NOTE: A brief description of the five I-3 zone winners and four sector winners is available at http://innovacorp.ca/news/news/i-3-winners-2013-2014 .
A Sydney-based company developing technology that protects companies and governments against website and network attacks is receiving a $100,000 seed investment from Innovacorp to implement its go-to-market plan.
Innovacorp announced Heimdall Networks is the provincial winner of the I-3 Technology Start-Up Competition, ending a five-month search to find the best start-ups in Nova Scotia.
“Innovacorp’s I-3 Technology Start-Up Competition once again demonstrates the strong entrepreneurial spirit that is pervasive in Nova Scotia, and the compelling business ideas germinating here,” said Premier Stephen McNeil. “Fostering that entrepreneurism is vital to growing our economy.”
Heimdall Networks has developed a solution that identifies legitimate and illicit network traffic, filtering out the bad traffic while letting the good traffic through.
“Winning this competition allows us to complete our beta trials and implement our go-to market plan and make some key hires to build out our sales and marketing team,” said Jim DeLeskie, founder and CTO of Heimdall Networks.
The provincial I-3 competition began Sept. 4, and Innovacorp received 228 submissions from entrepreneurs across Nova Scotia.
The competition finds and supports high-potential early stage Nova Scotia knowledge-based companies, and encourages entrepreneurship across the province. These businesses will fuel economic growth.
“Innovacorp’s I-3 competition is about creating real companies, with real market potential,” said Stephen Duff, president and CEO of Innovacorp. “Heimdall’s compelling technology and sound business plan puts them in great standing to compete in the global network security marketplace.”
The I-3 competition allows Innovacorp and partners to improve the business-building help they provide.
In total, $900,000 in cash, seed investment and in-kind services was awarded to winners. First-place zone winners each received $100,000 in cash and in-kind services and the second-place winners won a $40,000 package. Also, this year there were four $25,000 cash awards for the best submissions in information and communications technology, life sciences, clean technology, and oceans technology.
Heimdall Networks won the Information and Communications Technology category, Spring Loaded Technology won Life Sciences, Atlantic Motor Labs Inc., was the top Clean Technology entry and Natural Oceans Technology Inc., won Oceans Technology.
The previously announced zone winners are Heimdall Networks, Extrify, from New Glasgow, CelluFuel Inc., from Brooklyn, Queens Co., Fenol Farm Inc., from Mount Uniacke and Spring Loaded Technology of Halifax.
Innovacorp is Nova Scotia’s early stage venture capital organization. To learn more about the I-3 Technology Start-Up Competition, which takes place every two years, visit www.innovacorp.ca .
Source: Release
