sageCrowd

Dec 16, 2015

QRA Working With Lockheed Martin by Peter Moreira | Dec 16, 2015 Jordan Kyriakidis QRA Corp announced Tuesday it has begun to provide Lockheed Martin engineers with an advanced early-stage systems verification solution for the development of increasingly complex cyber-physical designs. QRA helps machine manufacturers to detect problems with their designs early in the development process. It grew out of research that Kyriakidis and his team performed at Dalhousie University under a contract for Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest defence contractor. The current work being done by the company work brings together QRA Corp’s verification technology with Lockheed Martin’s large-scale system integration and design capabilities. The company said this allows QRA to push the rigorous analysis capabilities of its QVTrace product well beyond the efficiency and effectiveness of any competing tool on the market. “All large-scale system integrations will eventually proactively use technology similar to QVTrace,” said CEO and President Jordan Kyriakidis in a statement. “Although QVTrace is already an incredibly powerful tool for engineers, this work will help ensure it remains on the bleeding edge of innovation by taxing it with some of the most complex and demanding systems in the world. It’s an exciting time.” To achieve this goal, QRA will develop and deliver QVTrace, which enables engineers to target and detect errors within complex systems throughout the development cycle. By proactively ensuring critical system designs always satisfy their requirements, QVTrace will help Lockheed Martin engineers avoid costly reworks and potential catastrophic deployment failures. It does this by eliminating errors at the early stages of design – increasing systems confidence, reducing costs, and accelerating time to market. Last year, QRA received $1 million in funding from Innovacorp . SageCrowd, Dal to Study E-Learning by Peter Moreira | Dec 16, 2015 Sean Sears SageCrowd , the Halifax startup that enhances corporate training, has partnered with the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Dalhousie University to research the effects of training methods on online learning. This study, funded by an engage grant from Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada, or NSERC, will test how different variables impact learning. These variables include content assembly, unit volume, reflection, and time between learning and testing. In conducting this research, sageCrowd and Dalhousie’s NeuroCognitive Imaging Lab will find out what specific variables help students learn course content more effectively. The company said in a statement that enterprises spend $140 billion annually on employee training with more and more of that spending moving online. E-Learning has grown to a $93 billion industry growing annually at double digits. CTA Offers Wealth of Mentorship Despite all this spending, most training programs are executed with little to no study on whether the program worked or how the students learned the material. The Training and E-learning industries are now paying close attention to a new discipline co-created between Psychology and Education referred to as the Science of Learning. “This project will strengthen our Sagecrowd Way methodology providing direct input into how we refine and optimize our learning experiences,” sageCrowd CEO Sean Sears said in a statement. “The research will be invaluable to both the NeuroCognitive Imaging Lab and sageCrowd, because it will demonstrate how specific learning methods impact skill adoption and permanent memory creation.” NSERC’s Engage grant will provide $25,000 in funding for this research. The study will take place over the next six months and involve 80 participants over four experiments. “This project is significant in how it’s bridging a gap between academic research and business,” said Aaron Newman, Director of the NeuroCognitive Imaging Lab and principal investigator of the study. “SageCrowd is dedicated to developing a learning platform that is scientifically validated, and are eager to follow evidence-based design. This project is also an excellent opportunity for the scientists we’re training at Dalhousie to learn how to apply science outside of academia and understand the relevance of their work.” SageCrowd is a software company that began as a tool that would construct programs to enhance the learning in personal development books. The company last year raised $850,000, including contributions from members of the First Angel Network. Sears has spent a lot of time this year at the Canadian Technology Accelerator in Boston, and the company has become more of an enterprise training business. Disclaimer: Dalhousie University is a client of Entrevestor. Ending the Atrocity of Sweat Stains by Peter Moreira | Dec 15, 2015 Chanakya Ramdev meets the future PM. Chanakya Ramdev got the idea for SweatFree Apparel when he had to trudge to work each day in the sweltering heat of Hong Kong. During his coop work term with the University of Waterloo’s alumni office in Hong Kong last year, he would arrive at work with embarrassing wet patches under his arm – which were doubling embarrassing as his job required him to interact with alumni. The University of Waterloo student dedicated himself to coming up with a product that would put an end to wet armpits and the sweat stains that ruin clothes. He and a team of collaborators have formed SweatFree Apparel, which has developed an undershirt with special pads in the armpits that absorb moisture while still allowing air to circulate through the fabric. The company, which is now in the university’s Velocity incubator, plans to launch the product in Canada next summer. “The opportunity to attack the atrocity of sweat stains is a super cool thing to do,” said Ramdev in a recent interview in the Communitech hub. “If 10 years from now, no one in this world suffers from sweat stains, I think that’s a great way to spend 10 years.” Four Startups Tap the Velocity Fund The Sweat Free product is a high-end undershirt that includes three-ply pads in the armpits. The layer on the outside is hydrophobic, meaning it will not allow moisture to seep into the out clothes. However, it will allow water to evaporate and pass through the clothes. To combat the odour produced by the bacteria in our perspiration, one layer includes silver nanoparticles that can combat the smell. Ramdev said the team is now working to solve one problem: The nanoparticles can be washed away when the undershirts are washed. But he believes the developers can overcome this. Ramdev’s father has a background in manufacturing clothes in the Punjab in India, which will help with the manufacturing of the product. The product will sell for about $24 – a premium price for an undershirt, but one that can be justified if it protects an expensive suit from being ruined by sweat stains. Ramdev, who heads a seven-member team, has been hustling the product ahead of the launch. He recently won $25,000 in the Velocity Fund finals, most which will be used to patent the product. He has lined up sales programs with several corporations, such as SunLife Financial. These companies have “perks” programs that grant employees discounts on specific products and Sweat Free plans to sell through these offerings. He has also pitched the product to the Prime Minister. When Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau was campaigning in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ramdev waited for hours outside the event so he could meet the man who would be prime minister, show him the product and be photographed with him. The resulting selfie is now a key part of the company’s presentations. Canada will be the first market for Sweat Free Apparel, but he then has plans to expand into lucrative markets, especially in Asia. “I’m sure there’s an opportunity in Hong Kong,” he said. “But I’m equally sure there’s an even bigger opportunity in India.” Eosense Launches 3 New Products by Peter Moreira | Dec 15, 2015 Gordon McArthur