A 26-year-old college graduate from Charlottetown was looking to add some flavour to his life.
Running a coffee shop and paying off a student loan, Sean Wall had an idea – harness the water off P.E.I.’s shores to create 100 per cent natural sea salt for cooking and cosmetic uses.
CLICK HERE FOR LIST OF GRANT RECIPIENTS
“In order for me to take this from being just an idea to the next stage, it is very, very hard. You need funding; you need help; you need intellectual capital,’’ Wall said.
On Friday, Wall got a boost from Innovation P.E.I.
His Kensington-based company Black Whale Salt Company was one of 10 new and expanding companies from across the province to receive a grant of $25,000 from the Ignition Fund to help support development and growth of their businesses.
The Ignition program was launched in June 2014 to assist eight startups in P.E.I. by providing them with a $25,000 investment. Innovation P.E.I. received 109 submissions this year, up from 63 in 2014.
The number of recipients also increased from eight to 10.
There were another 94 applicants that Innovation P.E.I. will follow up with.
Wall said the grant is a huge step for his startup.
“What something like this Ignition Fund does for us is massive,’’ he said. “Not only is the funding great it allows us to grow infrastructure and turn it into something viable.’’
Another Kensington-based startup – Precise.ai Inc. – got a cheque for $25,000 to help develop a new product that accurately predicts ovulation in cattle./
Mel Crane, whose specialty is artificial reproduction, said about $25 million is spent annually in Canada on solutions to help determine when is best to breed a cow.
Crane said Precise.ai Inc. will use the money to work with UPEI’s Fablab to develop plastic housing and casing necessary for a piece of equipment to reside in the vagina of a cow “where it reports automatically’’ to any one of a number of smart devices.
They also hope to hire a co-op student from an engineering program, preferably a bio-engineering program next summer to help with development.
Heath MacDonald, minister of Economic Development, who co-founded his own startup three years ago (he sold his interest before jumping into politics), says these small startups are the backbone of the Island economy.
“It’s competitive out there and we need to help out as much as we can,’’ MacDonald said.
A 26-year-old college graduate from Charlottetown was looking to add some flavour to his life.
Running a coffee shop and paying off a student loan, Sean Wall had an idea – harness the water off P.E.I.’s shores to create 100 per cent natural sea salt for cooking and cosmetic uses.
CLICK HERE FOR LIST OF GRANT RECIPIENTS
“In order for me to take this from being just an idea to the next stage, it is very, very hard. You need funding; you need help; you need intellectual capital,’’ Wall said.
On Friday, Wall got a boost from Innovation P.E.I.
His Kensington-based company Black Whale Salt Company was one of 10 new and expanding companies from across the province to receive a grant of $25,000 from the Ignition Fund to help support development and growth of their businesses.
The Ignition program was launched in June 2014 to assist eight startups in P.E.I. by providing them with a $25,000 investment. Innovation P.E.I. received 109 submissions this year, up from 63 in 2014.
The number of recipients also increased from eight to 10.
There were another 94 applicants that Innovation P.E.I. will follow up with.
Wall said the grant is a huge step for his startup.
“What something like this Ignition Fund does for us is massive,’’ he said. “Not only is the funding great it allows us to grow infrastructure and turn it into something viable.’’
Another Kensington-based startup – Precise.ai Inc. – got a cheque for $25,000 to help develop a new product that accurately predicts ovulation in cattle./
Mel Crane, whose specialty is artificial reproduction, said about $25 million is spent annually in Canada on solutions to help determine when is best to breed a cow.
Crane said Precise.ai Inc. will use the money to work with UPEI’s Fablab to develop plastic housing and casing necessary for a piece of equipment to reside in the vagina of a cow “where it reports automatically’’ to any one of a number of smart devices.
They also hope to hire a co-op student from an engineering program, preferably a bio-engineering program next summer to help with development.
Heath MacDonald, minister of Economic Development, who co-founded his own startup three years ago (he sold his interest before jumping into politics), says these small startups are the backbone of the Island economy.
“It’s competitive out there and we need to help out as much as we can,’’ MacDonald said.
RECIPIENTS
The following new and expanding businesses in P.E.I. received a $25,000 grant from Innovation P.E.I. on Friday:
- Affinity Immuno Inc., Charlottetown, which will use the invasive green crab as a starting material to develop a novel biochemical widely used in pharmaceutical, medical device and research agent manufacturing.
- Ahead in the Game, Charlottetown. The creator of the Ahead Sport Mind Training app and a mental performance consultant will provide in-person and distance-based consulting to athletes.
- Black Whale Salt Co., Kensington, which produces handcrafted 100 per cent organic sea salt.
- GradPeek, Charlottetown, which uses an innovative screening platform that helps millennial job seekers with potential employers.
- Handyman Labs Inc., Charlottetown, which manufactures and distributes a vinyl siding protection and restoration product.
- Heatherdale Organic Food Products, Montague, which produces a range of high-end culinary products including oils, seeds and grain products.
- Moth Lane Brewing, Ellerslie, which is a seven-barrel brewing facility located along the Conway Narrows in Prince County.
- Precise.ai Inc., Kensington, which has developed a new product to accurately predict ovulation in cattle.
- SkyMetro UAV Technology Inc., Summerside, producer and seller of and trainer in unmanned aerial vehicle in Slemon Park.
- TactiCal, St. Peters Bay. It’s a web application, an online tool and business intelligence subscription service to plan, manage, execute and measure communications plans.
