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UNB s Wallace McCain Institute supports IT firm s expansion into Miramichi

Author: UNB Newsroom

Posted on Aug 29, 2018

Category: UNB Saint John , UNB Fredericton

The Miramichi Technology Fund - managed partially by UNB's Wallace McCain Institute - recently unveiled plans to support a Saint John IT company's expansion into northern New Brunswick.

Search2Go will use the investment to help open a new development office in Miramichi.

“We're very excited by our new presence in Miramichi and what this investment will allow us to do here," says Jason Richard, CEO of Search2Go. "We currently do work in 11 countries around the world, and this new development office in Miramichi will allow us to expand and strengthen our services."

Search2Go is part of a new wave of data aggregation companies that gained prominence in the wake of the Big Data boom. The company describes itself as a vertical search engine, allowing users to conduct deep searches of specific information.

"Using unique markup language, Search2Go mines data from sources all around the world," adds Richard. "The information returned to the user is extremely comprehensive but, perhaps just as importantly, the search itself is much simpler since the data all gets funneled through one single source - us."

Two full-time positions have already been created in Search2Go's Miramichi office, with further additions in the works.

The Miramichi Technology Fund was established in May 2011 through the generous donation of Frank and Julie McKenna. The fund aims to help Miramichi-based technology companies to grow and develop. It is tasked with making equity investments in technology companies in each of the next 5 years with the expectation that, in time, the fund will be self-sustaining and allow for further investments in the region.

Frank McKenna is the deputy chair of the TD Bank Group and former premier of the Province of New Brunswick.

Mr. McKenna's contribution has been made to the University of New Brunswick and is managed by the Wallace McCain Institute.