Start-Ups worldwide are contributing trillions to the economy. San Francisco Bay and Silicon Valley are known Start-Up hubs, but Canada is among the countries seeing a surge in Start-Up companies.
Thanks to Canada’s Start-Up Visa Program, immigrant entrepreneurs with the skills and potential can build businesses in Canada (outside Quebec), provided the businesses are:
- innovative
- can create jobs for Canadians
- can compete on a global scale
Other requirements and benefits include the ability to work in Canada while applicants who have already applied for permanent residence through the Start-Up Visa Program wait for their Start-Up visa. If a business fails, it doesn’t affect permanent resident status.
Canada has seen a surge in innovative Start-Ups, which are creating jobs, competing globally, and transforming industries. Major Canadian companies like Shopify, Hopper, and Wealthsimple are thriving, demonstrating the country’s potential as a Start-Up hub on the global stage. Here are 10 of the top companies in order of valuation size.
Shopify
- Valuation: $97 billion
- Customers: 1 million
- Launched: 2006
A major Canadian success story, Shopify provides e-commerce solutions to businesses of all sizes. It offers customizable online storefronts and payment and shipping services. As a public company, it is valued at about $97 billion (as of December 2023) and serves over 1 million merchants worldwide. The company’s model shows the potential to transform simple ideas into significant economic events.
Founder Tobi Lütke, unable to obtain a work permit for a local job, learned he could start a business instead.
Hopper
- Valuation: $5 billion
- Founded: 2007
- Raised: $1731 million
Hopper is an online travel booking app that uses predictive algorithms to notify users when flight and hotel prices drop. It also offers the fastest way to book while saving money through suggestions on the best time for purchasing plane tickets based on price fluctuations. Launched in 2007, Hopper raised more than $730 million from leading venture capitalists and Investors, including Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), taking the mobile app to an estimated valuation close to $6 billion according to recent reports. Hopper aims to reduce traveller anxiety throughout all trip buying and taking stages by creating a transparent travel marketplace. Hopper boasts of being ranked the top travel app in over 70 countries.
Wealthsimple
- Valuation: $3.7 billion
- Founded: 2014
- Raised: Over $850 million
Wealthsimple is a Robo-advisor that helps Canadians make smarter investments with automated portfolio management and low fees compared to traditional financial advisors. The company invests the client’s money in a globally diversified portfolio of low-cost index funds. It uses technology to help clients earn the best possible return while optimizing their tax bill. The company offers high-interest savings and commission-free trading, giving clients the tools to make smart financial choices. The company has rapidly grown since it was founded in 2014, resulting in a valuation of $3.7 billion as of 2021.
ApplyBoard
- Valuation: $3.2 billion
- Launched in: 2015
- Raised: $300 million
ApplyBoard is an edtech company specializing in international/global education services. It connects institutions, students, and recruitment partners worldwide and matches prospective students with programs and institutions that align with their backgrounds, skills, and interests. According to its website, the company has helped more than 800,000 students.
It witnessed substantial growth and funding across multiple rounds. ApplyBoard soared to a valuation of $3.2 billion following a successful C$375 million Series D funding round in June 2021.
Lightspeed POS
- Valuation: $3 billion
- Founded: 2005
- Raised: $1.2 billion
This Start-Up provides point-of-sale software for restaurants, retailers, and other businesses that operate brick-and-mortar stores or have multiple locations across Canada and the US. Lightspeed POS helps companies manage inventory, suppliers, teams, and stores from one retail platform. “From easy-to-use POS and e-commerce tools to advanced reporting,” it helps boost revenue and growth. The company is now valued at over $3 billion after going public in 2019 and employs more than 1000 people globally.
Thalmic Labs
- Valuation: $2 billion
- Founded: 2012
- Raised: $120 million
Thalmic Labs is a wearable technology company that focuses on developing products that can control devices with simple gestures or movements from your body without touching anything else. In 2020, Google acquired North, a pioneer in human-computer interface and smart glasses. Their products include the Myo armband, which reads electrical signals from your muscles to enable gesture control, and North Focals smart glasses, which allow users to access digital information without looking at their phones directly. The company is valued at about $2 billion.
