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5 P.E.I. startups get $25,000 to launch new products

The local startups are the latest recipients of Innovation P.E.I.'s Ignition Fund, which is meant to help Island entrepreneurs make their business ideas a reality.

Reading app, curling tech company among recipients

Emma Clow · CBC News ·
Janessa Ferrell smiles and hold her phone to the camera to show her app in progress.
Janessa Ferrell, co-founder of QuestRead, was one of the grant recipients. Her plan is to further develop and market an app to help motivate kids to read. (Sheehan Desjardins/CBC)

Five P.E.I. businesses are getting provincial grants of $25,000 each to launch new products.

The local startups are the latest recipients of Innovation P.E.I.'s Ignition Fund, which is meant to help Island entrepreneurs make their business ideas a reality.

QuestRead, a business looking to help kids learn to read, is one of the recipients.

Co-founder Janessa Ferrell said she plans to use the money to develop an app to help motivate children to read.

"This allows us to complete our development of the app, get it out into the community, into the hands of children and be able to test it out," she said.

"It also allows us to be able to assess and monitor a child's reading progress because the app listens to the child as they are reading and assesses and adapts to their needs. But for the kid, it's just a game."

Jeremy MacAulay and his father developed a curling rock handle that tracks things like the rock's speed while it's moving on the ice. The product would help curlers see where their rock will end up at the end of a throw.

Jeremy MacAulay holds a phone to the camera and a prototype of the orange rock handle.
Jeremy MacAulay is with Sport4TV. His curling rock tracks ice conditions, speed and other components for professional curlers and viewers at home. (Sheehan Desjardins/CBC)

MacAulay's company, Sport4TV, also got the grant.

"It's been a long time coming but we're excited to actually take some of those ideas from my father's head and actually give a product out there to the world," he said.

MacAulay said he also wants to develop an app where curling fans can see the data of a match on their smart devices.

Making 'success stories'

The other grant recipients are:

  • Finix, a streetwear brand.
  • Salty Mountain Clothing, a women's workwear designer.
  • Upcycle Green Technology, which sells retrofitted electric vehicles.

Gilles Arsenault is the minister of economic development, innovation and trade. He said he hopes to see these businesses thrive in the near future.

"It really gave me the goosebumps to be able to see this really happening here in Prince Edward Island," Arsenault said.

"We're very happy to be able to count on these entrepreneurs here to make success stories out of the products that we've been seeing here today."

Applications for the next round of funding will open in the fall.

With files from Sheehan Dejardins

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