The Impact Centre, based in Toronto, publishes annual Narwhals’ list of 40 great Canadian tech companies that has potential to become successful on the world stage. They look at the fundraising patterns of over 1,000 private VC-funded Canadian technology product businesses in order to product their final list.
The companies on the list are weighted by their financial velocity. Financial velocity measures the speed at which a company acquires and consumes capital to fuel its growth. It is defined simply as the amount of capital a company has raised divided by the number of years it has been in existence.
Velocity is measured over time and is expressed in millions of US dollars per year. It provides a simple and elegant tool to enable entrepreneurs and investors to gauge the financial attractiveness of young and capital-intensive firms.
As you can see from the list below – entry to the Narwhal List is becoming more exclusive: the minimum financial velocity for entry is now 6.7 vs 4.7 it was in 2017.
You have various companies on the list but most come from either Artificial intelligence or Internet or Mobile industries. Most companies are concentrated mainly in Toronto.
The study points out that unfortunately none of the companies made it to their unicorn list , a company that is worth more than $1 billion, since Kik, messaging app, in 2015. At the same period of time, more than 19 US companies were founded and became Unicorns.
You can see the top 40 list below and read the full 2019 Narwhal technology report here.
Technology Narwhals
Rank | Company | Founded | Total Funding ($US Millions) | Financial Velocity | Sector | City |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Element AI | 2016 | 105.7 | 35.2 | Artificial Intelligence | Montreal |
2 | Hootsuite | 2008 | 279.9 | 25.4 | Internet | Vancouver |
3 | Ritual | 2014 | 113.5 | 22.7 | Mobile | Toronto |
4 | Wealthsimple | 2014 | 113.0 | 22.6 | Internet | Toronto |
5 | Kik | 2009 | 220.5 | 22.1 | Mobile | KW |
6 | North | 2012 | 152.7 | 21.8 | Consumer Product | KW |
7 | Lightspeed POS | 2005 | 292.0 | 20.9 | Mobile | Montreal |
8 | Blockstream | 2014 | 101.0 | 20.2 | Blockchain | Victoria |
9 | Integrate.ai | 2017 | 38.2 | 19.1 | Artificial Intelligence | Toronto |
10 | Hopper | 2007 | 199.2 | 16.6 | Mobile | Montreal |
11 | Breather | 2012 | 113.7 | 16.2 | Mobile | Montreal |
12 | League Inc. | 2014 | 76.2 | 15.2 | Internet | Toronto |
13 | CryptoKitties | 2017 | 27.0 | 13.5 | Blockchain | Vancouver |
14 | Kira Systems | 2015 | 50.0 | 12.5 | Internet | Toronto |
15 | Coveo | 2005 | 169.8 | 12.1 | Internet | Quebec |
16 | LeddarTech | 2007 | 140.7 | 11.7 | Electronics | Quebec |
17 | The Aion Network | 2017 | 22.0 | 11.0 | Blockchain | Toronto |
18 | ecobee | 2007 | 131.3 | 10.9 | Consumer Product | Toronto |
19 | Assent Compliance | 2005 | 151.6 | 10.8 | Internet | Ottawa |
20 | D-Wave Systems | 1999 | 209.4 | 10.5 | Computer Hardware | Vancouver |
21 | Visier | 2010 | 91.5 | 10.2 | Internet | Vancouver |
22 | TouchBistro | 2010 | 90.0 | 10.0 | Mobile | Toronto |
23 | Ranovus | 2012 | 68.5 | 9.8 | Computer Hardware | Ottawa |
24 | Happiify | 2018 | 9.1 | 9.1 | Artificial Intelligence | Toronto |
25 | Wattpad | 2006 | 117.8 | 9.1 | Internet | Toronto |
26 | Tulip Retail | 2013 | 51.2 | 8.5 | Mobile | Toronto |
27 | Hubba | 2012 | 58.7 | 8.4 | Internet | Toronto |
28 | D2L | 1999 | 165.0 | 8.3 | Internet | KW |
29 | Wave | 2009 | 82.4 | 8.2 | Internet | Toronto |
30 | eSentire | 2001 | 140.9 | 7.8 | Computer Hardware | KW |
31 | Vidyard | 2011 | 60.7 | 7.6 | Internet | KW |
32 | Rubikloud | 2013 | 45.3 | 7.5 | Internet | Toronto |
33 | Farmer’s Edge Laboratories | 2005 | 103.6 | 7.4 | Software | Winnipeg |
34 | Nuco | 2016 | 21.6 | 7.2 | Internet | Toronto |
35 | Bench | 2012 | 49.1 | 7.0 | Internet | Vancouver |
36 | Drop | 2015 | 27.3 | 6.8 | Mobile | Toronto |
37 | Analytics 4 Life | 2012 | 47.5 | 6.8 | Software | Toronto |
38 | MOJIO | 2012 | 47.4 | 6.8 | Mobile | Vancouver |
39 | SecureKey Technologies | 2008 | 73.5 | 6.7 | Internet | Toronto |
40 | Platterz | 2016 | 20.0 | 6.7 | Internet | Toronto |