Canada
Toronto-Waterloo #18
To meet Toronto’s talent demands, we’ve created an ecosystem-wide peer support network for founders and teams, where people are trained to help each other develop, retain, and attract diverse talent.
Ecosystem by the Numbers
EARLY-STAGE FUNDING
$1.6 b
GLOBAL AVG.
$687 m
ECOSYSTEM VALUE
$17 bn
GLOBAL AVG.
$28.6 bn
Sub-Sector Strengths
AI, Big Data & Analytics
The province of Ontario has allocated $350 million to focus on the development of AI, 5G, autonomous vehicles, and other technologies. Corporations such as Google and Uber have set up AI R&D centres in the region. CIFAR, the Vector Institute, and Waterloo.ai drive local AI investment. Kira Systems, an artificial intelligence-enabled contract analytics software raised $50 million in 2018. Integrate.ai, an applied AI enterprise software, raised $40 million in 2018.
Life Sciences
Ontario ranks seventh in Life Sciences employment in North America, and approximately 30,000 professionals in Toronto contribute around $2 billion to the local economy. The MaRS Discovery District supports commercialization with local hospitals and is home to the JLABS incubator with 49 early-stage life science companies. Synaptive Medical, developer of neurosurgical technological products, raised $75 million in 2019.
Reasons to Move Your Startup to Toronto-Waterloo
Access to funding
The Government of Canada has formed a $1.26 billion Strategic Innovation Fund to provide funding to inventive startups and the Ontario Network of Entrepreneurs supports around130 nonprofits across Ontario to help innovations.
COVID-19 Policy
The Government of Canada extended the maximum duration of the Work-Sharing program from 38 weeks to 78 weeks for the employers affected by COVID-19. This program provides income support to employees eligible for Employment Insurance and who agree to reduce their normal working hours because of developments beyond the control of their employers.
Density of corporations and talent
The Toronto-Waterloo corridor is the second largest technology cluster in North America with roughly 15,000 companies and 300,000 tech workers.
Selected Startup Organizations
Brook eld Institute
Centre for Social Innovation
City of Toronto
Creative Destruction Lab
DMZ
Haltech
Innovation Factory
Invest Toronto
Next 36
OneEleven
RIC Centre
The Founder City Project
Venture Lab
World Canada
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