Toronto's booming tech sector just set a new record
Toronto's tech industry is on fire, as we've all come to know in recent years, with more major international tech firms and startups setting up shop in the city each month.
The amount of office space being bought or leased by big tech in Toronto right now tells a powerful story on its own, as does the city's impressive talent pool, but nothing can quite demonstrate the sector's explosive growth like money can.
And the money has been rolling in.
Toronto’s tech sector has been feeling the love with a record-setting $3.1 billion of investment last year. Thank you to @OneEleven_111’s member company @HockeyStickCO for sharing the findings of this GTA Tech Ecosystem Report. pic.twitter.com/vp8F48YRXh
— John Tory (@JohnTory) February 14, 2020
On Friday afternoon, Toronto Mayor John Tory highlighted a new report on the GTA's tech ecosystem in which it is revealed that a record-breaking $3.1 billion was invested into Toronto tech startups last year alone.
That's up a walloping 68 per cent over the sum of money invested in 2018, with a significant portion of the funds going into life sciences companies.
Compiled by the local innovation hub OneEleven and a private market data provider called Hockeystick, the quarterly report looks exclusively at the state of tech in the GTA, this time around for Q4 of 2019.
We are excited to share our second Quarterly GTA Tech Report in partnership with @hockeystickco! This unique report offers a snapshot of the state of GTA tech in Q4 2019, including insights on companies, investors and deals. Check out the full report here: https://t.co/sBLokf0iqa pic.twitter.com/lv5OgvyjNH
— OneEleven (@oneeleven_111) February 14, 2020
"Using a combination of public and private data, we provide a unique snapshot of what’s happening in the GTA. Unlike many reports, this is not an estimation," write the Toronto-based companies of their tech ecosystem report.
"Each dollar value represented is tied to an actual deal or transaction."
Coming out on top in terms of funding for Toronto-based tech companies last quarter were the financing solution Clearbanc ($300M), password management software 1Password ($265M), POS system provider TouchBistro ($158M), genetic sequencing platform Geneseeq ($114M) and the millenial-targeted online investing platform WealthSimple ($100M).
