Five Nova Scotia Start-Ups Selected for Innovacorp's 2020 Accelerate Program
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
The company behind a portable analyzer to measure cannabis safety and quality has earned $50,000 and a spot in Innovacorp's six-month Accelerate Program. The business, Greenlight Analytical, is one of five Nova Scotia start-ups selected after a recent competitive call for submissions.
"Our team has been fortunate to benefit from several of Innovacorp's programs in the past, and we're proud to be selected for this opportunity for later stage ventures," said James Wylde co-founder and CEO of Greenlight Analytical. "We're going to be focused on advancing our prototype to show we can meet our customers' needs, helping them increase revenue and protect their brands over the next few months. We're ready to dive in."
Each participating start-up receives $50,000 and six-months of advice from experts and coaches, workshops, incubation facility access, and market intelligence services. The goal is to hit key technical and business milestones and get investment-ready.
The five companies are:
Copsys Industries — Farzad Hashemi, Mike Maguire — Halifax — copsys.ca
Corrosion management technology to protect assets and reduce maintenance
Dartmouth Ocean Technologies — Arnold Furlong, Vince Sieben — Dartmouth — dartmouthocean.com
Lab-on-chip sensors to reduce labour and environmental burden of ocean health monitoring
Dr. Gordon's Bum Cream — Dr. A.K. Gordon, Johanna Mercer — Port Williams — drbumcream.com
Cream to treat moisture-associated skin damage
Greenlight Analytical — James Wylde, Simon Benwell — Dartmouth — greenlightanalytical.com
Portable analyzer to measure cannabis safety and quality
KorrAI Technologies — Rahul Anand, Jeff Burke — Halifax — korrai.com
AI software for precision mapping in the natural resource and environmental sectors
"When we launched a call for submissions for several of our programs last month, we braced ourselves a little, wondering what the impact of COVID-19 would be on our start-ups," said Innovacorp president and CEO Malcolm Fraser. "Nova Scotia companies once again demonstrated their resilience and quality. Congratulations to the top five selected for this cohort."
Innovacorp received 49 submissions for the Accelerate Program after a three-week call launched in mid-August.
This is the fourth year Innovacorp is running a cohort-based acceleration program. Follow up with participants from past years showed that more than 70 per cent of the companies have already secured early stage equity investment from Innovacorp or another source.
Learn more about the Accelerate Program.
About Innovacorp
Innovacorp is Nova Scotia's early stage venture capital organization. It works to find, fund and foster innovative Nova Scotia start-ups that strive to change the world. Early stage investment is at the core of Innovacorp's business model. It also gives entrepreneurs access to world-class incubation facilities, expert advice and other support to help them accelerate their companies. Target industries include information technology, life sciences, clean technology and ocean technology.
September 30, 2020, Halifax, Nova Scotia