible for developing and coordinating strategy for the Island's bioscience cluster. In 2014, the organization launced Emergence, which provides specialized business incubation and acceleration services to bioscience companies across the region.

The new investment will help Emergence support the formation and growth of regional bioscience companies, ACOA said in a press release.

“The bioscience sector in Atlantic Canada is growing rapidly, and Emergence is proud to support the innovative companies and entrepreneurs driving this momentum,” said Jason Cleaversmith, Executive Director, Incubation and Infrastructure at PEI BioAlliance.

“This investment enables us to expand our mentorship programs, strengthen commercialization support, and help emerging companies access the capital and expertise they need to grow and succeed.”

Cleaversmith, who came to Charlottetown after several business development roles in the U.K. biotech industry, joined Emergence in 2021.

Since July 2022, Emergence has helped more than 82 bioscience companies with mentorship, investment support, and commercialization services. In this same period, Emergence programming has helped participating companies raise more than $150 million in capital, enabling them to achieve over $250 million in sales revenue, the group said.