There’s a new, community-based startup group in St. John’s that aims to tackle some of the gaps in the local ecosystem and support young companies.

ConnectioNL (pronounced “Connectional”) is a volunteer group that now totals about 200 members, and they are working together to improve the ecosystem in three areas: mentorship, access to capital and skills.

“We started in March with 12 people at my kitchen table and at our next meeting it became 90 people,” said Co-Founder Cathy Bennett in an interview at the NACO Atlantic Summit and Funding Founders conference this week.

ConnectioNL has many of the hallmarks of Startup NL, the community-based group that sprang up in St. John’s in 2013. Though it’s faded away, Startup NL quickly attracted scores of members who wanted to support the burgeoning entrepreneurship movement with regular meet-ups and Startup Weekends.

The new group also draws its support from the enthusiasm of the community, with Bennett calling it a “very organic organization.” She said the response has been fantastic and “all I have to do is send out an email” to get people to turn out for the meetings or volunteer for a committee. 

Though ConnectioNL is not an angel network per se, Bennett said one of its committees is examining access to capital and trying to find more ways to channel capital into high-potential ventures. They are looking at whether a fund could be created to invest in young companies. and Bennet said the work is ongoing.

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The province used to have its own angel group, the Newfoundland and Labrador Angel Network, but its organizers found it difficult to generate deal flow without a dedicated investment manager. Some of the angels involved in the previous network are now investors in VentureNL, which is supported by the government of Newfoundland and Labrador and managed by Pelorus Venture Capital.

ConnectioNL also has volunteers looking at a critical area of concern, the need for talent, especially technical talent. The province went through similar difficulties when the oil and gas industry took off in the 1990s and there was a sudden need for trained personnel. This time, the demand is for programmers.

“We’re seeing tremendous pressure in the skills gap,” said Bennett. “The strategies of 20 years ago are not working today.”

She said the committee is looking at “upskilling”, such as seeing whether energy industry engineers can be retrained as computer engineers, for example, and other solutions.

“We are really like a whole bunch of moms and dads who are working hard to make sure things are good for our grandkids,” said Bennett, a former Finance Minister for Newfoundland and Labrador.