The 2018 VIATEC Awards

One magical night in June…

The Roaring Twenties were resurrected, sixteen young robots found their forever homes, and a couple dozen inflatable whales got their wings.

The 2018 VIATEC Awards finale at the Royal Theatre in Victoria, BC.

Cetaceans take to the skies

That’s the VIATEC Awards for you.

Nobody can make whales fly quite like the tech community in lovely Victoria, B.C., and we couldn’t be happier to be a part of it.

AE (Appreciation Engine) cofounders Jeff Mitchell and Annabel Youens with their 2018 VIATEC Awards trophy for Emerging Technology Company of the Year.

Co-founders Annabel and Jeff with their new robot.

We’re also incredibly proud to add this young gentlerobot to our growing team as Emerging Tech Company of the Year.

YYJ All the Way

Getting to where we are today has been a marathon over the last seven years. It feels incredible to be recognized by the Tectoria community for our vision and potential. Our new robot friend will serve as a reminder to keep moving forward, keep growing, and keep giving it our all.

“Being awarded the Emerging Technology Company of the Year award is incredibly inspiring and honestly, we hadn’t expected to win. There are brilliant minds in Victoria doing inventive and ground-breaking work. We had very stiff competition from FreshWorks Studio, Alta Bering, HYAS Infosec, TrichAnalytics, Certainty Software, LlamaZOO Interactive, and EyeSpy Innovations.

Jeff and I feel so honored and inspired to live up to our award. We always knew that moving our company from California to back-home in Victoria was the right thing to do. This award has certainly cemented our belief that Victoria is a place where technology businesses will succeed. Go Victoria!”

— Annabel Youens, CMO and Co-founder

We absolutely need to do a giant shoutout to VIATEC, the legendary organization that makes this awards night happen every year, in addition to countless other events and initiatives that make Victoria’s tech community the vibrant and welcoming environment it is.

We’d also like to extend a friendly wave and high five to all the other fantastic companies and individuals we had the pleasure to meet and bond with on Friday night. You are all such an important part of this community we’ve come to know and love so well. You make us feel so welcome, and we deeply admire all of you for the incredible work you’re doing out there.

Love,
The AE Team

The AE (Appreciation Engine) team at Cadboro Bay in Victoria, BC.

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