HALIFAX, NS (September 8, 2020) – After 158 applications flooded in for the Ocean Startup Challenge, the industry reviewers have shortlisted 31 companies to vie for 10 prizes of $25,000 and in-kind support from partners. 

All the shortlisted companies are encouraged to attend invitation-only, virtual bootcamps and will stand to benefit from guidance and support from partnering organizations in the Atlantic Canadian ecosystem. The training is designed to arm the innovators and entrepreneurs with the skills to get their solutions to the next stage and prepare for pitch sessions to the final judges. 

“Applicants accepted our challenge by proposing creative solutions to solve industry hurdles, with more than a third of the shortlisted companies having ocean technologies in the earliest stages of development,” said Don Grant, Executive Director, Ocean Startup Project. “Another 19 shortlisted companies applied with working prototypes.”

The shortlisted solutions involve environmental monitoring, reducing marine mammal entanglement in fishing gear, artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, technologies to reduce corrosion and biofouling, networks of sensors and analysis tools, sustainable bait alternatives, vision systems, underwater communications and IoT networks, value-added by-products, fish health, and much more.

Nearly two-thirds of shortlisted companies proposed ways to overcome challenges in fisheries and aquaculture. Many of them touched on other challenge areas too, including a fifth of the applicants bringing forward solutions to address healthier oceans, more sustainable transport, and enabling technologies. Additionally, several proposals included solutions to topics in the bioscience and energy challenge areas.

“We were pleased by the breadth of applications, and the overall response from coast to coast to coast within Canada, and from around the world,” added Grant. “The quality and influx of applications reinforce the momentum and opportunities in this country’s ocean sector.”

For a short description of each company’s technology and where they are located, visit  https://www.oceanstartupchallenge.ca/shortlist/. The shortlisted companies are: 

• 3F Waste Recovery (Main Brook, NL)

• Acoustic Bait Technologies (Antigonish, NS)

• Aquafort (St. John’s, NL)

• Blue Lion Labs (Waterloo, ON)

• Copsys Industries Inc. (Halifax, NS)

• Dartmouth Ocean Technologies (Dartmouth, NS)

• Ghost Fishing Busters (Porters Lake, NS)

• Glas Ocean Electric (Halifax, NS)

• Grand River Robotics (Waterloo, ON)

• Greenoil Solutions (Frasers Mountain, NS)

• Harmony Desal (Cambridge, MA)

• HydroNet (Menlo Park, CA)

• Impactful Health Research and Development Inc. (Montréal, QC)

• In Nature Robotics (Hanwell, NB)

• Kavacha (Canoe Cove, PE)

• Marecomms Inc. (Halifax, NS)

• Marimetrics Technologies Inc. (Dartmouth, NS)

• Orcinus Technologies (St. John’s, NL)

• Pelagis Data Solutions (Point Edward, NS)

• Planetary Hydrogen Inc. (Gatineau, QC)

• Polyamyna Nanotech (St. John’s, NL)

• Prosaris Solutions (Hammonds Plains, NS)

• qualiTEAS (St. John’s, NL)

• SeaChange Biochemistry Inc. (Clark’s Harbour, NS)

• SeaHawk Robotics (Vancouver, BC)

• Sedna Technologies (Dartmouth, NS)

• Sentry: Water Monitoring and Control (Charlottetown, PE)

• Subait Inc. (Dartmouth, NS)

• Tracker Inventory Systems (Sydney, NS)

• Goldfish Inc. (formerly Virgil Group LLC, Washington, D.C.)

• WeavAir (Toronto, ON)

About the Ocean Startup Challenge

The Ocean Startup Challenge is a competition designed to support innovators who are developing technologies that can be applied to large ocean challenges. The Challenge is led by the Ocean Startup Project, the first Innovation Ecosystem Project announced by Canada’s Ocean Supercluster. The Ocean Startup Project is a pan-Atlantic collaboration to create and grow high-quality ocean technology companies and attract more ventures to the region’s ecosystem. Collaborators include: Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) – Atlantic, Genesis, Innovacorp, New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, PEI BioAlliance, and Springboard Atlantic. 

In-kind supporters of the Ocean Startup Challenge include BDO Canada, Enginuity, IGNITE, McInnes Cooper, Propel, and Saint Mary’s University Entrepreneurship Centre. For more information about the Ocean Startup Challenge, visit oceanstartupchallenge.ca.