Start-up investors often say they love the companies in Newfoundland and Labrador because they view the entire world—not just Canada—as their market. Last week we got a reminder that companies in Atlantic Canada are learning a few things from their northeastern neighbours.

There was a flood of news from the start-up community in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, virtually all of which had to do with young companies expanding sales and operations in foreign markets.

Check out what we covered on Entrevestor.com last week:

 •Livelenz, the Bedford, N.S., maker of analytics tools for fast-food restaurants, formed a partnership with a unit of Epson Seiko of Japan to embed Livelenz software in receipt printers across North America.

 •VidCruiter, a Moncton-based video-recruitment company, has been accepted into the Canadian Technology Accelerator in Silicon Valley.

 •File-retrieval software company 2nd Act Innovations of Halifax has hired two C-level executives in Silicon Valley to lead its sales and engineering efforts and help raise a $5 million round of venture capital financing.

 •CarbonCure, the Halifax cleantech company dedicated to low-carbon concrete products, has signed a licensing agreement with Ontario concrete manufacturer Atlas Block to make its products available in Ontario. (OK, I admit that was a Canadian deal. But I’m watching what CarbonCure is going to do in the U.S., especially California.)

 •Seaforth Energy Inc., the Dartmouth-based maker of 50-kilowatt wind turbines, has recently completed installations in Scotland and Italy and is ramping up its sales effort in the Caribbean.

It’s not news that regional companies are attacking export markets. New Brunswick, after all, derives more of its GDP from exports than any other province. But an interesting dynamic is taking place that’s worth examining: the entire ecosystem is becoming more international.

One thing these five companies have in common is that they’re all either raising money or planning on doing so in the next year or two. What we’re seeing isn’t just an effort to sell more products in foreign markets but to integrate the companies more fully in foreign markets. Sales and experience in global markets will no doubt go over well with potential investors in other countries (especially the U.S.) as funding efforts develop.

Consider 2nd Act Innovations, whose founders, Andrew Doyle and Peter Hickey, didn’t just hire Reza Kazemipour and Guillaume Oget in northern California but named them CEO and CTO, respectively. In return, these new execs bring to the company their networks in Silicon Valley, including relationships with venture capital investors.

What’s more, the funding agencies in Atlantic Canada are developing links with major VCs like never before, because they know they have to help their portfolio companies raise that next round of finance. Innovacorp, which has invested in all of the companies named above except VidCruiter, recently invested in San Francisco-based Lightsail Energy because it’s developing a project in Nova Scotia.

Gerry Pond of East Valley Ventures joined various North American investors in backing Clarity of Moncton, while the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation and GrowthWorks Atlantic joined a group of angels from the U.S. and Canada to bankroll Fredericton’s IntroHive.

That means Atlantic Canadian venture capitalists and angels are strengthening relationships with outside investors and in a better position to make introductions for their other companies.

 “Those efforts are paying off for their portfolio companies, but it’s a two-way street,” says 2nd Act’s Doyle. As companies extend their tentacles into foreign markets, they’re able to open doors for the Atlantic Canadian investors who backed them.