Montréal, Quebec, May 26, 2009 – The first edition of the Tremblant Venture Forum, held on May 13 and 14, 2009 at the Fairmont Tremblant Hotel, was highly successful. Eastern Canada’s premier company financing event provided a forum for leading North American venture capitalists representing a total of over C$10 billion, including BDC Venture Capital, Desjardins Venture Capital, Solidarity Fund QFL, Arcapita Ventures, Internet Capital Group, Entrepia Ventures, Emerald Technology Ventures, J.L. Allbright Ventures and BlackBerry Partners Fund, to assess investment opportunities in the most promising Canadian early-stage innovative technology companies. For the event, 16 entrepreneurs from the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector and the Clean Technology (Cleantech) sector presented their business plans to secure C$2 million to C$15 million of financing for their development and marketing operations. Three of them won a $5,000 award presented by Samson Bélair/Deloitte & Touche, the platinum sponsor of the event.

Experienced speakers and high-quality projects guarantee success
“In today’s uncertain economic climate, we must rely on innovation and know-how. The timing was therefore right for our event, which achieved its objective of setting the stage for financing opportunities,” stated Claude Lemay, Chairman of the Tremblant Venture Forum 2009. “We were really privileged for this first edition. Investors were impressed with the quality of the investment projects, and by the experience and diversity of our speakers, moderators and panelists. Participants’ enthusiastic response reinforces our decision to hold the event again in 2010.” Renowned guest speakers completed the picture: Jean-François Barsoum, Managing Consultant and Innovation Catalyst, Green Technologies, IBM Canada; John S. Quealy, Managing Director, Equity Research Sector Head, Sustainability, Canaccord Adams, as well as explorer and motivational speaker Bernard Voyer.

Award-winning promising and innovative projects
The three award-winning entrepreneurs were: Hassan Chaddad, President and CEO of Green Vision Media (Best company in the ICT sector for its suite of mobile applications integrated into hotel rooms); Élise Villeneuve, COO of Bio-Terre Systems Inc. (Best company in the Cleantech sector for its technology to transform waste into energy); and Jeremy James, President and CEO of Frontline Robotics Inc. (Special jury award for its robotic engine allowing unmanned ground vehicle fleets to execute self-directing security applications).

Tremblant Venture Forum 2009 was made possible by its partners: Banff Venture Forum, the Centre de recherche informatique de Montréal (CRIM), the Canada’s Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (CVCA), Réseau Capital (Quebec Venture Capital Association), Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI) and Communitech (Waterloo).

2010 edition
The second edition of the Tremblant Venture Forum has already been announced for next year, and will be held on May 5 and 6, 2010 at the Fairmont Tremblant Hotel. More than twice as many companies are expected to present their business plan.

About the Tremblant Venture Forum 2009
The Tremblant Venture Forum is Eastern Canada’s premier company financing event. It is organized by the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC). It brings together leading North American venture capitalists, over 15 of the most promising Canadian early-stage and growth-stage companies in the Information and Communication Technology and Clean Technology sectors, prominent investment professionals, CEOs and entrepreneurs. The Tremblant Venture Forum was held on May 13 and 14, 2009 at the Fairmont Tremblant Hotel. To learn more about the event, please visit www.tremblantventureforum.com

About ITAC
The Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) is the voice of the Canadian information and communications technologies (ICT) industry. ITAC represents a diverse ICT community spanning telecommunications and internet services, ICT consulting services, hardware, microelectronics, software and electronic content. ITAC's community of companies accounts for more than 70 per cent of the 572,000 jobs, $140.5 billion in revenue, $6.0 billion in R&D investment, $31.4 billion in exports and $11.4 billion in capital expenditures that the ICT industry contributes annually to the Canadian economy. ITAC is a prominent advocate for the expansion of Canada's innovative capacity and for stronger productivity across all sectors through the strategic use of technology.www.itac.ca

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Information :
Simard Hamel Communications
Jean-Marc Simard
514.287.9811, extension 15
j.m.simard@shc.ca