Premier Monkey’s Paw I was watching that Simpsons’ Halloween special where they spoof “The Monkey’s Paw” (a short story Wikipedia informs me was published in 1902 by the English author W.W. Jacobs) when I had a sudden revelation. It’s a “three wishes” story—the wishes being granted by the monkey’s pawRead More

Summer, I have decided, is a time for experimentation. When the thermometer hits 30 degrees Celsius, the only thing I want to dive deeply into is the Bras d’Or Lake, so this week, I’m going to try something a little different. Instead of covering one topic in depth, I’m goingRead More

My summer coverage focused on the August provincial election, although I also found time to read Barry Sheehy’s thoughts on ports and Martin Chernin’s case for extending his waterfront development contract (not exactly beach reading, but not entirely devoid of entertainment value either). September found me looking into the problemRead More

The last three months of 2021 found me, as always, following CBRM happenings — particularly around waterfront development and cruise news — but also looking further afield at stories with local angles or implications. In particular, I got interested in how some Saint Lucians were responding to the arrival ofRead More

Hey, ladies In this week’s Innovacorp article, I referenced an event sponsored by the corporation in 2013 — an evening with a character by the name of Geoff Lewis. Here’s the breathless description of the festivities from the Innovacorp website: On May 30, 2013, Geoff Lewis commandeered the atrium atRead More

Last week, as I was entering data on Innovacorp’s investments from 2011 to the present into a table, I was struck by the imbalance between men and women in the “people” section. This is a tricky subject for me. I’m no fan of the government gambling public money on ventureRead...

In other Innovacorp news, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has subpoenaed Meta Materials in connection with its merger with Torchlight Energy (with thanks to the spectator who alerted me to this development). Meta Materials was Innovacorp’s first “unicorn” investment — that is, its first portfolio company to list onRead More

Looking into Innovacorp’s “unicorn” investment earlier this year got me to wondering how many successful exits our provincial venture capital fund has managed over the years compared to the number and value of its investments, so I submitted an access-to-information request asking for a list of its investments since 2011.Read...

Tim Bousquet of the Halifax Examiner has been making the point that the $104 million Innovacorp made on its META exit could be used to fund affordable housing in Nova Scotia. He even did the math: For the record, $104 million would pay for 80 apartments at $1,000/month rent forRead More

This week, I’m going to continue my examination of Innovacorp’s “unicorn” investment, spurred, in part, by the Cape Breton Post’s take, which appeared in Monday’s print edition wrapped in a piece of puffery about Bob Pelley, Innovacorp’s regional manager in Cape Breton. The Post — like the CBC before itRead More