at the AGU Conference yesterday. Eosense , the Dartmouth company that makes instruments to detect gases escaping from the ground, is appearing at the American Geophysical Union this week with three new products on display. The company, formerly called Forerunner Research, is dedicated to making rugged, low-power devices that can detect carbon dioxide and other gases escaping from the ground. These products help scientists assess such things as carbon dioxide leaks from industrial sites or monitor gas emissions in the North. Today, the company is launching its eosFD portable soil carbon dioxide flux sensor, a stand-alone product that can log data collected by sensors. This follows the release last week of two products that support the greenhouse gas analyzers produced by Eosense’s partner, Los Gatos Research in Mountain View, Calif. “These launches are validation for our technical team,” Eosense CEO Gordon McArthur said in a phone interview Monday from San Francisco. The big news is the release of the eosFD, which is a low-power device that can be deployed with gaps between each unit of metres or kilometres. That means it can monitor carbon dioxide seepage in a vast area, opening up new possibilities for field researchers. The eosFD weighs only 1.6 kilograms, which the company says makes it truly portable. Operating with Eosense’s patented forced diffusion technology, it requires little power and can be left in the field for up to one year without being checked. “The eosFD is why we created this company; it’s the first commercial sensor to change the way flux is measured,” Eosense chief scientist Nick Nickerson said in a statement. “Forced diffusion results in something quite different from traditional methods, (and) we are looking forward to the creative ways in which scientists will use it.” Eosense's technology was developed at a St. Francis Xavier University lab run by David Risk, and it is gaining traction mainly with researchers but also with energy companies. The company’s clients include the University of California at Berkeley, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. In February, the company was one of eight accepted into the fourth cohort of the accelerator operated by Surge Ventures of Houston, a funding and mentoring organization specializing in energy technology. Risk said in the statement he developed forced diffusion technology to measure CO2 leakage in soil in harsh environments, such as the Canadian Arctic. “In fact, my Antarctic FD has now delivered year-round CO2 soil fluxes for five years running, on a small solar panel,” said Risk. The new products give researchers a system built for the rigours of fieldwork, said the company. It also marks further success for Eosense because it is working with one of the world’s leading companies in measuring gases. “It’s exciting for Nova Scotia as a whole,” said Matt Herdon, Eosense’s marketing and sales manager, during the interview. “This is home-brewed patentable technology that will be used around the world.” MedStack To Aid Healthcare Apps by Rose Behar | Dec 14, 2015 | 1 MedStack CEO Simon Woodside, left, and Co-Founder Balaji Gopalan. Healthcare apps are on the rise, both in popularity and proliferation, but they often have to adhere to medical regulations. That’s why Waterloo-based MedStack  is developing a platform that helps healthcare app developers build products that comply with regulations. “Health and fitness is the single biggest growing category in the app store by a factor of two,” said MedStack Co-Founder Balaji Gopalan. “It’s a $4 billion market today and it’s expected to be a $27 bilion market by 2020.” Within this emerging field, not all opportunities are equal. There are three distinct types: apps for professional use, apps for personal use and apps that relay information between professional and patient. Due to complex privacy acts regulated by the U.S. and Canadian governments, the last category is significantly more difficult to enter, which can act as a deterrent to innovation. This is where MedStack comes in. Gopalan and Simon Woodside created the company last winter, inspired by several healthcare projects that Woodside’s app studio  Monolith Apps   had taken on. “They kept running in to the same problems when they built these things,” says Gopalan, a Blackberry veteran who was recently involved with high-profile wearable security product Nymi. “So they realized, there’s got to be a platform opportunity here.” Once Woodside had identified this opportunity, he asked Gopalan to join him on the business side, and the two set out to create a product that resembles consumer stack platforms such as Parse and Heroku. Users will be able to drag and drop in compliant modules for things such as secure messaging, authentication and form input. Those building blocks will be made exactly to the specifications of the American Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and Canadian provincial regulations such as Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act, and will also run on MedStack’s secure and compliant server. The startup has American competitors in compliant platform and storage companies Catalyze.io and TrueVault, but it is peerless in the Canadian market. Gopalan said users will have to pay a slight premium for the product, compared to the rates of consumer platform services, but the cost will pale in comparison to the alternatives of hiring legal consultants or toughing it out without assistance. “We’re hearing consistently that the process costs $30,000 to $1 million and a six to 12 months delay, because of the various review processes and iterations that need to happen.” Gopalan says MedStack currently has two companies in beta testing, naming stress-monitoring app StressWelliQ as one, with 10 more in the pipeline. He predicted the product would be ready to launch mid-Spring 2016. The company has been working with several incubators, including the MaRS Discovery Distric t, the DMZ at Ryerson University and Communitech . Gopalan stated the company would likely close its seed funding round in the first few months of the new year. Jobs of the Week: St. John’s by Peter Moreira | Dec 14, 2015 Entrevestor and Qimple last month launched the Entrevestor Job Board , which helps to match job openings and candidates in the Atlantic Canadian tech and startup communities. Today we’re featuring posts on the board from companies based in St. John’s. This is part of our Jobs of the Week feature, which appears on Entrevestor each Monday morning. Until Jan. 31, you can post job openings on the site for only $25 each. Here are the postings from St. John’s: HeyOrca Director of Growth HeyOrca, which is developing a platform to help marketers collaborate, is looking for a marketing maverick to head up its marketing efforts and the growth of its sales funnel. The successful candidate will be in charge of attracting site traffic, converting that traffic into new leads for the business, and nurturing those leads to close into customers. The successful candidate should have a one to 10 years of experience in a similar role. Content and Client Success Manager HeyOrca is looking for a prolific and talented content creator to write and produce various types of downloadable content and blog regularly, to expand the company’s digital footprint, awareness, subscribers, and leads. In addition to being a writer, the candidate must also be a relationship builder. The company wants candidates with one to five years of experience in a similar role. They should have a bachelor degree or equivalent work experience. Full Stack Developer HeyOrca is seeking a full stack developer to join a small development team, which is tasked with expanding and maintaining its web-based software. The job entails adding new features, improving existing ones and eliminating bugs. The successful candidate's role would include: actively participating in the Agile meetings, taking responsibility of stories and tasks, quality assurance and most importantly helping teammates. The company is looking for someone with one to five years of