Home to emerging fintech startups and scale-ups, as well as industry giants like Sunlife, Manulife and TD Bank, Waterloo is on the cutting-edge of business and finance.
Our long-established presence in the business and financial services sector has made us a key player in the Toronto-Waterloo Corridor, while our technology ecosystem fuels opportunities in fintech.
Here is Waterloo’s fintech ecosystem in a nutshell:
What are our fintech ecosystem advantages?
With 80+ companies working in operational and financial services, cybersecurity, big data, blockchain and more, Waterloo is a leader in fintech. What gives Waterloo its fintech edge?
- Waterloo is Canada’s most dynamic tech ecosystem. We are the #1 small tech talent market in North America and our ecosystem is home to major tech multinationals like Google, SAP and BlackBerry, four unicorn companies and hundreds of startups. Plus, we are well-known for our finance community. Major insurance companies like Sun Life, Manulife and Economical are headquartered here. We even have the 3rd highest finance and insurance employment per capita in North America.
- Waterloo is a partner in the Toronto-Waterloo Corridor, which is the 2nd largest tech ecosystem in North America, the 2nd largest financial hub in North America and the #1 fintech ecosystem in Canada. The Toronto-Waterloo Corridor also boasts more than 12,000 fintech firms and 360,000 fintech workers.
- Companies can fuel their talent pipeline with Waterloo’s tech-centric and world-class academic institutions. The University of Waterloo is ranked in the global top 40 for Mathematics and Technology programs and is home to the world’s largest concentration of Mathematics and Computer Science talent. The Lazaridis School of Business and Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University is one of the top accounting and finance schools in the country.
What major fintech players are located here?
Waterloo is home to numerous global fintech leaders, such as:
- Shopify
- Square
- Aviva
- Manulife
- TD
- Faire
- Sun Life
What organizations support the fintech industry?
Waterloo’s entrepreneurial ecosystem fuels fintech innovation. In addition to world-class post-secondary institutions, Waterloo is home to industry support organizations and research hubs such as:
- Centre for Accounting Research & Education (CARE) – Located at the University of Waterloo, CARE contributes to the areas of fundamental and applied accounting research and education, with a particular focus in financial and managerial accounting, auditing and attestation, taxation, finance and accounting information systems.
- Accelerator Centre – The Accelerator Centre, Canada’s #1 business accelerator, offers a wide variety of programs and resources, including funding, world-class mentorship and programming to support technology startups and corporate tech leaders.
- Communitech – Communitech is Canada’s top innovation hub, supporting more than 1,400 companies – from startups to scale-ups to multinationals – through community-building, programming and corporate innovation services.