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Startup Genome report highlights Toronto-Waterloo growth

The newest Startup Genome report highlights the Toronto-Waterloo Corridor's growth and talent.

Startup Genome’s annual Global Startup Ecosystem Report has recognized Toronto-Waterloo as the top tech ecosystem in Canada, #8 in North America and #17 globally.

The Startup Genome report is the world’s most comprehensive and widely-read research on startups, with nearly 300 innovation ecosystems and more than three million companies included in the analysis. The report ranks ecosystems using five success factors: performance, funding, connectedness, market reach, talent and knowledge.

The report highlights the Toronto-Waterloo Corridor as North America’s fastest growing and third-largest innovation ecosystem, with the world’s highest concentration of artificial intelligence startups. It’s also home to one of the world’s fastest growing millennial populations – growing at more than 21% per year – and among the highest quality talent you’ll find anywhere.

Generally speaking, these results mirror the reporting from CBRE, which recently included Toronto as the #4 tech talent market in North America and Waterloo as the #1 small tech talent market in North America.

Here are the top 20 ecosystems from the 2021 Global Startup Ecosystem Report:

  1. Silicon Valley
  2. London (tie)
  3. New York City (tie)
  4. Boston
  5. Beijing
  6. Los Angeles
  7. Tel Aviv
  8. Shanghai
  9. Seattle
  10. Seoul
  11. Washington, DC
  12. Tokyo
  13. San Diego
  14. Amsterdam-Delta
  15. Paris
  16. Berlin
  17. Toronto-Waterloo
  18. Singapore
  19. Chicago
  20. Sydney

Why did the Toronto-Waterloo Corridor make the list?

It starts with talent. As noted, our millennial population is “growing at lightning speed” thanks in large part to “Canada’s favourable immigration policies, public institutions and social democratic values” that have attracted a steady influx of highly-skilled newcomers. It also helps that our universities produce more top tech talent than just about anywhere else in the world.

There’s also ample investment potential for growing companies. In fact, nearly half of the venture capital deployed in Canada in 2021 went to companies based in Toronto and Waterloo. Waterloo-based companies like Faire ($816 million Series G) and ApplyBoard ($375 million Series D) lead the way. In terms of median seed round value and total VC funding Toronto-Waterloo is above average.

The report highlights three key reasons to move your company to Toronto-Waterloo: our progressive culture, a global community that includes 180+ languages spoken and a unique ability to commercialize leading-edge research from world-class institutions like the University of Waterloo.

The full report results are available on the Startup Genome website.

Want to learn more about the Waterloo tech ecosystem?