It wasn't terribly long ago that incubators were a niche concept. In 1980, you could almost count them on your two hands—there were just 12. Today, there are literally thousands littering Canada and the US.

While only a few are prominently famous—think Y Combinator in Silicon Valley and TechStars in New York City—hundreds upon hundreds more in every shape and size have triggered a tidal surge in this service of fostering startups. The idea is great: mix quality mentorship with access to funding to cultivate ecosystems of successful technology companies.

Yep, the idea is great. But do they actually work?

A small Nova Scotian startup, SABRTech, has won the Nova Scotia Clean Tech Open, an international competition designed to fund and mentor clean technology startups.

SABRTech, formerly Marine Arctic and Antarctic Technologies, is developing a procedure to convert grown and harvested algae into aviation biofuel.  The idea is obviously a good one: the company was awarded $100,000 in cash, $200,000 as a negotiable seed investment, and mentoring and business development services.

Toronto's Mistakeville has created a "how not to" site - a place where people can share their mistakes and learn from the mistakes of others.

Because we believe you aren’t defined by your mistakes. Instead, you are defined by how you react to them. We believe mistakes are a badge of action. It's easy to make no mistakes – just do nothing. We believe sharing mistakes helps both ourselves and others. Sharing a mistake is the single most powerful thing you can do to learn and grow from your mistake. Sharing a mistake is like giving a gift of learning.

Mistakeville was created by Dimitris Sotirakopoulos and Michael Kahn. The pair are learning from other startup entrepreneurs mistakes and are currently looking for a technical co-founder to join the team.

With more major league franchises than any other Canadian city, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Toronto is home to the most sports-related startups.

Bump 50:50, YapAgame, InGamer Sports, and Huddlers are all on Techvibes' radar. And now Fantasy Feud has got our attention. One month out of beta, Fantasy Feud is a platform built for the avid fantasy sports enthusiasts.

Until now, fantasy sports has been limited to getting together with friends online or in person to pick players for a season long pool. Whether it be hockey, football, baseball, or basketball usually after a couple months half of the participants have lost interest while those in contention follow a little too closely.

This week, the world of private flash sale sites welcomed MarilynJean to the party.

Based out of Vancouver and created by online marketing and retail veterans, MarilynJean claims to be Canada’s first referral based, private sale, online store that offers moms with exclusive deals and preferred pricing on hand-selected pregnancy, baby, kids and family related items and services.

MarilynJean has just come out of six-month private beta phase where it amassed an impressive membership base of 20,000.