Aeryon Labs wins TiEQuest 2009 Award

Waterloo company’s unmanned aerial vehicle records digital photos and videos

TORONTO – A Waterloo, Ontario-based company has won the prestigious TiEQuest Business Venture Competition for creating a hovering, unmanned flying vehicle that records digital images and video for a range of security and surveillance applications. 

Aeryon Labs picked up the award April 17 at the TiEQuest Awards Gala Dinner at the Toronto Board of Trade for its invention known as the Aeryon Scout.  Selected from over 200 entrepreneurs from 29 cities across North America, the company receives the Ontario Entrepreneurship Trophy, a cash prize and expressions of interest for financing up to $1 million each from two renowned venture capital firms in the US and Canada.

“We are thrilled with having been selected by the TiEQuest organization,” said Aeryon Labs president Dave Kroetsch. “We believe we have a great product, backed by a superb team and we’re ready to take our system to the next level with the support of the TiEQuest award. Aeryon would like to thank our many supporters, including Ontario Centres of Excellence, in helping us make our idea a reality.”

Shaped like a four-leaf clover, the Aeryon Scout is small (just 60 cm by 60 cm), lightweight (I kg) and quiet. It can take-off and land vertically and easily operate in confined spaces, making it ideal for dense urban environments and covert applications, both indoors and outdoors.

Controlled from the ground by computer, it has an operational range of three kilometres and a maximum altitude of 500 metres. For high-resolution digital surveillance and data gathering, it has enormous potential for emergency crews, security companies, police, media and the military.

“My congratulations to Aeryon Labs for winning this award and coming out on top in an extremely competitive field,” said Mark Romoff, President and CEO of Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) – a not-for-profit corporation that has supported Aeryon with research funding, business mentorship and industry connections. “Through our commercialization programs, we continue to work with Aeryon and are proud to support this innovative company that is opening both minds and markets with its advances in aerial robotics.”

TiEQuest is an annual business venture competition held in Toronto to encourage entrepreneurship and support emerging business talent. The organization’s mission is to connect entrepreneurs and business leaders with private equity and venture capitalists, as well as motivate entrepreneurs to pursue their business goals.

About Aeryon Labs Inc. – www.aeryon.com
Aeryon Labs provides robotic solutions to real-world problems through the design and manufacture small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and related systems.  With a background in robotics, control systems, and digital imaging allows the Aeryon team is able to bring leading-edge products to market and provide custom solutions.