Halifax’s Mindful Scientific among finalists at Wall Street Journal’s Global Startup Showcase

Halifax-based medical device company Mindful Scientific has made the cut as the Wall Street Journal has chosen seven finalists to participate in its Global Startup Showcase to be held October 19-21 in Laguna Beach, California during the WSJDLive Conference.

Selected by senior editors of the Wall Street Journal, only companies that have raised less than $5 million and had launched a service or product between January 1, 2015 and May 31, 2016 were eligible to apply for the competition.

“Preference will be given to undiscovered startups whose work has a clear global application,” reads the competition’s press release.

Mindful Scientific will be showcasing its “Halifax Consciousness Scanner” or HCS, which quickly scans the brain for damage. One potential market for the device is to check professional athletes for brain trauma or concussion.

The seven finalists were selected from approximately 250 other startups applying from 26 countries, including Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, France, Canada, Israel, Turkey, Germany, Cyprus, Jordan, India, Singapore, Bahamas, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Vietnam, South Africa, Chile, Ireland, Austria, Slovakia, Palestinian Territory, Luxembourg, and Hong Kong.

60% of start-ups applied from outside the U.S. and applications were received from 20 states inside the country.

Other finalists in the Global Startup Showcase include California-based dog game console CleverPet, social shopping & web monetization tool COSIGN (US), thermoelectric bracelet maker embr labs (US), homepod startup Keecker (France), Israeli micro radar system ARTsys360 and multi-purpose digital music tool Artiphon (US).

Mindful scientific will be represented by CEO Ying Tam.

Judges who will be grilling the finalists at the event include News Corp Obersturmbannführer Rupert Murdoch, entertainer and founder of i.am+ will.i.am, Dallas Mavericks owner and entrepreneur Mark Cuban, and Theresa Gouw, co-founder and managing partner at Aspect Ventures.

The competition’s winner will be announced in a special report in the Wall Street Journal on October 27.