experience in a similar role. Sentinel Alert Full Stack Developer The St. John’s startup, which is developing a mobile worker safety solution, is interested in working with experienced software developers or highly talented recent graduates who can quickly take an active role in our development team. The Full Stack Developer will be ultimately responsible for expanding and maintaining our web platform and improving our database architecture by working with the rest of the team. The company is looking for someone with a college degree in Computer Science and experience in developing JavaScript LAMP and PHP. First Nation Entrepreneurs Recognized by Carol Moreira | Dec 10, 2015 Eileen Paul: 'I love to see people becoming independent and self-sufficient. ' When former prime minister Paul Martin spoke at the Startup Canada awards in Toronto last week, he called for a national prize to recognize entrepreneurship among First Nations people. Martin told the audience of business innovators that aboriginal people have a strong history of entrepreneurship, which is not always recognized by the wider population. Gov. Gen. David Johnston recently hailed Cape Breton’s Membertou First Nation as a community that has developed the leadership and innovation vital for success. Eileen Paul, manager of the Membertou Entrepreneur Centre, is pleased by the high-profile praise. “I think Paul Martin’s idea is a good one,” she said. “Across the country, there is a lot of First Nations entrepreneurship, but it needs to be recognized and encouraged. “First Nations people thrive as entrepreneurs, but I don’t think we would even have recognized the word, we’ve been doing entrepreneurship so long.” Paul said entrepreneurship is especially strong in Membertou because Chief Terrance Paul and the council have made it a focus. Many First Nations communities have economic development offices, but Paul believes Membertou is the only band in Atlantic Canada to have its own entrepreneurship centre. The centre was started in 2005. The business plaza now includes a business incubator, which focuses on the rapid development of six ventures. Eight others work out of the entrepreneurship centre. Paul has also spearheaded the development of a group for aboriginal women in business called Balance. The entrepreneurship centre was started with the help of the Cape Breton YMCA. The group trained and mentored Paul, who until then had worked with high school students, to run the centre. She has continued with her own studies and will soon complete her business degree. The Membertou Entrepreneur Certificate Program offers participants seven courses in subjects such as business planning, bookkeeping and customer service. Paul mentors entrepreneurs until they have formed their business plan, then sets them up with people who can help them with other aspects of business and financing. “These include the Ulnooweg Development Group and Aboriginal Business Canada. Ulnooweg provides loans, while Aboriginal Business Canada offers grants.” She said many of the businesses she assists are retail outlets and ventures that focus on traditional crafts. However, more modern ventures are coming. “People are realizing they can do more. We are seeing people working in computers, catering, conferencing — things we never had before.” Interest in entrepreneurship is growing, and Paul said about 10 per cent of Membertou’s population, which totals around 1,300, are business owners. Business growth is enabled by the community’s location within Sydney, she said. Clients include the local population and visitors, some of whom stay at the award-winning Hampton Inn developed by the community. The hotel abuts the Membertou Trade and Convention Centre and other businesses. “We encourage entrepreneurship in schools through the E-Spirit Youth Entrepreneur Program, which is funded federally by the Business Development Corporation.” Paul’s other community involvements include sitting on the executive board for Native Women of Nova Scotia. She has participated in the National Status of Women roundtable and received the Impact Award for Women in Business. This year, her work with local women was profiled at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. She said she is motivated by the success of the community. “I love to see people becoming independent and self-sufficient. When people do well, it brings a sense of pride. When kids see the success of their parents, when standards of living rise, everyone becomes successful.” Javorek Heads to The Next 36 by Peter Moreira | Dec 10, 2015 | 2 The 2016 Cohort . . . in a lighter moment. Justin Javorek, a fixture in the Dalhousie University entrepreneurship community for the past few years, has been named to the 2016 cohort of The Next 36. The program aims to select the best university entrepreneurs from across Canada, who develop businesses over eight months and receive instruction from leading academics and business people. This year, The Next 36 accepted 38 participants, 80 percent of whom have started at least one business. Javorek, a native of Bratislava, Slovakia, is the only Atlantic Canadian representative in the cohort. "For me, coming from a post-Communist country, we were not raised in an environment conducive to high expectations for our personal potential and ‘big thinking,’" Javorek said Wednesday night. “As an international student and soon-to-be immigrant, I believe that programs like Next 36 are a tremendous opportunity to not only grow as an aspiring entrepreneur but to foster deeper connections with like-minded individuals in Canada. " Javorek has worked on a couple of startups as he went through the Starting Lean course at Dalhousie. The Next 36 cohort is now in the process of dividing into teams to work on businesses, and he doesn’t know yet what his team’s project will be. Dal's Starting Lean Hosts Launchpad  Javorek, was selected from 1,100 students applying to the program. They represented 44 institutions across Canada and the U.S., including Harvard, Wharton, Cornell and University of North Carolina. He is a mainstay of the Dalhousie Entrepreneurship Society, which recently piloted the first ever student-led hackathon for oceanography and marine programs. Hackamarine 2015 produced five winning teams having access to a total of $10,000 of seed funding to pursue their ideas. Javorek is also one of the University Innovation Fellows at Dal, the first group from outside the U.S. in the program run by Stanford University and Venture Well. A world junior hockey player, Javorek came to Nova Scotia five years ago on a Dalhousie University athletics scholarship to play hockey. Following a series of injuries, Javorek was inspired to pursue entrepreneurship by his roommate Shea Kewin, co-founder of Spring Loaded Technology and UHWK , and his friend Daniel Bartek, co-founder of Sage Mixology . The N36 entrepreneurs will spend the next eight months building their companies with the support of their mentors, a unique academic program, a pool of business advisers and access to up to $50,000 in seed capital. The Next 36 mentors have an impressive entrepreneurial and venture capital track record and include, Kirk Simpson – co-founder of Wave, Janet Bannister - general partner at Real Ventures and former head of Kijiji Canada, and Andy Yang – CEO of 500px. The ventures receive seed capital from a fund that includes Relay Ventures as an investment partner. “Each year the finalist pool seems to gets stronger," said The Next 36 Managing Director Peter Carrescia in a statement. "For our 2016 cohort, we sought applications from individuals who were already working on ideas and the response from the start-up community blew us away. We now allow all 38 of our successful finalists to choose their own co-founders and this additional flexibility has helped us attract more applicants with an existing track record of entrepreneurship than ever before. " Bridgit Wins GFE Competition by Peter Moreira | Dec 10, 2015 Mallorie Brodie and Lauren Hasegawa Bridgit , the Kitchener startup that improves communication on construction sites, has