Yarmouth County businesses come away big winners in competition

Some local businesses have come away big winners in the 1-3 Technology Start-Up Competition.

Yarmouth brothers Matthew and Jason Doucette and Xona Games won first place – which comes with an award package worth $100,000 – in Zone 2 of the competition, which took in Yarmouth, Shelburne, Queens and Lunenburg counties. They are also now one of five start-up businesses in the running for the overall provincial award in the competition.

Xona Games is an independent game development studio targeting Xbox 360 and PC gaming platforms. The company concentrates on intensifying retro-style games and has already gained international recognition, placing 7th in the world and 2nd in Canada in Microsoft’s 2009 Dream Build Play competition. Xona’s game Decimation X is the number one rated Xbox LIVE Indie Game in Japan. (The Vanguard profiled the brothers in September. A follow-up story will appear in the Feb. 2 issue of The Vanguard.)

Another Yarmouth County company, Ocean Leader Fisheries Ltd., placed second in Zone 2, which comes with an award package valued at $40,000.

Ocean Leader Fisheries Ltd., operated by Milton LeBlanc and Bruce LeBlanc in Lower Wedgeport, is developing an anti-inflammatory sea cucumber extract for the companion pet market. As a primary processor of sea cucumber, the company has direct access to the material used in the development of this safe and healthy nutraceutical extract. Ocean Leader plans to begin production in 2010.

Meanwhile, a Clare company also captured first place in Zone 3, which included Digby, Annapolis, Kings and Hants counties. Clare Machine Works Ltd. and Vince Stuart, Meteghan Centre, has developed an innovative patent-pending system for refurbishing high value oil and gas industry drill pipes. The oil and gas industry spends millions of dollars per year refurbishing drill pipes, which are inspected regularly and must meet strict specifications. Clare Machine Works’ mobile system refurbishes pipes on-site, eliminating the complicated logistics and expense of shipping pipes off-site to be refurbished.

Clare Machine Works Ltd. is now also a finalist for the provincial award.

The I-3 Technology Start-Up Competition is a competition for Nova Scotians with potential new knowledge-based businesses. The purpose of the competition is to foster and support the entrepreneurial spirit in the business community across Nova Scotia and to encourage the formation of new knowledge-based start-up companies. Innovacorp is looking for high potential export oriented early stage companies with commercializable products and/or services.

The competition was held in five zones covering all of Nova Scotia.

The first and second place zone winners each receive $100,000 and $40,000 respectively in a combination of cash and in-kind business building services from professional services firms located in their zones to be used for the further development of their start-up ventures. The first place winners will move on to the provincial round happening Feb. 9, to compete for a $100,000 seed investment from Innovacorp.

The winners in each zone were selected through three rounds of competition by a panel of private sector judges. In the third round of judging, the finalists presented oral pitches of their start-up businesses to the judges. Finalists were evaluated based on business plan credibility, management experience, high barrier to competitive entry, large addressable market, and the probability of obtaining a fully funded business plan. Ultimately, the winners were determined by the judges to have the highest probability of entering the market in a competitively sustainable fashion and having the most commercialization potential.

The first and second place award winners in each zone are:

Zone 1 (Cumberland, Colchester, Pictou, Antigonish and Guysborough counties)

1st Place – LST Energy – Jim Trussler, Gus Swanson and Philip Landry – Pictou

2nd Place – X-Flux Environmental Technologies – David Risk – Antigonish

Zone 2 (Lunenburg, Queens, Shelburne and Yarmouth counties)

1st Place – Xona Games – Matthew and Jason Doucette – Yarmouth

2nd Place – Ocean Leader Fisheries Ltd. – Milton LeBlanc and Bruce LeBlanc – Lower Wedgeport

Zone 3 (Digby, Annapolis, Kings and Hants counties)

1st Place – Clare Machine Works Ltd. – Vince Stuart – Meteghan Centre

2nd Place – Fireworks FX Inc./Solar Flare Inc. – Fred Wade – Grand Pre

Zone 4 (Halifax Regional Municipality)

1st Place – Tether – Tim Burke and Stephen Hankinson – Halifax

2nd Place – Carbon Sense Solutions Inc. – Robert Niven – Halifax

Zone 5 (Victoria, Cape Breton, Inverness and Richmond counties)

1st Place – Health Tech Outcomes – Corrine McIsaac – New Waterford

2nd Place – Billdidit Inc. – Joe Menchefski – Sydney, and Bill Coady – Port Hawkesbury