You’d tend to have low expectations for a group of tech startups that were seeded with no more than $50,000 each, but the Spark Cape Breton Demo Day on Friday surprised on the upside.
The event in Sydney allowed seven startups to showcase what they have done since claiming a prize in the competition in the past two years. Organized by Innovacorp, the Spark competition gives a maximum of $50,000 to Cape Breton and Mulgrave startups with good business ideas.
About half the winners from the past two years presented at Demo Day and they showed they had either launched a product or we close to doing so. There were also signs that as a group they’re attracting talent and capital.
The presenters were:
- Lokol.me, started by veteran e-learning entrepreneur Mathew Georghiou, has just launched goCapeBreton, a local site that includes content provided by the community. Lokol.me envisages setting up hyperlocal websites in a range of communities.
- Pizza Go, a mobile app for local pizzerias, is on the verge of signing its second customer. It is now testing its product, which lets people order and pay for pizzas, with a Sydney pizzeria. The company has raised some funding and hired a developer.
- Artisync Technologies Co-Op Ltd., which helps to link artists so they can collaborate on projects, is preparing a full launch. Its focus at the outset will be the comic market.
- Chatsubo Heavy Industries is a network security startup whose product, Packet Monster, analyzes all data moving in and out of a network. It was founded by Jim DeLeskie, whose company Hemidall Technology won the 2014 I-3 Technology Startup Competition, and his son Kaleb.
- Shout is a social network in which people within a specific geographic distance of each other can link up. CEO Daniel Faria, a native of Portugal, became the seventh immigrant approved under the federal government’s Startup Visa program when he moved his company from Boston to Sydney. Jim DeLeskie is also a co-founder.
- Sona Nano Tech has established its headquarters in the Verschuren Centre at Cape Breton University and staffed it with three PhDs. The company, which can produce non-toxic gold nanobars for medical industries, has raised capital and is raising more. It is ready to sell the product to researchers, and preparing to apply to the Food and Drug Agency for approval to use the product in medicines for humans.
- MapMaster is mobile app with an interactive map of a local region. It allows local organizations to post information about locations on the map, and people to comment on it. The Sydney map should be live in 2015.
The 2015 Spark Cape Breton competition is accepting applications until June 30 here.
Disclaimer: Innovacorp is a client of Entrevestor.