won the Google for Entrepreneurs Demo Day for female-led startups. The company was the only Canadian entry in the competition, in which 11 finalists from around the world were selected from among 450 applicants. It’s the third prize that Bridgit, co-founded by Mallorie Brodie and Lauren Hasegawa, have won since the beginning of September. They have also won the inaugural C100 Startup Challenge in Toronto in September, and days later won a $25,000 prize at the demo day for Communitech’s Rev accelerator. Google for Entrepreneurs announce that Bridgit had won its event on Wednesday. Read our Coverage of the Rev Demo Day Bridgit’s product is Closeout, an app that helps project managers with deficiency management – which means making sure that all the little jobs in a construction project are completed to perfection. In a highrise condo project, there are probably about 50 subcontractors. So assigning and checking up on all these odd jobs is a pain for someone overseeing a multi-million-dollar project. Closeout is a cloud-based mobile app that lets the site manager take a smart-phone picture of the deficiency and assign the task of fixing it to a subcontractor. They can write a description, the location and deadline. Once the job is done, the subcontractor can report back to the site manager, even send a photo of the completed job. As of last summer, the app was being used in 10 high-rise projects in seven cities in the U.S. and Canada, including two in Seattle. AC Names 26 Startups to JumpStart by Peter Moreira | Dec 10, 2015 The Accelerator Centre in Waterloo has selected 26 companies to participate in the third cohort of the AC JumpStart program, which offers seed funding and 12 months of mentorship to startups. The program started earlier this year and features three cohorts in 2015. There will be two cohorts per year launched in the coming years with the goal of supporting 180 companies over four years. Funded through an $8 million commitment from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, JumpStart gives each company $30,000 in seed funding and $10,000 worth of mentorship from the AC’s team of industry experts. "What really stands out about the companies coming into the program is how diversified they are," Andrew Jackson, Vice-President of Client Services at the Accelerator Centre, said in a statement. "As the ecosystem matures, we're really seeing a greater depth in our entrepreneurs, both in how they bring together hardware and software, and in the range of industries they're working in. " The companies in the third cohort are: CoinValue — a coin valuation software and hardware developer; Digital Governance Group  —real-time political engagement software platform; Dimples  — customized 3D printed jewelry; Eleven-X  — cellular IoT hardware and software; English Never Stops  — cloud-based peer-to-peer language acquisition platform; FishBuoy  — Software offering real-time water and environmental conditions to anglers; Fidget Toys  — developers of a multifunctional stress-relief toy; Find BoB  — online marketplace easing the transfer of financial business ownership; HealthIM  — standardizing hospital admission processes for persons with mental illness; HH Development  — data management solution for professional motorsports; Horizon Solutions  — helping building owners improve energy efficiency; InkSmith  – Manufacturing filament for 3D printing using bioplastics and 100% recycled materials; iSports Development  — software platform connecting professional and amateur athletes; Kineris  — wearable devices that speed recovery from joint injury or surgery; Local Line  — connecting local food suppliers to customers; Massuni  — allows users to easily design customized furniture that meets their exact needs; ONEIRIC  — sports tech manufacturer; Palette  — platform of physical input devices for improving creative workflow; Pressa  — developing a water bottle allowing users to naturally flavour water; Streetcast  — mobile platform that allows organizations to communicate with local residents and visitors; TaaCam — virtual reality and higher dimensional (3D/4D) digital image or video solution; Thalo  — revolutionizing the way information is displayed on portable devices; UCIC  — enables users to see any place in the world in real-time by connecting people; Vidhub  — platform for profs, students and researchers to have discussions in a sandboxed environment; VIV Life Group  — helps people discover meaningful experiences that are curated just for them; And zpharm  — medical tech company focused on smoking cessation; AC JumpStart is offered in partnership with Conestoga College , Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo . National Broadcasts Showcase iSports by Peter Moreira | Dec 10, 2015 Bryan Trottier: Helping former pros give back. When Rogers Hometown Hockey features Sarnia, Ont., in two weeks, it will also highlight a Waterloo-based startup that aims to revolutionize the way coaches interact with their players. ISports Development will be featured in the national broadcast on Dec. 20. And it is also scheduled to be showcased when the 2016 Scotiabank Hockey Day is broadcast on Feb. 6. The reason this roughly-one-year-old company is creating so much buzz in the hockey world is it both helps young players gain mentorship and retired pros find new meaning in life after they have left the game. And it doesn’t hurt that the startup team includes a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame – former New York Islanders great Bryan Trottier. “It does help the former players get back on track after their playing days are through,” said Founder Steve Wicklum in an interview in the Waterloo Accelerator Centre, which iSports has called home since September. “And for the [young] players, it’s about the drive and persistence to get you to the next level and giving you the mentorship you need to get there.” UHWK Launches Kickstarter Campaign The product is an app that connects coaches (many of them veterans of the NHL) with minor hockey players, mainly seven to 15 year olds. The site now lists about 50 coaches, about half of whom have been trained on using the app. When a young player comes to the site, he or she can search through the list of coaches. Once the player finds a suitable coach, they can begin meeting through video linkups right on the site. They can discuss game video together, and go over different drills to improve skills. The players (or most likely their families) pay for the time with the coach and iSport takes a percentage of the fee. Wicklum said the lessons can be about hockey skills, strategy or even life lessons that can help a young player develop. Wicklum said there was no “lightbulb moment” that led to the creation of iSports. He spent 25 years playing hockey, including stints at the University of Buffalo State and stints in the Southern Professional Hockey League. And he wanted to find a tech-product that would help to improve the game. As he and some partners were developing the platform, they met Trottier through a mutual friend, and he began to work with them. That led to a partnership with the NHL Alumni Association, which sees iSports as a great tool to help former players work with the next generation of hockey players. One of the association’s priorities is helping professional players adjust to life after the game, and iSports is a key tool in doing so. Wicklum is now more interested in paid users than funding, and his goal in 2016 to have 1,000 coaches on the site and that they be interacting with several thousand users. The primary market is still hockey, but he looks forward to a day when the product can expand to other sports. “The vision is to master hockey and to have a great model so we can replicate it with other sports,” he said. Closing the Startup-Corporate Gap by Peter Moreira | Dec 10, 2015 If there was one task Atlantic Canadian businesses should focus on in 2016, what should it be? Opinions would vary, but my answer would be stronger links between established businesses and government on the one hand and the startup community