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AgroGene, Finleaf and 3dBiofibR each win six figures. <\/p>\n
Three Atlantic Canadian startups walked away with $325,000 \u2013 more than one-third of the prize money on offer \u2013 at Startupfest <\/a>in Montreal last week.<\/p>\n AgroGene Solutions<\/a> of Moncton, Finleaf Technologies<\/a> of Brooklyn, NS, and 3dBioFibR <\/a>of Halifax all captured six-figure prizes at the annual tech and entrepreneurship festival. The three-day event, which attracts startups from across Canada and beyond, handed out $825,000 in prize money in its Winners\u2019 Circle this year.<\/p>\n \u201cWith more prizes than ever and multiple categories increasing in value since last year, we saw hundreds of scaling startups hustling in the Startupfest Village over the past three days,\u201d the organizers said in a statement. \u201cWe take great pride in our Winners\u2019 Circle, a group of world-class founders, and we’re thrilled to announce the winners of our 2026 investment prizes and grants.\u201d<\/p>\n AgroGene Solutions received the $100,000 Best of the Fest Investment Prize, the headline prize at the competition.<\/p>\n Led by Co-Founder and CEO Pascale Michaud, AgroGene is developing advanced genetic solutions to improve crop productivity and sustainability through comprehensive honeybee hive diagnostics. Michaud, a molecular biologist, was also named \u201cEmerging Innovator\u201d at last year\u2019s InnovateNB awards.<\/p>\n Finleaf Technologies won a total of $125,000 as it took\u00a0the $100,000 Canadian Impact Investment 2026 Prize, as well as a $25,000 Startup in Residence grant.<\/p>\n Led by Danielle Maitland, Myrna Gillis, and Mike O\u2019Keefe, Finleaf has developed circular economy technologies for converting aquaculture waste into phosphorus-rich fertilizers for agriculture.<\/p>\n 3dBioFibR won the $100,000 Dual-Use and Sovereign Tech Investment Prize. The company was founded in\u00a02020 by CEO Kevin Sullivan and Chief Scientific Officer John Frampton, a biomedical engineering professor from Dalhousie University. The company has developed a process to produce industrial quantities of collagen fibres, which are the tough, flexible protein fibres that make up connective tissues throughout the body.<\/p>\n Last year, 3dBioFibR closed a $3 million funding round.<\/p>\n