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SABRTech Wins International Clean Technology Open Competition

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.

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Canadian Startup Makes Global Repository for Human Mistakes... One Mistake at a Time

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.

Toronto's Bee Media Acquires Adcentricity

Toronto-based Bee Media has acquired Adcentrcity for an undisclosed sum. Bee Media, previously a personal shopper and location-based deals companny, will leverage its acquistion of Adcentricity, a location-based digital media firm, to complete somewhat of a pivot: the company is "in the process of expanding into an exciting, leading-edge, location-based digital media company that delivers targeted advertising and offers a fully integrated platform and ad network."

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Every Day Can be Draft Day with Fantasy Feud

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.

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The Anti-Groupon: Get Free Stuff – No Strings Attached – with Vancouver's Mobile App, TikTok

50% off isn't cool. You know what's cool? 100% off.

And to really pile on the cliches, let me also say: there's an app for that.

Vancouver-made TikTok is a mobile app delivering free goods to locals through a uniquely structured business model. Created by Vancouverite Dorian Banks, who founded MetroBridge Networks and sold it last year, TikTok offers short-term freebies to users. The geo-located coupons often expire within hours and vary by area and time of day.

The idea is to balance a business' day: drive traffic through the doors during slow times with tiny gifts (one free slice of pizza, one free cup of coffee), and hope they either buy additional items or return as a paying customer—and the businesses never have to worry about taking 90%-off vouchers during peak times, straining resources.

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Securing Investment: How to Counter Common Startup Mistakes

As an investor in several Canadian startups, the key to securing financing is about putting the puzzle pieces together for the investment partner. It’s true that Canadian investors are generally more conservative than technology investment firms in Silicon Valley or New York, and that early stage financing may seem limited in relation to our stateside counterparts, but that doesn’t mean Canadian investors don’t exist.

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Canada's First Flash Sale Site Focused on Moms, Babies, and Kids

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.

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Toronto’s ShopLocket Launches Open Beta Today

Katherine Hague, co-founder of Toronto-based startup ShopLocket, has always been an entrepreneur at heart. Just after graduating with a BBA from the Schulich School of Business, she worked in Marketing with Toronto’s ecobee and then went on to consult with other digital media startups. 

When she began looking for a new and creative way to sell some T-shirts that she had designed to promote her services, she couldn’t find an eCommerce solution in the marketplace that met her needs. Other than listing a T-shirt on Craiglist or Kijiji, or paying a ton of money for set-up costs and ongoing fees for a Shopify storefront, there was no way to sell just a single product in a professional and simple manner.

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