on the other. This should be a priority because it would, in theory at least, help solve two problems: the uneven quality of startups in the region and the negligible amount of research and development carried out by developed Atlantic Canadian companies. I’ve been talking to several people on this subject lately and it becomes clear there is still too great a gulf between the old and new economies on the East Coast. I say this because Step 1 in forming a startup is to find a problem somewhere. Step 2 is to come up with new technology that can solve the problem in a cost-effective manner, and other steps follow after that. We have a problem with that first step. Many, if not most, of the startups in the region come out of universities or are begun by twentysomethings. They bring energy, dedication and technical abilities. But a lot of them lack the real-world experience to completely understand problems that businesses encounter, so they never get the ideas that lead to killer applications. For that reason, some early-stage companies are based on weak ideas. Meanwhile, Atlantic Canada has a lousy record at private-sector research and development. All four provinces rate a D-minus in the Conference Board of Canada’s report card on business enterprise R&D. That affects the productivity of the region and the ability to develop products that can find a global market. The solution would be to develop mechanisms for private businesses to work with startups and student entrepreneurs. Given the huge proportion of the Maritime economy taken up by the public sector, it would be great for governments to get involved, as well. This is not a new idea. One of the hallmarks of the modern economy is that many of the world’s largest and best companies want to work with startups because they view them as sources of innovation. Eigen Innovations of Fredericton this week placed third in the Cisco Innovation Grand Challenge, a global competition that helps the networking equipment giant Cisco build relationships with innovators. Eigen Places Third at Cisco Event And there are signs we’re making progress. Earlier this month, Louisbourg Seafoods and Startup Cape Breton jointly hosted an event called Tech Opportunities in Fisheries, the goal of which was to bring together a traditional industry and the tech community. The New Brunswick Innovation Foundation is doing more to spin startups out of established businesses. But more needs to be done. First, startups need to join their chambers of commerce to become more prominent in the business community. There should be more events like the recent get-together in Sydney. And businesses and government should begin to assign senior people to spend time in startup hubs like Volta in Halifax or Planet Hatch in Fredericton. The idea isn’t just to show up and be nice. It’s to discuss the problems facing the large institutions with the hope of working with the younger company to find a solution — a solution that could be sold to other organizations around the world. Luckett, Jamieson Invest in TruLeaf by Peter Moreira | Dec 10, 2015 | 1 TruLeaf , the Truro-based indoor agriculture company, announced Wednesday that it has received new investment from two prominent businessmen and strengthened its executive team. The company, which recently raised more than $1.7 million by crowdfunding in the U.S., issued a press release saying it received an undisclosed amount of funding from Martin Jamieson and Pete Luckett. Both will become advisers to the company and Jamieson will join TruLeaf’s board of directors. The statement also said Jeff MacKinnon, an accountant who was most recently a Vice-President at Credit Union Atlantic, would become TruLeaf’s Vice President of Operations and Chief Financial Officer. Operating out of indoor farms, TruLeaf grows nutritious plants under LED lights and produces food with a minimal environmental footprint. It is poised to announce a distribution agreement in January. TruLeaf Raises $1.7M+ on AfFunder The company has one farm in Bible Hill, N.S., and is planning its second in Central or Eastern Canada, the northeastern United States or California. It promises to be one of the largest vertical farms in North America. “The new additions to TruLeaf really round out the team,” President and CEO Gregg Curwin said in a statement. “Each member brings to the table invaluable expertise in their field; Jeff with his extensive experience in strategy, finance and operations; Pete with his extensive knowledge of agriculture and cuisine; Martin with his substantial expertise in the food and nutrition industries.” In an email, Curwin declined to provide details of the investments, nor to say how much in total the company raised from its recent crowdfunding campaign. TruLeaf in September launched a campaign on San Francisco’s AgFunder , a crowdfunding site for agricultural and agriculture technology investment, with the goal of raising US$2.65 million (C$3.58 million). TruLeaf received at least US$1.28 million, which exceeded its minimum target and allowed the funding round to close with at least C$1.7 million. The most well-known of the new additions to the TruLeaf team is Pete Luckett. He is best known as the founder of Pete’s Frootique and Luckett Vineyards , both staples in the Nova Scotia agriculture and business communities. He brings vast food retailing experience as well as his culinary expertise and energetic personality. Jamieson has more than 30 years of experience in the global food industry. He was previously an Executive Vice President at Loblaw Companies, and President and Chief Executive Officer of Ocean Nutrition Canada . Through its GoodLeaf Farms subsidiary, TruLeaf uses advanced vertical farming technology to produce ultra-fresh leafy greens 365 days a year. The company produces the greens in a clean and safe indoor environment that allows the company to eliminate the need for pesticides. The company is able to have the delicious leafy greens hand-packed, and on customers’ plates within hours of harvesting them, at peak freshness and nutrition levels. “People love the taste of fresh food, especially when you can tell it’s been picked that day,” said Luckett in the statement. “Unfortunately, that hasn’t always been possible in Atlantic Canada, until now. With GoodLeaf Farms, people in Atlantic Canada will no longer have to wait up to a week for leafy greens to come from California.”   Eigen Places 3rd at Cisco Event by Peter Moreira | Dec 09, 2015 Eigen CTO Scott Everett Eigen Innovations is returning to Fredericton with a US$25,000 cash prize from placing third at the second annual Cisco Innovation Grand Challenge, but the money may be the least of the benefits. The New Brunswick Industrial Internet of Things, or IIoT, startup was named one of six finalists last month in the pitching competition at the IoT World Forum in Dubai. On Tuesday, Eigen was named the third-place winner, and awarded the equivalent of C$33,900. What’s important about claiming third place is that only the top three competitors in the event are officially given a long-term relationship with Cisco, the global maker of networking equipment and a huge proponent of the Internet of Things. The top three will have VIP access to industry, investment and business experts. “This includes [access to] Cisco’s Innovation Centers and Cisco Investments team for potential business acceleration and joint go-to-market strategies,” Alex Goryachev, Cisco’s Director of Innovation Programs and Strategy, said in a blog Tuesday. “All this will help to turbo-charge their ventures and the IoT opportunity.” McRock, NBIF in $3M RtTech Deal Cisco believes the Internet of Things will become a $19 trillion market and it is focusing heavily on the segment. Last summer, it announced its US$250 million fund to back IoT innovations, and has made the growing segment a key part of its business strategy. New Brunswick has already benefited from Cisco’s focus. Cisco Investments is a limited partner in McRock Capital’s McRock INFund, which this year led the $3 million funding round of RtTech Software of