Palmer to Head Propel ICT’s Growth Program

Propel ICT, the Atlantic Canadian regional accelerator, has named Steve Palmer as the head of its new Growth Program.

The Growth Program, which the organization announced earlier in the year, is designed to help Propel alumni and other scaling companies to grow from mature startups into bona fide corporations. The plan is to help them continue to grow revenues and also to develop the needed corporate organizations.

“Stephen will lead the Growth Program,” said Propel CEO Anita Punamiya in an email. “Working with the Propel team, he will identify high potential alumni and other non-Propel companies.”

She said Palmer will work one-on-one with several companies and select 10 that the organization will focus on for current fiscal year. He will assess their needs, opportunities, potential markets and mentors. As well as advising them personally, he will identify and bring in subject matter experts to host bootcamps and programs to prepare them for international markets.

Palmer is a veteran of high-growth tech companies, and is currently a director of Fredericton-based Remsoft. Previously, he was a Co-CEO of Remsoft and Chief Operating Officer for Whitehill Technologies.

No Startup Grind on Wednesday.

Startup Grind Halifax has announced that its talk by Jonathan Medved, which was to have taken place Wednesday, has been postponed until Sunday, Oct. 30.

Medved, an American who has invested in more than 100 Israeli startups, found out at the last moment that he had to go to Asia.

Medved has helped 12 companies exceed $100M dollar valuations. He was the co-founder and CEO of Vringo, which he took public on Nasdaq in 2010. Before Vringo, he was the founder and general partner of the $260 million venture capital fund, Israel Seed Partners.

You can buy tickets for the event here.

Thorasys Lands $1.3 Million from Anges Québec

Thorasys, a medical device company that began life in Halifax before moving to Montreal, has received $1.3 million in investment from Anges Québec, the province’s angel network.

The company said the new funds will allow it to accelerate the commercialization of the tremoFlo C-100 Airwave Oscillometry System, a portable device designed to facilitate the diagnosis of lung diseases in order to improve treatment.

Thorasys has developed a technology for assessing lung function without patient effort, whereas current techniques require substantial effort and coordination by patients and healthcare professionals. Moreover, the technology provides a detailed assessment of changes in and around the lungs. This makes it possible to detect lung diseases even faster.

Thorasys began in Halifax and actually competed in the first BioInnovation Challenge in 2011. The company received a $500,000 loan from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency’s Business Development Program in 2012.