VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 3, 2022 / AMPD Ventures Inc. ("AMPD" or the "Company", CSE:AMPD; OTCQB:AMPDF; FRA:2Q0) a next-generation digital infrastructure provider, is pleased to announce that its subsidiary Departure Lounge Inc., a Vancouver, BC-based company offering a range of Metaverse-related technologies and creative services ("Departure Lounge") has entered into a lease and education collaboration agreement with the Centre for Digital Media ("CDM"), as the first phase of plans to develop a globally attractive Metaverse Innovation Centre.

Announcement Highlights

• Departure Lounge will house its range of Metaverse-related technology solutions, including its recently announced state-of-the-art Metastage volumetric capture stage, on campus at the CDM.
• The facility is expected to be used as a catalyst for a range of work-integrated learning and research opportunities including students, faculty, and the community of digital content creators across the province.
• The CDM will collaborate with Departure Lounge and other industry and community-based partners to develop Metaverse-related micro-credentials and other programs to help address skilled labor shortages and ensure resources are made available to a broad cross-section of the community.
• Departure Lounge is seeking expressions of interest from other potential collaborators.

"Our founding team has enjoyed working with CDM students, alumni, and faculty on many collaborative projects over the years, and I am pleased that we have been able to establish our Departure Lounge Vancouver HQ at the heart of such a thriving digital media community," said James Hursthouse, CEO at Departure Lounge. "Departure Lounge and our partners will take an active role in promoting industry academic partnerships and helping to develop the next generation of digital creative talent here in BC as we embrace the opportunity represented by the Metaverse and new frontiers in immersive content development."

Hursthouse also sits on the recently launched DigiBC Micro-Credentials Industry Advisory Committee, an initiative between DigiBC (The Creative Technology Association of British Columbia, a member-supported non-profit organization based in Vancouver, BC), and BC public post-secondary institutions to develop innovative creative technology training in BC to address skills gaps identified by employers.

"We are thrilled that Departure Lounge has chosen to locate the new Metastage at the CDM," said Dr. Ted Gervan, Managing Director of Academic and Business Operations at the CDM. "For the last 15 years, we have emphasized the importance of experiential learning through industry project courses, as well as the importance of inclusion and diversity in digital media production. Departure Lounge's Metastage initiative will help grow these opportunities for CDM's teaching and learning community."

In its recent ‘Metaverse and Money' report (https://www.citivelocity.com/citigps/metaverse-and-money/), Citi stated that the metaverse economy could be worth $13 trillion by 2030. A Metaverse Innovation Centre as proposed by Departure Lounge would launch a new track for digital media excellence and collaboration with local companies and community-based organizations through a series of training initiatives and collaborative projects focused on the Metaverse opportunity, both IRL (in real life) and in the Metaverse.

About Departure Lounge Inc.

Departure Lounge brings together the experience and expertise of its founding team to develop a cohesive range of Metaverse-focused technology and content opportunities, including a joint venture with holographic capture pioneers, Metastage Inc., to bring their world-leading holographic capture platform to Canada. Departure Lounge was acquired by AMPD Ventures Inc. (CSE:AMPD) in December 2021. It operates as an independent business unit while taking full advantage of the high-performance cloud and compute solutions being offered by AMPD Technologies Inc.

For further information please visit http://www.dlxr.ca or contact Departure Lounge Inc.:

Tawanda Masawi
Telephone: +1 (236) 863-2474
Email: info@dlxr.ca

About The Centre for Digital Media

Founded in 2007, the CDM was established through a ground-breaking education consortium of four leading academic institutions: University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia Institute of Technology and Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Located in East Vancouver on the False Creek Flats, the CDM is a thriving mixed-use campus, home to a pioneering graduate program - Master of Digital Media (MDM) - as well as industry collaborators, game and immersive studios, tech start-ups, student residences, greenways, bikeways, and major transit. Talented students from across the globe come to the CDM to work with world-class faculty and industry professionals to become a part of BC's acclaimed digital-creative economy.

For further information please visit www.thecdm.ca or contact:

Christopher Hindle
Telephone: +1 (778) 858-6565
Email: chris_hindle@thecdm.ca

About AMPD Ventures Inc.

AMPD is a next-generation infrastructure company specializing in providing high-performance computing solutions for low-latency applications. With state-of-the-art, high-performance computing solutions hosted in sustainable urban data centres, AMPD is leading the transition to the next generation of computing infrastructure as ‘the hosting company of the Metaverse.' Through a mix of infrastructure as a service ("IaaS") and an upgraded, high-performance cloud offering, we are meeting the low-latency requirements of multiplayer video games and eSports, computer graphics rendering, artificial intelligence, machine learning, mixed reality, big data processing, and the as-yet uncharted technological developments of the coming decades. Additional information about the company is available on SEDAR and our website at http://www.ampd.tech.

For further information please contact Investor Cubed Inc.:

Neil Simon, CEO
Telephone: +1 (647) 258-3310
Email: nsimon@investor3.ca

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

/s/ "Anthony Brown"

Anthony Brown
CEO & Director
AMPD Ventures Inc.
Telephone: +1 (604) 332-3329
Email: ir@ampd.tech

The CSE does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statement

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains statements and information that constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information is based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of our management made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made, but which may prove to be incorrect. Forward-looking statements or information herein include, but are not limited, to statements or information with respect to: the launch of Metastage Canada and the timing, location and impact thereof; expected demand for Metastage's holographic capture state in British Columbia; and AMPD's expectations for growth of the Metaverse economy and its expectations to participate in and benefit from that growth.

Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of AMPD to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include, but are not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, geopolitical, technological and social uncertainties; uncertainties in regard to the development and direction of cloud computing solutions and virtual production; the possibility of competing superior technology; uncertain capital markets; other risks related to the inability of a party to perform its obligations under the share purchase agreement, as well as those factors discussed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the Company's Form 2A Listing Statement dated October 17, 2019 and "Risk and Uncertainties" in the Company's most recent Management Discussion and Analysis filed on SEDAR.

Although the forward-looking information is based on our management's reasonable assumptions at the date such statements are made, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. AMPD does not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. All forward-looking information contained in this news release is qualified by this cautionary statement.

SOURCE: AMPD Ventures Inc.