Nobul, Hopper, Flashfood, and Thrive Health topped the lists in this year’s Deloitte Canada’s annual ranking of the country’s fastest-growing technology companies.
The consulting firm released its 25th annual list highlighting growth leaders of the Technology Fast 50, Enterprise Fast 15, Clean Technology, and Companies-to-Watch.
Anders McKenzie, a partner and national leader for the Technology Fast 50 program at Deloitte Canada argued that the 2022 companies stand as a testament to how the Canadian tech sector is currently thriving.
“Despite unpredictable economic and global climates, tech companies from around the country are seizing new opportunities and meeting rapidly evolving market demands,” he said.
Nobul, a Toronto-based open digital marketplace connecting home buyers and sellers to real estate agents, became the first company in the award’s history to jump from the Companies-to-Watch category to the top of the Technology Fast 50 ranking in one year.
Nobul topped the Fast 50 list with a three-year growth trajectory of 72,944 percent, the third highest growth rate percentage in the award’s 25-year history.
Certn, a SaaS provider for background screenings, generated 6,407 percent in revenue growth, landing it second on the 2022 Fast 50 listing. The startup acquired Australian company InterCheck, a competitor in the identity verification space, in October, and raised $65.1 million CAD in a Series B round CAD in May.
Bloom Care Solutions rounded off the top three of the Fast 50 list. Bloom Care, which combines digital and in-home health services, posted revenues of 6,286 percent.
Just missing out of the top three, FinTech startup D1g1t slipped in at fourth place
Other notables included FinTech startup Brim Financial, which was ranked eighth, Wonderfi-owned Bitbuy ranked ninth, automotive online retailer Clutch took the 11th spot, and Dialogue Health landed at 17th.
In general, the Fast 50 category saw an average revenue growth rate among companies of 3,093 percent.
Hopper, the mobile-first travel marketplace, jumped from fifth spot last year on the Enterprise Fast 15 list to first place this year. The Montréal-based company, which closed $96 million USD ($130 million CAD) in equity funding in early November, posted revenue growth of 859 percent.
RELATED: Hopper closes $96 million USD from Capital One at more than $5 billion valuation
Toronto’s Flashfood grabbed the top spot in the Clean Technology category. Flashfood provides a mobile platform that connects people with grocery items approaching their best-by date, offering a discount of up to 50 percent off those items.
The startup claims to have diverted more than 40 million pounds of food, saved shoppers an excess of $100 million, and fed hundreds of thousands of families. With a three-year revenue growth of 11,869 per cent, the company joins Nobul among the select few to have leapfrogged from the 2021 Companies-to-Watch list to the top of another Technology Fast 50 award the following year. Flashfood closed a $12.3 million USD ($15.6 million CAD) Series A round in March.
Thrive Health, a startup that offers an interactive patient engagement platform, was ranked first in the Companies-to-Watch category having posted the highest revenue growth of 4,221 percent.
RELATED: Snapcommerce, Maple top 2021 Deloitte Technology Fast 50
With the downturn in the markets, it comes as no surprise that an emerging concern for this year’s rankings is access to capital. Seventy-eight percent of respondents to Deloitte Canada’s annual survey of Technology Fast 50 executives in 2021 believed their access to capital was improving. That figure dropped this year to 47 percent, a five-year low.
Another concern for respondents executives is their ability to attract and retain a qualified workforce. Of the respondents, 27 percent said labour markets are the most significant issue they face, followed by concerns over financial markets (18 percent) and changing consumer preferences (13 percent).
Other findings from the survey reported that one in five companies said that women make up more than 40 percent of their leadership, a one-point gain over last year. As well, 77 percent reported that they have at least one board representative identifying as a member of an equity-seeking group.
After topping last year’s Fast 50 list, Snapcommerce failed to land a spot on this year’s edition. The startup, which offers a message-driven commerce platform that connects consumers to promotions using artificial intelligence, previously recorded three-year revenue growth of 33,614 percent.
Similarly, telemedicine startup Maple was ranked second on 2021’s list, but was also nowhere to be seen on this year’s Top 50.
The full list of 2022 winners can be found here.