TEC Edmonton announces finalists for 15th VenturePrize awards

EDMONTON, AB--(Marketwired - April 26, 2017) - For the 15^th year, Alberta-based technology companies will compete for top prizes with a combined value of over $150,000 at the VenturePrize awards celebration on May 4, 2017. TEC Edmonton announced Tuesday the finalists for the Fast Growth, DynaLIFE Health, and TELUS ICT competition streams, which include some of the most promising companies from Alberta with a technology-based venture.

"This year is a good reminder of how far our entrepreneurial community has evolved," said Chris Lumb, TEC Edmonton CEO. "Alberta entrepreneurship has only strengthened thanks to the commitment and drive in the province."

"The hard work and contributions from the VenturePrize participants has been a 15 year success story," says Allan Scott, co-founder of TEC Edmonton and VenturePrize. "It's been a great journey to see the program evolve over the years."

Fast Growth Finalists:

Ceres Solutions
Ceres Solutions takes an innovative and environmentally-conscious approach to adding value to the tons of spent grain produced every day in Alberta as a byproduct of the beer brewing process. Ceres uses the brewer's spent grain as a substrate to grow gourmet mushrooms. The process results in a high-quality mushroom as well as a grain with crude protein content increased by up to 180 per cent, resulting in a high-value livestock feed.

Leara eLearning
Education is power, and Leara makes education accessible by making it possible to teach and learn anytime, anywhere, on any device. Leara created Respond5, a multi-award winning responsive eLearning authoring tool that allows anyone to create engaging, effective eLearning. Leara is empowering companies and learners to achieve their goals without boundaries.

vrCAVE
vrCAVE strives to make virtual reality an immersive social experience by creating collaborative VR games. When standing inside a vrCAVE unit, players can touch, see, and hear each other while freely interacting with the shared virtual world. vrCAVE partners with entertainment businesses to share its unique multiplayer virtual reality experiences, eliminating the need for individuals to own their own VR equipment.

DynaLIFE Health Finalists:

Physio4D
Physio4D has developed a motion-tracking system that enables physiotherapy clinicians to efficiently and objectively assess a patient's joint mobility using 3D motion capture. The system also automatically prescribes custom exercises for patients by employing an intelligent exercise recommendation algorithm to efficiency provide visual suggestive feedback. It does this by recording patients' movements in front of a depth camera and comparing it with the correct skeletal movements.

Tevosol
Tevosol, Inc. is a medical device company developing the Ex-Vivo Organ Support System (EVOSS™) with the goal of increasing the number of organs available for transplantation. Tevosol's unique innovation keeps a donated organ warm and supplied with oxygen as if it is still in the body, and extends its "ex-vivo," or 'out of body' life. The device revives organs deemed unsuitable and allows assessment of transplant suitability, which has the potential to double or triple the number of available donor organs worldwide.

Vertetrack
VerteTrack™ is a patent-pending medical device that enables clinicians to assess spinal stiffness -- a common complaint among back pain sufferers. This data-rich technology can provide a personalized spinal assessment for each and every patient, which can then be used to follow the impact of a patient's condition and treatment over time.

TELUS ICT Finalists:

Boardee
Boardee is a central platform that aggregates local data automatically, and in turn generates reliable location-based information, services, and analysis. By using machine learning and artificial intelligence technology, Boardee tracks users' behaviors, location, time, duration and likes to generate the right information at the right time.

Hear
Hear is an auditory social media platform to share everyone and anyone's experiences and stories though both public and anonymous interactions. Hear combines both public and anonymous interaction in the same platform; hence, providing a platform to express an array of thoughts and emotions.

Preza
Preza has created a temperature monitoring system for the restaurant industry using the latest developments in wireless technology. The system has a one-step installation process using a direct connection to existing Wi-Fi, and the software is tailored specifically for restaurants, offering a daily summary report and customizable alerts.

Winners will be announced at the 15th VenturePrize Awards Celebration on May 4, 2017 at the Westin Hotel Edmonton. The event brings together leaders from the business, innovation, and research communities in Alberta.

In addition, winners of the Alberta Student competition stream, the VenturePrize People's Choice award and the Screener's Award of Merit will be announced at the celebration. Cast your vote for the People's Choice Award here.

Tickets for the VenturePrize Awards Celebration can be purchased here.

About TEC Edmonton
TEC Edmonton is a business accelerator that helps emerging technology companies grow successfully. As a joint venture of the University of Alberta and Edmonton Economic Development Corporation, TEC Edmonton operates the Edmonton region's largest accelerator for early-stage technology companies, and also manages commercialization of University of Alberta technologies. TEC Edmonton delivers services in four areas: Business Development, Funding and Finance, Technology Management, and Entrepreneur Development. Since 2011, TEC clients have generated $680M in revenue, raised $350M in financing and funding, invested $200M in R&D, grown both revenue and employment by 25 per cent per year and now employ over 2,400 people in the region. In addition, TEC has assisted in the creation of 22 spinoff companies from the University of Alberta in the last four years.

TEC Edmonton was named the 4th best university business incubator in North America by the University Business Incubator (UBI) Global Index in 2015, and "Incubator of the Year" by Startup Canada in 2014. For more information, visit www.tecedmonton.com.

About VenturePrize
VenturePrize is an annual business plan competition that showcases Alberta's top innovative companies. Over 100 volunteers every year have helped make VenturePrize possible, serving in such roles as mentors, screeners, judges and seminar presenters. The total value of prizes since 2002 is estimated at $2.5 million, and over 1,000 companies have competed. Organizations that provide administrative support for VenturePrize include Innovate Calgary, NAIT, Business Link, TELUS and DynaLIFE. Learn more at www.ventureprize.com.

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