StartupDigest is a free curated email of what’s going on in tech & startup communities around the world. It started as a simple idea to help entrepreneurs get involved in their local startup community through events, and has quickly turned into a global media company. StartupDigest has grown from the original 22 subscribers and covering 1 city in November ’09 to 100,000+ subscribers and 50+ cities in one year. Quickly this has grown from a small fun side project into a collective force of 60+ curators and entrepreneurial leaders around the world that provide a ton of value to the startup ecosystem.

Starting in January 2011, Edmonton will be a StartupDigest city! So we encourage you to sign up to http://startupdigest.com, and pick Edmonton along with some of the other cities you’re interested in. If you have a startup/tech event coming up to include in each Monday edition, just email us at info@startupedmonton.com with the details.

Tonight we held the second Launch Party here in Edmonton at the old Art Gallery space in Enterprise Square (you can read my recap of Launch Party 1 here). With over 200 people in attendance, awesome startups, and that signature Startup Edmonton vibe, I’d say the event was a big success!

If you haven’t already done so, I strongly recommend you check out Doug’s preview of the companies at Launch Party tonight. It’s a great rundown of what everyone is working on. Each company had a table tonight to demo their products and to chat with attendees. They also had the opportunity to make a short elevator pitch in front of the whole crowd (though due to the space configuration, I know some people couldn’t hear, sorry about that).

Here are the companies that participated tonight:

• Parade – instant online portfolios
• Fluik – iPhone game developer
• Tooq – online invoicing
• Appboy – social discovery for mobile apps
• Visimonde – virtual worlds
• Robot Rhythm – jukebox 2.0
• Smibs.tv – online television

Some of these companies you may have already heard about, such as Fluik or Smibs.tv, both of which were recently written up in the Edmonton Journal. Others, such as Robot Rhythm, have been flying under the radar but are on to something really interesting. Either way, Launch Party is a great way for these companies to showcase some of the really innovative work that is happening right here in Edmonton.

Launch Party is also a great opportunity for the companies to practice their elevator pitches. The space was a little tighter than it was at Launch Party 1, which made saying hello a necessity!

Drinks, music, and great company made the evening an enjoyable one for everybody who braved the first onslaught of winter to attend. Thanks to everyone who came out tonight to support Edmonton’s thriving tech scene.

For more on Startup Edmonton and to find out about future events, check out the website. You can also follow us on Twitter and on Facebook.

You can see the rest of my photos from the evening here.

This post originally appeared at MasterMaq’s Blog.

Tickets – http://launchparty2.eventbrite.com/
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=165957523423993&index=1
Email – info@startupedmonton.com

Startup Edmonton is holding its’ second Launch Party at the Enterprise Square Art Gallery (10230 Jasper Avenue) next Wednesday, November 17. We had the opportunity to get a sneak peak at the companies that will be launching next week at the event. We asked each company to give their “elevator pitch”. Here is what they had to say.

Parade

Photography and visual art are amazing mediums. They immediately communicate stories, share emotions and inspire ideas. But sometimes it’s hard to get your work out to an audience, especially online. The internet is a big place, and building a website can be a daunting task.

That’s where Parade comes in. We wanted to help spread the great stories and inspiring ideas, so we created an affordable product with great designs that allows you to instantly get your work online and easily manage your website, anytime anywhere… so your can spend your time doing what you do best: creating more for us to see.

Fluik

Fluik Entertainment is an Edmonton-based game developer focused on iPad and iPhone projects with broad appeal. Fluik’s games have been downloaded more than 750,000 times in the iTunes App Store in the past six months, and its recent title, Will it Fly?, reached the top 5 games in the UK, Canada, Germany and Taiwan. The company is gearing up for the launch of Airport Madness Challenge Free and has several other development projects in the pipeline.

Tooq

myTooq.com offers online invoicing that helps the zero to ten employee business track their income while issuing professional looking invoices using a no-contract monthly subscription, removing the hassles and complications of using installed DIY accounting packages.

