Tonight is StartupCamp 6, which is pretty much the Montreal startup scene event of the year. StartupCamp is a general conference for local technology entrepreneurs, investors, experts of all kinds and other interested members of the general public. It’s once again being held at the SAT on St-Laurent.
The attendance is approaching 500, the most ever. It’s going to be an interesting year for startups in Montreal. The government and its partners have injected a large amount of money (for Canada) into venture funds – and it’s all going to startups. For Internet-ish stuff (ICT), it’s going to be managed by Montreal Startup who will probably be making mostly seed-level investments, filling what is generally considered a gap in Canada-based funding opportunities.
This is largely due to the effort put into building a grassroots startup scene and the promotion of entrepreneurship in technology by people like Austin Hill, Sylvain Carle, Raymond Luk, etc, over the past 3 or 4 years. So the stage is set for local entrepreneurs to hustle. Except to see a lot of activity in the next 12 months.
The event starts at about 3 with an informal “unconference”, during which attendees can hold or participate in various sessions. Dave McClure (apparently involved in something like 1000 startups), Sylvain Carle (of Praized/aFrogInTheValley), and Dan Martell (angel, flowtown.com) are on-hand to moderate.
There’s also going to be a “free clinic” for startups, with various experts offering legal, accounting, banking and government advice. Book fast with Tungle. More details on the unconference here.
The major action starts at 6. There will be five startups presenting:
- Shwowp (the founders include two friends of mine: Cassandra Girard and Tara Hunt)
- Nirvana (“getting stuff done”)
- SWIX (“Google analytics for social media”)
- Backfed – A David DuFresne joint
- Akoha – Austin Hill’s social/location game
Keynotes will be delivered by Just For Laugh’s founder and technology (Airborne Entertainment) entrepreneur Andy Nulman and the aforementioned Dave McClure of 1001 startups.
Register here, because it’s nearly sold out (if not already). If you can’t get tickets, sneak in.
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Also – speaking of Montreal Startup, they’ve just invested in Recoset, a very mysterious startup headed by Daniel Haran (and Jeremy Barnes), who is half of the infamous Haran brothers. Rumor has it they’re commercializing reverse-engineered alien technology. Congratulations! Now get back to work.
