Deloitte has announced the 2021 winners of its Technology Fast 50, a list that highlights Canadian tech companies’ innovation, leadership, and rapid revenue growth between 2017 and 2020.
Half of this year’s winners are based in Ontario, with the remainder concentrated in Québec (13) and British Columbia (10), and lone representatives from Saskatchewan and New Brunswick.
The average three-year revenue growth of the 2021 Fast 50 winners is 2,604 percent, an increase compared to the 2020 average of 2,144 percent made all the more impressive given it took place during COVID-19.
The average three-year revenue growth of the 2021 Fast 50 winners is 2,604 percent, an increase compared to 2020.
“Not only are [these companies] continuing to put Canada on the world-stage when it comes to innovation and leadership, but they’re doing it on the heels of a global pandemic, fraught with uncertainty and instability,” said Anders McKenzie, partner and national co-leader for the Technology Fast 50 program at Deloitte Canada. “As we cope with an ever-changing new normal, resilience like this cannot be understated.”
After not even cracking Deloitte’s 2020 list, Toronto-based Snapcommerce (formerly Snaptravel) made an entrance this time around, snagging first overall in the Technology Fast 50 after securing $107 million CAD in growth funding in March.
According to Deloitte, Snapcommerce, which offers a message-driven commerce platform that connects consumers to promotions using artificial intelligence (AI), has recorded three-year revenue growth of 33,614 percent, indicating its recent expansion beyond travel has generated strong results.
Toronto-based telemedicine startup Maple also made its first appearance on Deloitte’s list, vaulting to second overall on the heels of 15,568 percent revenue growth over the past three years.
Maple is currently focused on building out the breadth and scale of its virtual offering amid a competitive Canadian healthtech landscape and expanding its customer base via United States expansion.
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Despite its busy, funding-filled year, which saw the Kitchener-Waterloo company snag a $4 billion CAD valuation, ApplyBoard dropped to seventh on the list with 5,089 percent three-year revenue growth. The EdTech startup, which offers software that helps international students apply to study abroad, finished second on Deloitte’s 2020 list and first in 2019.
Other notable Ontario winners include Bolt Logistics, Ada, League, PartnerStack, BenchSci, and Loopio. Québec featured prominently on the list as well, with players like Dialogue and AlayaCare, as did British Columbia (BC) through firms like AbCellera, Klue, and Thinkific.
Fredericton-based Introhive and Saskatoon-based 7shifts were the only two tech startups outside of Ontario, Québec, and British Columbia to make Deloitte’s 2021 list, finishing at 32 and 42, respectively.
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Introhive, which provides an AI-powered sales and revenue acceleration platform, raised over $121 million CAD in Series C financing in June after doubling its revenue during COVID-19.
Meanwhile, 7shifts closed a nearly $26 million CAD Series B round in May to scale its staff management platform to meet the needs of restaurants during and post-pandemic.
As part of the 2021 program, Deloitte also introduced a new Clean Technology category. Kelowna-based Pela, which claims to have developed the world’s first compostable phone case, took home the top spot on the firm’s cleantech list, with three-year revenue growth of 4,043 percent
Deloitte also surveyed the CEOs of the Technology Fast 50, and found that the labour market and access to talent continues to pose the biggest challenge to Canadian businesses, followed by technological advancements, and COVID-19, respectively.
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Through the survey, Deloitte also learned that most of these leaders think remote work is here to stay. The firm discovered that 83 percent of the 2021 Fast 50 winners expect the majority of their employees to continue working from home “for the foreseeable future.” Another 33 percent expect to reduce their office space or eliminate their office entirely. On the flip side, only 11 percent expect most or all of their employees to return to their existing office, while 23 percent intend to increase the size of their current physical workspace.
“What’s clear is that there’s still a lot of uncertainty among this year’s Fast 50 winners around returning to the office, and for most businesses looking to enter their next normal, that means adopting more of a hybrid approach to work,” stated Erica Pretorius, partner and national co-leader for the Technology Fast 50 program at Deloitte Canada.
You can find the full list of 2021 winners here.
Feature image courtesy of Snapcommerce