TestFlight

TestFlight helps app developers run a better beta campaign. Developers upload their betas, testers are notified, they install the app on the fly with out connecting to iTunes. Developers can track their testers feedback and activity. Developers can spend less time helping their testers and more time building great apps.

Appboy

Appboy is a social discovery platform for mobile applications. With over 350,000 apps available for mobile devices, finding the next one you’ll use is becoming increasingly difficult. Appboy provides a platform for discovery new applications through connections with other mobile users in the community.

Visimonde

Visimonde is a virtual world designer, developer, and service provider. We specialize in the creation of online games and virtual worlds for the purposes of engaging, entertaining, and educating our players and delivering value to our partners. Our mandate is to leverage the power of online communities to connect people with people, companies with customers, teams with players, and organizations with members.

Robot Rythmn

Robot Rhythm targets restaurants/bars/shops with the aim of providing them a better selection of music and allows the customer to interact with their music. It could be thought of as a Jukebox 2.0 allowing customers to vote on music they would like to hear. We provide this information to the locations so they can better tailor their musical brand to fit the demands of their customers and staff. Music also has a heavy influence on the way a brand is perceived. With experience in both music and the hospitality industry we can help clients realize this potential.

About Launch Party:

Founded by local entrepreneurs, Launch Party Edmonton 2 isn’t your typical networking or tech event. No formal presentations, no panels. It’s all about giving you the opportunity to meet our city’s brightest entrepreneurs and developers, demo their products, and celebrate everything that our startup community has to offer. And do it in a way that’s creative and interesting, celebrating with drinks, demos, and DJs to set the mood. Creatives, entrepreneurs, investors, bloggers, consumers – all are welcome to Launch Party Edmonton!

This post originally appeared on TechVibes.

We’re excited to announce Launch Party Edmonton 2 and it’s happening on November 17, 2010 at the Enterprise Square Art Gallery!

Founded by local entrepreneurs, Launch Party Edmonton isn’t your typical networking or tech event. No formal presentations, no panels. It’s all about giving you the opportunity to meet our city’s brightest entrepreneurs and developers, demo their products, and celebrate everything that our startup community has to offer. And do it in a way that’s creative and interesting, celebrating with drinks, demos, and DJs to set the mood. Creatives, entrepreneurs, investors, bloggers, consumers – all are welcome to Launch Party Edmonton! Find out more about the event and buy your tickets here.

We’re excited to announce the next big event from Startup Edmonton. It’s called Launch Party Edmonton and it’s happening on March 3, 2010 at the Matrix Hotel!

Founded by local entrepreneurs, Launch Party Edmonton isn’t your typical networking or tech event. No formal presentations, no panels. It’s all about giving you the opportunity to meet our city’s brightest entrepreneurs and developers, demo their products, and celebrate everything that our startup community has to offer. And do it in a way that’s creative and interesting, celebrating with drinks, demos, and DJs to set the mood. Find out more about the event and buy your tickets here.

Reposted from kenbautista.com: Great post this morning on Techvibes asking “Does your city have the 5 things necessary for a Local Startup Ecosystem?” The five necessities were social density, great workspaces, events, proximity to money, and creative diversity. I think this was bang on and is definitely something many passionate people (myself included) here in Edmonton are working on through initiatives like Startup Edmonton, artsScene Edmonton, ENTS, Democamp and more. We’ve still got a way to go, but if we can get everyone working towards a common vision for a great startup ecosystem in Edmonton, we’re on our way.

Social Density – The success we’ve had with our startup has been the result of having a solid supporting network of peers and mentors that have provided us with the guidance, experience, and honest feedback that every entrepreneur needs to have around them. But for us, that network has composed primary of people outside of Edmonton – people I’ve met in other cities and through conferences. I’m starting to meet more entrepreneurs in town (which is awesome), but I think what we still need are more local mentors who have the (relevant) experience we can all draw from. Note: we’re working to get more of these kinds of mentors up to Edmonton through events like Startup Weekend and Startup School.

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