Volta, Canada’s East Coast Innovation Hub, is thrilled to welcome five Atlantic Canadian technology startups to its new Cohort. The companies will each receive a $25,000 investment from a microfund co-founded by Volta, BDC Capital, Innovacorp and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), as well as mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs and resources to help grow their businesses.

“Injecting early stage startups with a small investment, and pairing it with mentorship and support early on has provided a tremendous boost to our regional ecosystem by helping companies get to a venture path more quickly,” said Meghann Coleman, Director of Strategic Projects at Volta, who served as a judge at the semi-annual pitch competition. “The talent, passion and diversity of the ideas displayed were quite impressive, and we look forward to helping the founders and their teams as they continue to grow.” 

Companies were selected at a pitch event in Halifax on November 20. Fourteen Atlantic Canadian startup founders pitched their businesses to a panel of judges, including representatives from Volta, Innovacorp, ACOA and the region’s startup community. The companies selected to join the next Volta Cohort include: 

Bloxo Inc. (Halifax, NS) – Bloxo is a mobile and web-based platform that simplifies the process of organizing and participating in sports, by connecting organizers, players and facilities. 

Bursity Inc. (Halifax, NS) – Bursity.ca is developing a web platform that helps post-secondary students pay their tuition by finding and applying for financial awards in a few easy steps. Their platform uses one universal form to connect students to more than two-million funding opportunities. 

Electric Owl Solutions Ltd. (Halifax, NS) – Electric Owl is developing a subscription-based software for community gardens, urban gardeners and small-scale farmers. 

RIDDL (Fredericton, NB) – RIDDL provides proprietary data to impact investors to guide better investment decisions. 

Sparrow Acoustics (Halifax, NS) – Sparrow Acoustics is making it possible for health care professionals to triage a cardiac patient in less than 10 minutes using only their software and an electronic stethoscope. The company combines a decade of auscultation research, with novel computer visualization, proprietary acoustic algorithms, and artificial intelligence. 

Fifty-one full-time employees have been hired through Cohort companies; $5,500,000 in investments have been raised ($3,400,000 in investments secured and $2,100,000 pending), and $587,500 in grant dollars have been received by Cohort companies. 

 

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