Moncton. The company is also the backer of the Cisco Chair for Big Data at the University of New Brunswick. Eigen has developed algorithms that allow machines to respond automatically to messages from sensors – a classic Internet of Things, or IoT, application. It is one of 3,000 companies from more than 100 countries that entered Cisco’s Innovation Grand Challenge and was named a semi-finalist in October. Eigen was the only Canadian finalist. In May, the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation invested, $250,000 in Eigen Innovations, and the company said that investment would be part of a far larger funding round. There has been no announcement since then, but the First Angel Network now lists Eigen among its portfolio companies. Showcasing The Region’s Startup Jobs by Peter Moreira | Dec 09, 2015 Today we’re wrapping up our first week of highlighting the jobs available on the Entrevestor Job Board, which is powered by Qimple. Entrevestor and Qimple last month launched this job board, which helps to match job openings and candidates in the Atlantic Canadian tech and startup communities. Until Jan. 31, you can post job openings on the site for only $25 each. We highlighted jobs in Moncton on Monday and Halifax on Tuesday. Today we’re featuring other locations in the region. Going forward, on each Monday, we will highlight the most recent job postings in our “Jobs of the Week” column. We hope this proves beneficial for the community and helps our startups in their search for talent. Here are our postings from the rest of the region: Fredericton Support Analyst Blue Spurs is seeking exceptional technical support staff to join its Managed Service practice. The individuals must share the company’s focus on outstanding client service and passion for technology. As the first point of contact, the successful candidate will provide outstanding customer experiences while working with Blue Spurs’ technical teams to resolve support requests for clients. The support analyst is responsible for working with clients to solve problems and/or escalate to the technical teams to resolve issues in a timely and efficient manner. The company wants someone with one year of customer service experience. Resson Aerospace Corp. Software Developer Resson, which has developed an automated system to improve agricultural yields, is looking for a developer whose skills include Java, JavaScript, JQuery, Java Swing, Angular JS, and Digital Image Processing, among others. The successful candidate will be responsible for all aspects of development, from rapid prototyping through to implementation, testing, and integration. In addition to being familiar with front-end and back-end development technologies (including Java and cross-platform mobile technologies), experience with image processing, machine learning, and/or high-performance computing is considered an asset. Liverpool, NS Demonstration Plant Operator Cellufuel, which is producing synthetic renewable fuels from wood, is looking for operators to become key members of its team. They are responsible for ensuring that the company’s plant operates safely and effectively while striving to meet its operational and quality objectives. The responsibilities include operations management, quality management, troubleshooting and productivity and process improvement. Cellufuel is seeking someone with a post-secondary education, preferably in a skilled trade or technology degree or diploma. It would also like a minimum of five years’ experience in plant operations or maintenance. Saint John Sales Analysts Spinzo has developed an online pricing platform that sports teams and venues use to sell more tickets through social sharing. The company is seeking two energetic sales analysts who will work with existing clients to increase their engagement with the Spinzo platform. They must also help clients create and close promotions on the platform and reach out to new prospective clients. The ideal candidate is keen to join a small but fast-paced startup and has experience working with at least one startup. Spinzo is looking for someone who can spend one to two days per week in Saint John or Fredericton and is able to join within two weeks. St. John’s Director of Growth HeyOrca, which is developing a platform to help marketers collaborate, is looking for a marketing maverick to head up its marketing efforts and the growth of its sales funnel. The successful candidate will be in charge of attracting site traffic, converting that traffic into new leads for the business, and nurturing those leads to close into customers. The successful candidate should have a one to 10 years of experience in a similar role. Content and Client Success Manager HeyOrca is looking for a prolific and talented content creator to write and produce various types of downloadable content and blog regularly, to expand the company’s digital footprint, awareness, subscribers, and leads. In addition to being a writer, the candidate must also be a relationship builder. The company wants candidates with one to five years of experience in a similar role. They should have a bachelor degree or equivalent work experience. Full Stack Developer HeyOrca is seeking a full stack developer to join a small development team, which is tasked with expanding and maintaining its web-based software. The job entails adding new features, improving existing ones and eliminating bugs. The successful candidate's role would include: actively participating in the Agile meetings, taking responsibility of stories and tasks, quality assurance and most importantly helping teammates. The company is looking for someone with one to five years of experience in a similar role. Sentinel Alert Full Stack Developer The St. John’s startup, which is developing a mobile worker safety solution, is interested in working with experienced software developers or highly talented recent graduates who can quickly take an active role in our development team. The Full Stack Developer will be ultimately responsible for expanding and maintaining our web platform and improving our database architecture by working with the rest of the team. The company is looking for someone with a college degree in Computer Science and experience in developing JavaScript LAMP and PHP. Other Locations Domain name sales Manage Your Spend, which buys and sells domain sales, is looking for a part-time sales person to close deals by phone or Skype. The company wants a university graduate with some sales experience, but a background in domains is not necessary. The successful candidate must be a self-starter, and can be based anywhere. Explaining the Buzz Around Velocity by Peter Moreira | Dec 08, 2015 | 1 About 500 students and faculty packed the Student Life Centre at the University of Waterloo last month and saw why their school is often called Canada’s MIT. The space resembled a food court at any mall, but there was a rare buzz in the air Nov. 26 as 10 companies competed to grab a share of more than $100,000 in prize money being awarded that day by the Velocity Fund. Velocity is the university’s tech accelerator, and it has its own fund, which each year hands out a total of about $400,000 to the best startups working in the accelerator. It’s difficult to find a university these days without programs that work with students to develop companies based on innovative technologies. It’s extremely encouraging. But spending time in Waterloo, you’re smacked in the face by the realization that this institution is peerless in the volume and sophistication of its startups. “The culture of the university has always been entrepreneurial,” said Mike Kirkup, director of Velocity. “It was founded by engineers that needed help and expertise to help grow their businesses.” Communitech, Velocity Expanding Because of its reputation for entrepreneurship and sciences, the university attracts students with a proficiency for these disciplines. Last week, I spoke with one young Atlantic Canadian considering a university to study English. She was leaning toward Waterloo because of the potential it offers