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

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 ismeant 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 Ferrellsaid 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 helpcurlers seewhere their rock will end up at the end of a throw.

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 fanscan see thedata of a matchon 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 sellsretrofittedelectric 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.