TORONTO: THE NEW SILICON VALLEY

July 7th 2019 at 10:51pm Published by sharpshooteradmin

Toronto is a commercial, distribution, financial and industrial centre. It is the banking and stock exchange centre of Canada, and is the country’s primary wholesale and distribution point. Ontario‘s wealth of raw materials and hydroelectric power have made Toronto a primary centre of industry.  The tech industry has also paid attention to the city’s vast financial resources and educated labor force, and it has been the favorite location for many startups in the last few years.

The growth of the region’s tech sector outpaced that of New York City and San Francisco combined in the last 24 months. If Toronto maintains its current growth rate, it is likely that the city will overtake Silicon Valley as the city with the most technology jobs in North America within two years.

Here are some current developments that are fueling Toronto’s tech sector’s success:

• Google has invested $5m in the Vector Institute to make Toronto one of the foremost global players in the AI space.
• The city has a range of co-working hubs as well as important districts including the MaRS Discovery District and Koreatown, and active accelerators include Techstars, Creative Destruction Lab, Extreme Accelerator and Highline.
• Paid is a key player in the influencer marketing space and its platform brings together more than 15,000 creators and Fortune 500 brands for meaningful collaborations. Founded in 2014 by Adam Rivietz and Bryan Gold, and with offices in Toronto and New York, Paid last year raised $9m in a Series A round led by ScaleUp Ventures.
• Atomic Reach has built a platform that equips marketers with the insights and tools necessary to get the greatest return from their written content. Founded in 2012, Atomic Reach is led by CEO Bradley Silver. The company has raised $10.8m in funding to date, according to Crunchbase, including $3.4m in a venture round last year involving Fidelity Investments.
• Ever get a tattoo and regret it a few days later? Such concerns are a thing of the past thanks to innovative biotech/e-commerce player Inkbox, which has created temporary tattoos that last one to two weeks. Founded in 2015 by brothers Braden and Tyler Handley, Inkbox raised C$17m in Series A financing last year.
• TopHat is one of the few Canadian startups dominating the education technology (edtech) space. It offers college and university instructors an easy-to-use platform that combines online tests, interactive tools and digital textbooks. In fact, the company’s products have even caught the eye of high-profile schools at home and abroad (Dalhousie University, California State University and Indiana University, just to name a few).
• Stackadapt The software company, based in the city’s trendy King St. East area, is no novice in the tech field. The advertising firm counts industry leaders like Google, Banque Libano and Kodak as clients. Most recently it garnered headlines with its #HackDiversity campaign. https://www.stackadapt.com/

Toronto is a city of potential, a place where entrepreneurs can succeed and grow.

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