Element AI
- Valuation: $2 billion
- Founded: 2016
- Raised: $102 million
Element AI is an artificial intelligence Start-Up. While online platforms have facilitated many aspects of life, their data governance models allow access to data to a few large technology companies—excluding citizens from sharing in their value. Element AI is an artificial intelligence Start-Up specializing in providing enterprise solutions such as machine learning, natural language processing (NLP) and computer vision technologies for organizations to manage their data resources better efficiently and intelligently develop business models based on predictive analysis capabilities enabled by AI technology. The Start-Up holds a valuation worth approximately $2 billion, making it one of the biggest AI firms today.
League
- Valuation: $2 billion
- Launched: 2016
- Raised: Over $200 million
League is a digital health platform that links individuals to a vast network of health-related services and benefits. It is an employee benefits app that helps companies such as Manulife manage their health benefits programs by providing personalized advice, price comparison tools, health tracking features, etc. Manulife Group Benefits members can easily access and understand their employee benefits. Through the interactive platform, members can navigate health prevention, intervention, and recovery through their unique virtual health journeys. League was founded in 2016 and recently raised $200 million, allowing it to reach an impressive $2 billion valuation.
CoHere
- Valuation: $2.2 billion
- Launched in: 2019
- Raised: $435 million
CoHere is a generative AI Start-Up that has launched an LLM chatbot called RAG, which is claimed to give accurate answers based on company data and leverages AI to enhance daily work and increase productivity across organizations.
CoHere claims to be building a future without a language barrier between humans and machines and helps businesses explore, generate, search for, and act on information in a new way that is more intuitive and natural. CoHere saw significant growth with a Series C funding round of $270 million, propelling its valuation to $2.2 billion. Its recent AI model, Command R+, can perform generative AI business tasks like summarizing and analyzing text.
It supports multilingual capabilities in ten languages, including English, French, and Japanese. The financing, led by Inovia Capital, marked a substantial milestone in the company’s AI journey. Businesses can use CoHere’s large-language models and technology to deploy chatbots, search engines and other AI-driven products.
AppDirect
- Valuation: $1.5 billion
- Launched: 2009
- Raised: Over $511 million
AppDirect is a cloud-based platform that enables companies to manage the entire lifecycle of their cloud services, including provisioning, subscription billing and management. The company, headquartered in San Francisco, boasts over 1,000 providers, 10,000 advisors and five million subscribers. Founded in 2009, it has raised over $500 million from investors such as SoftBank Capital, J.P. Morgan and iNovia Capital, allowing them to reach a billion-dollar valuation by 2014.
With innovative companies like Shopify and Hopper leading the way, Canada continues to attract entrepreneurs and investors, contributing significantly to job creation, technological advancement, and economic growth.
FAQ on Canada’s Thriving Start-Up Ecosystem
What is Canada’s Start-Up Visa Program?
The Start-Up Visa Program allows immigrant entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas to establish companies in Canada (outside Quebec). These businesses must be innovative, create jobs for Canadians, and compete globally. Entrepreneurs can work in Canada while waiting for permanent residence.
What are some examples of successful Canadian start-ups?
Successful Canadian start-ups include Shopify, Hopper, and Wealthsimple. These companies have achieved multi-billion-dollar valuations by offering innovative services in e-commerce, travel, and financial technology, respectively, demonstrating Canada’s potential as a global start-up hub.
How does Canada’s Start-Up Visa support immigrant entrepreneurs?
The Start-Up Visa helps immigrant entrepreneurs build businesses in Canada by offering a pathway to permanent residency. Entrepreneurs can work in Canada while their visa application is processed, and if their business fails, it does not affect their permanent resident status.
What are the benefits of establishing a start-up in Canada?
Canada offers a thriving ecosystem for start-ups, with supportive programs like the Start-Up Visa and a growing tech industry. Entrepreneurs benefit from access to global markets, skilled labor, and venture capital, all while contributing to job creation and innovation.
How has the Start-Up Visa contributed to Canada’s economy?
The Start-Up Visa has contributed significantly to Canada’s economy by fostering the growth of high-valuation companies like Shopify and Hopper. These companies create jobs, boost technological innovation, and establish Canada as a key player in the global start-up ecosystem.