Atlantic Canada: A Beacon for Start-Ups

While the world grappled with COVID-19, with industry slowdown, business closing, and governments struggling to bring services online, the Atlantic Canada Start-up ecosystem was on fire in 2020. Reports are out that start-up companies in this region created more jobs, made more money, and grew in number more than any other year in history. Considered the expert in tracking Atlantic Canada start-up success, our guest today is Peter Moreira, a globally successful journalist who turned his attention to this sector and has made it his mission to celebrate every success story. His annual report – Atlantic Canada Start-up Data Report (https://entrevestor.com/) is a must read for everyone interested in this sector.

Peter and his team tracked over 738 companies in 2020, a 5.9% jump over the previous year and raised over $206.2 million with revenue growth over 72%, 700 jobs for a total sector of over 7000 jobs. Peter was an ideal guest to have on our Podcast to take us through the sector, who are the players, why are they successful, who are the mentors and supporters, why if any might be struggling? For example, women led entrepreneurs only raised an estimated $5 million or less than 4% of the total, clearly a problem that the sector has to overcome.

In his online podcast in October 2021, Peter profiled some of the sector’s leaders such as Verafin (https://verafin.com/), Introhive (https://introhive.com/) and Carbon Cure (https://carboncure.com) as examples of major success stories. In our discussion he refers to start-up Sandpiper (https://sandpiper.vc/) and others as examples of how we are addressing the deficit in funding this sector while acknowledging that we have a way to go.

Peter talks about champions in the region including ACOA, various provincial innovation leaders such as NSBI, Pelorus Capital with their public-private partnership, Innovacorp receiving big rewards this year, the Genesis Center model for mentorship, and Island Capital being a major champion for many years. Regional leaders such as Patrick Hankinson (https://concrete.vc/) and Mark Dobbin (https://killickcapital.com/) are champions of this sector and are leading by example, with their own money. 

Peter is steadfast in his prediction that this region will continue to grow. We have a rich talent pool, and the world is our oyster. It is a great time to be involved in this sector and we at Barrington Edge are having a great deal of fun working from here – out there.

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