in developing digital media companies. And once students are in the university, they’re immersed in a culture that nurtures the development of advanced companies. Waterloo operates the world’s largest post-secondary co-op program, meaning students work in real-world jobs throughout their curriculum. “The talent here is insane,” said Ted Livingston, CEO of Kik Interactive , who donated $1 million to the Velocity Fund as a 23-year-old. “After four years in the co-op program, you know more about starting a company than most people.” Velocity reinforces that knowledge by hosting regular “problem labs,” in which industry executives meet with students, discuss their problems and work with them to come up with innovative solutions. The result can be a new company that can meet the needs of a range of clients. This is the real strength of the university. It produces a vast range of new companies addressing real problems of corporations and customers. Consider some of the winners of the Velocity Fund finals, each receiving at least $25,000. Thalo is developing a revolutionary screen for mobile devices that can be read even in glaring daylight. Rather than a back-lit display, Thalo uses reflective technology to gather in surrounding light. Acorn Cryotech preserves the cells of youthful people as a resource to draw from for personalized medical therapy. Velocity houses about 75 companies, mainly headed by Waterloo alumni and staffed with a heavy proportion of current students. It just announced an expansion in the new year, so it will have enough space for about 120 companies. Kirkup doesn’t foresee any problems finding more companies affiliated with the university to take up the space. “We have to press both ends of the pump at the same time. If we develop the means to create more startups, we have to have the space to house them.” This Week’s Leading Jobs in Halifax by Peter Moreira | Dec 08, 2015 This week, we are kicking off our Jobs of the Week feature to highlight Atlantic Canadian tech and startup openings that have been posted on the Entrevestor Job Board , which is powered by Qimple . Entrevestor and Qimple last month launched this job board, which helps to match job openings and candidates in the Atlantic Canadian tech and startup communities. Until Jan. 31, you can post job openings on the site for only $25 each. We highlighted jobs in Moncton on Monday, and today Halifax is in the spotlight. We’ll feature other locations Wednesday. Going forward, we will highlight the most recent job postings in our “Jobs of the Week” column each Monday. We hope this proves beneficial for the community and helps our startups in their search for talent. Jobs in Halifax: Java Developer As part of the product development and engineering team, the Java Developer will be expected to play a critical role in shaping Athletigen’s technology offering. This will involve participating in building a state of the art DNA analytics engine using different technologies such as Java, Hibernate, Spring AOP, Spring IoC, python, R, big data systems and REST services. Minimum Qualifications include in-depth knowledge of data structures and Java Collections including, Maps, Sets and Graph implementations. The candidate should have a very strong knowledge of Java Language including, inner, nested and anonymous classes, private constructors, final methods, overloading, and overriding. BML Web Development and Communication Intermediate Full Stack Developer (JavaScript+PHP) BML, which is developing BuyMyLemonde.com, a youth fundraising website, is looking for talented full stack developer to join its team. The candidate will have to construct, develop, code, debug and maintain web site applications. He or she will also have to define software design methodology for the development and implementation of internet-based applications to support all aspects of web site functionalities. The company is looking for someone with a minimum of three years of PHP web development experience and Javascript development. Clean Simple Software QA Lead Clean Simple is looking for a talented Software QA lead to design and implement its Quality Assurance Program with the expressed objective of ensuring the best possible performance for both our Mobile and Web software. The successful candidate will be provided creative control over the design of the QA program with the mandate of thoroughly de-risking and refining products in development. He or she will collaborate with development and design teams to plan and execute testing across a variety of world-class applications on the newest web and mobile technologies. The company is looking for someone with a Bachelor degree in Computer Science or college degree in technology and three to five years of experience. Dadavan Systems Ltd. Front-End Developer Working within the technical team on web-based projects, the Front End Developer’s main responsibility is to produce, modify and maintain web-based user interfaces. The successful candidate must also work closely with server-side developers to understand and use their server-side code to develop complex, interactive and database-driven websites. Dadavan is seeking a candidate with experience designing and implementing web applications that are part of larger, multi-tiered distributed applications that include server and database components and processes. Eyeread Lead UI Designer Eyeread, which is developing an adaptive, scientific reading assessment tool for children, is looked for a UI Designer with two to four years of experience in a similar role. The successful candidate must have the following skills: PostCSS3, HTML5, Java Script, jQuery, Git, and AngularJS. It’s the bonus if the candidate has familiarity with Python/Django. The company is looking for someone who will collaborate, brainstorm, build, and execute games and features that children with low literacy skills, aged 5 to 10 years old, want and are able to use. Senior Software Engineer Eyeread is seeking a senior software engineer who wants to influence the future, who wants a job that is the starting point of what is possible. The position requires expertise in multiple technology platforms and languages. That means three or more years of object-oriented programming based development and mastery of at least one high level scripting language (Python or JS preferred). The candidate should also have two or more years of experience with Django, MySQL and working in a Linux environment. The company is looking for someone who has contributed to the open source community and experience working in an iterative or agile development environment. QRA Corp Full Stack Software Engineer QRA develops software to help engineers build flawless products. The company is searching for an experienced software engineer with confidence and talent. It is seeking candidates with a minimum of three years of progressive web and client/server software development experience. A formal education in Computer Science or Engineering is a major asset. STI Technologies Limited SEO Specialist STI’s SEO Specialist will work within the Product Management team and be responsible for managing STI’s digital campaign efforts both internally and those of its clients. The candidate must be certified in Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager, and provide insights and best practices on implementing a DTC campaign, and what success looks like. Strong communication and teamwork skills are key, as this role requires frequent communication with all areas of the company, as well as various external stakeholders including clients and clients’ agencies. The SEO Specialist must have the ability to manage multiple clients, prioritize requests, and set expectations accordingly. Vmo Solutions Senior Software Developer VMO is searching for a lead developer based in the Halifax area with three to five years of experience. The successful candidate should be a self-motivated and independent senior level developer who is current with modern web and cloud-based technologies. The position calls for programming for mission-critical real-time