— If you think about it, television can be kind of boring. You turn on the TV and watch something from beginning to end. There’s no ability to interact with the movie or gameshow you’re viewing. In the age of Internet-connected devices, that will soon change, predicts Jason Cianchette, a serial entrepreneur in Portland who […]

For all those entrepreneurs who have been procrastinating or paralyzed by doubt, this is a final reminder to enter the fray. The deadline to enter the third annual LaunchPad business plan competition and vie for its $30,000 prize is only two days away. The competition, sponsored by Gorham Savings Bank, gives Maine entrepreneurs an opportunity to pitch their […]

Tilson Technology Management, a Portland-based IT services firm that builds telecommunications networks (think: putting up cell towers and laying fiber), has raised $2.2 million in a recent investment round, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Tilson raised the Series B round from Rand Capital Corp. and Maine’s own CEI Ventures. While this is Rand’s first investment […]

Two notable executives in Maine’s tech sector are in the process of updating their resumes. Taking Maine expertise global After helping Ocean Renewable Power Co. become known as one of the most innovative energy companies in the country, John Ferland is taking on a new role as president of its spin-off consulting business, ORPC Solutions. Portland-based ORPC made history in […]

Maine’s startup community lost an important member this week. Charles “Kip” Moore was a technology pioneer (he was on the student team at Dartmouth that developed the BASIC computer language) and one of the first venture capitalists in Portland to invest in early-stage Maine companies. He was a mentor to entrepreneurs and served on the […]

There’s good news and bad news in the year-end data we have on venture capital investments made in Maine startups during 2014. On the one hand, the amount of VC invested in Maine startups fell roughly 32 percent, from $27.5 million in 2013 to $18.7 million in 2014. On the other, the number of companies […]

Portland’s startup community is basking in the warmth of some national attention this week. Popular Mechanics has picked Portland, Maine, as one of the top “Startup Cities” in the country. In its February edition, on newsstands now, the magazine’s editors chose 14 cities as “the best new places to start a business in America.” Portland is at No. […]

— Jason Cianchette, the entrepreneur who founded Liquid Wireless in 2008 and sold it a few years later to Publishers Clearing House for an undisclosed amount of cash, has launched a new startup in Portland. Cianchette remained with Liquid Wireless until earlier this year, when he left to pursue a new opportunity. What we know […]

On Tues., Dec. 16, at 4 p.m., one of the granddaddies of innovation in Maine will take part in an honored tradition in the business world: Ringing the closing bell at the NASDAQ stock exchange. When Jonathan Ayers, CEO of Westbrook-based biotech firm Idexx, rings NASDAQ’s closing bell this afternoon at its site in Times […]