A slice of money

New Waterford company receives federal money to expand

A New Waterford company has received a little boost with a slice of the federal pie.

On Monday Sydney-Victoria MP Mark Eyking was at Slyce to announce $500,000 to help the company open new retail market segments, expand its customer base and create more jobs. The money is conditionally repayable,

“The Slyce team remains focused on improving visual search accuracy and speeds with tools that are changing the way people discover, interact and shop for products,” Eyking said in a news release.

“This investment will ensure that Slyce remains a leader in visual recognition for the online retail space and an employer of choice contributing to Atlantic Canada’s high-tech network.”

The funding is being provided through ACOA’s business development program and was was announced on behalf of Navdeep Bains, minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.

“In order to grow a strong and sustainable economy in Atlantic Canada we must encourage small and medium-sized companies to remain innovative and compete on a global scale,” Bains said in the release.

The money to allow for expansion of the Slyce software-as-aservice mobile solution.

Slyce’s app allows a retail customer to snap a photo of an item and instantly find a match in a retailer’s online catalogue. Slyce wants to enhance its image recognition technology to include the additional product categories of shoes, furniture, jewelry and patterns.

Slyce CEO Ted Mann said funding from ACOA has helped Slyce grow its Nova Scotia team to more than 30 employees.

“We are building the most accurate image-recognition models to automatically identify and extract everything from logos to plumbing parts from photographs,” he said.

“We’re excited to continue growing, and to be helping to raise Nova Scotia’s profile as a leader in AI.”