systems, transforming the way airlines operate today. On occasion, the developer will also be tasked with communicating with clients to address open issues with beta and production software. GSEA Seeks Student Entrepreneurs by | Dec 08, 2015 The organizers of the first Atlantic Canadian version of the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards are looking for entries from undergrads in the region who run their own businesses. Organized by the Entrepreneurs’ Organization , the GSEA program is designed to help undergraduate students who own and operate businesses to promote their companies and value proposition by competing with other business owners. The organizers are looking for students from across Atlantic Canada to enter by filling out this form by Dec. 11. The participants will have an opportunity to present their companies at an event at the World Trade and Convention Centre in Halifax on Jan. 21. The winner will receive a paid trip to Toronto in February to compete at nationals. The Canadian winner will head to the global competition in Bangkok in May to vie for $50,000 in cash and prizes. The Entrepreneurs' Organization was founded in 1987 by a group of young entrepreneurs. With more than 10,000 members in 48 countries throughout the world, it enables business owners to learn from each other to experience greater business success while forming strong professional and personal relationships. CarbonCure’s New Ready-Mix Product by Sabina Wex | Dec 07, 2015 Robert Niven: A green solution for the design community. CarbonCure Technologies will enter the ready-mixed concrete market due to its recent partnership with Vulcan Materials Company, the largest U.S. producer of construction aggregates and a major producer of construction materials. Five to 10 percent of all carbon emissions come from the concrete industry. CarbonCure, based in Dartmouth, attempts to reduce this percentage by converting carbon dioxide into calcium carbonate, which permanently bonds the calcium in concrete with the carbon. The carbon dioxide now no longer exists, so it can’t escape into the atmosphere and pollute it. Ready-mixed concrete is the concrete that isn’t manufactured by a machine in a factory, but produced in a truck, and then immediately poured fresh on site. Now that Vulcan, located in Virginia, near Washington, D.C., has partnered with CarbonCure for its ready-mixed concrete, America’s capital city is the first metropolitan market to have access to the company’s sustainable concrete. CarbonCure, which has been working on a ready-mixed product for several years, announced the partnership last month. “CarbonCure is the concrete industry’s gateway to the green design community,” Rob Niven, Founder and CEO of CarbonCure, said in a press release. “The launch of the CarbonCure Ready Mixed Technology enables concrete producers to provide a solution that meets the demands of the design community for sustainable building products.” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to reduce the city’s carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050. Superior Block Corporation, a New York concrete masonry manufacturer, already began working toward this goal by offering its customers the option of using CarbonCure’s concrete masonry units. CarbonCure Raises $3 Million In One New York: The Plan for a Strong and Just City, in which Mayor de Blasio announced his goal to cut the city’s carbon emissions, there was a lot of talk about resilience—not just emotionally, as the report refers to victims of Hurricane Sandy, but also in the city’s buildings. “We think we fit in well there,” CarbonCure Sustainability Manager Scott Biggar said. “We’re using materials that will last a long time, but also using materials that are smarter and more efficient than they used to be.” CarbonCure focuses much of its efforts on engineering and R&D, employing several top concrete chemists. In collaboration with Sean Monkman, Niven thought of the idea to create CarbonCure after he completed his research for his Master of Chemistry at McGill University. CarbonCure wants to hire talent from Nova Scotia. It often hosts science students for their coop terms or MBA students for their work placement programs. “A lot of investment in a lot of the talent available,” Biggar said. “Halifax has a lot of universities, and a lot of people to pull from.” CarbonCure's licensing system is customized to each customer, based on the volume of concrete that it produces. CarbonCure provides its physical technology, as well as marketing services to help partners gain traction in the green building market. In his last three funding rounds, Niven raised a total of $8 million, from funders like BDC Capital and Pangea Ventures. CarbonCure’s last funding round took place this past spring, when Niven raised $3 million. CarbonCure received modest funding for a cleantech startup, but Biggar said that the company is on its way to profitability. After his final funding round, Niven said he hopes the company will be profitable by the end of 2016. This Week’s Leading Jobs in Moncton by | Dec 07, 2015 Today, for the first time, we will post Jobs of the Week, to highlight Atlantic Canadian tech and startup openings that have been posted on the Entrevestor Job Board , which is powered by Qimple . Entrevestor and Qimple last month launched this job board, which helps to match job openings and candidates in the Atlantic Canadian tech and startup communities. Until Jan. 31, you can post job openings on the site for only $25 each. This week we’re going to highlight all the jobs on our site to get this weekly feature going. We’ll highlight jobs in Moncton today, Halifax on Tuesday and other locations on Wednesday. Going forward, we will highlight the most recent job posting in out “Jobs of the Week” column each Monday. We hope this proves beneficial for the community and helps our startups in their search for talent. Jobs in Moncton: Customer Service and Sales Representative The leading repair service for mobile devices in New Brunswick is looking for a customer service representative. The responsibilities include providing customer service at the counter and over the phone. The successful candidate will show initiative and be eager to learn. He or she must achieve and maintain daily targets. The company is searching for a bilingual person with a bachelor degree in computer science and a knowledge of cell phones and mobile devices. Cell Phone Technician The company is looking for a technician who is a fast learner, self-motivated and also is an independent worker. The successful candidate must have the ability to work under pressure and willingness to work evenings and weekends. The responsibilities include conducting extensive test before and after repairs, accurately documenting repairs and part information in work orders, and monitoring parts inventory. Gogii Games Manager of Business Intelligence (Gaming Industry) Gogii Games is searching for a “Manager of Business Intelligence”, who will be responsible for the management of its core BI team of Data Analysts and Business Analysts to design, build, test, optimize, and monetize Gogii’s growing portfolio of Free to Play games. The analysts will combine their analytical, strategic, and financial skill sets to develop, implement, test, and analyze the hypotheses that will drive player conversion and ongoing user monetization. The successful candidate will be a master of quantitative investigation across our entire product line, drawing insight from the data we collect and turning it into actionable hypotheses for our Executive Producers and Product Managers to leverage in-game. Data Analyst (Gaming Industry) Gogii Games Corp is hiring a ‘Free to Play Game Data Analyst’ to support its development and ongoing support of games in the Mobile Free-to-Play marketplace. The analyst will combine their analytical, strategic, and financial skill sets to develop, implement, test, and analyze the hypotheses that will drive player conversion and ongoing user monetization. As a Data Analyst, the successful candidat