Start me Up!

Paula Mendonça left her native Portugal more than two decades ago to move the St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador to pursue her PhD. Today she leverages both her love of the ocean with her background in Marine Biology and her career in “building around entrepreneurship, research commercialization, and innovation. So, thrilled to be doing this role right now,” she said.

Ocean StartUp Project, as it reads on its website:

Under three pillars – inspire, initiate and invest – our approach is clear: with an ocean-centric vision, we seamlessly bridge the gap from concept to market, providing support that integrates perfectly with the broader innovation network of accelerators, incubators, and support entities. Our mission extends beyond our borders, attracting international startups to Canadian shores to build their oceantech ventures, while simultaneously propelling Canadian startups onto the global stage. This dual focus enriches Canada’s innovation landscape, transforming the ocean from just a frontier into a global hub for technological advancement.

The Ocean Startup Project is relatively new, brought together in 2020, and since them “we have supported 184 startups and we have awarded more than 3.2 million in funding through all of our programs. That number is going to raise really quickly, because we [recently announced] the next 25 startups that are participating in the Ocean Idea Challenge,” said Mendonça.

But that is simply the tip of the iceberg, and Mendonça continued “In terms of job creation, 350 jobs national-wise and the challenge winners have raised about 19 million in equity investment and 14 million in non-dilutive funding.”

Important numbers that apply directly to the Ocean Startup Project are telling, too, as Mendonça boasts: “Ocean Startup Project was also recognized as the top five accelerator incubator in North America and top 10 globally in the blue economy sector!”