Atlantic Canada Sets Record For Startups Two Years In A Row
One of the changes that have taken place in the East Coast startup ecosystem in the past four or five years is the region has ratcheted up its capacity for launching new companies.
As part of our mission to chart and analyze data on the startup community, we track the new companies that appear each year. As the chart above shows, the region’s ability to crank out startups underwent a steep change between 2015 and 2017. It wasn’t an overnight change, but in three of the last four years the region has launched more than 100 startups a year.
We have catalogued 115 companies that were formed in 2018, up by one over the record level of 2017. We should add that this is the best information we have at this time. Startups often form quietly and then announce their presence a year or two later. Every year we add companies to the data bank that are more than one year old. But we are aware of 115 startups that were born in 2018.
There is no single reason for the improvement – rather it is a lot of little changes that have taken place over the past seven years. Several universities now have dedicated entrepreneurship programs, including Memorial University, Dalhousie University, St. Mary’s University and University of New Brunswick. In Nova Scotia, there are nine “sandboxes”, which encourage student entrepreneurship. Propel offers a virtual, two-phase accelerator called Incite, the first phase of which establishes product-market fit for early-stage companies. There are startup hubs in most cities and other centres like Mahone Bay and Yarmouth. Most important, the startup culture has spread throughout the region, enough that anyone who aspires to launch a company can be directed to a group that can help.
Read the rest of this story at Entrevestor.