Calgary’s tech ecosystem is the fastest growing in Canada, according to the 2026 Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER).
The news: Released today at the European startup and tech conference VivaTech Paris, the GSER lists Calgary among its cohort of cities in the 41st to 50th fastest emerging ecosystems, putting it on par with cities like Abu Dhabi, Sacramento, Warsaw, and Chennai, India. Calgary’s ranking represents a spike in the city’s standing within global emerging ecosystems, jumping 52 points since 2020 and more than quadrupling growth rates of other Canadian ecosystems.
From the source: “Our goal is to get into that Top 10 emerging markets [category],” said Platform Calgary director of external relations and communication, Jordan Pinkster. “There’s an element of realism that has to come into this. When I look at the Top 10 global ecosystems, it’s Silicon Valley, it’s London. Calgary’s never going to be that, but I think we can be the absolute strongest emerging secondary market in the world in terms of what a tech ecosystem could be.”
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Following the thread: Startup Genome’s report shows other impressive leads for Calgary, most prominently that the city’s ecosystem is growing at four times the rate of other Canadian hubs. Since 2021, Calgary’s ecosystem has seen a 40-percent annual growth rate, while the Canadian average sits at 9.6 percent. That growth has been fuelled by momentum in cleantech development, FinTech, and Agtech, as well as a strong talent acquisition pipeline that earned the city a place on the GSER’s top 10 North American ecosystems with the most affordable talent.
Final thought: Calgary’s rapid growth is a testament to the value of investing in emerging markets. Since 2018, venture capital investment has exploded in Calgary, growing by 1,000 percent, according to the Calgary Innovation Strategy. In 2025, the Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund, a municipal fund aimed at boosting economic growth, invested millions in the city’s innovation sector. In that same year, a Platform Calgary impact report tallied $323 million in investment for member companies, representing a 36 percent increase year-over-year.
BetaKit’s Prairies reporting is funded in part by YEGAF, a not-for-profit dedicated to amplifying business stories in Alberta.
Feature image courtesy Unsplash. Photo by Kyler Nixon.