Sep 20, 2024

Top 8 Unicorns in Canada Gina MarrsSeptember 20, 2024 Canada is considered an excellent location for startups, due – in part – to its strong and thriving economy, supportive regulatory ecosystem and high standard of living and quality of life. The country is known for its skilled workforce which not only makes hiring staff easier for new companies, but it also serves as an attractive feature to potential investors. Furthermore, Canada has access to global markets as well as a whole lot of programs and incentives run by the government aimed at getting startups to succeed. This includes things like grants, tax incentives and funding programmes too. In addition to merely providing favourable regulations, however, the Canadian government is actively trying to attract successful entrepreneurs by offering foreigners access to the country by means of their startup visa programme Startups are centred on the ideas of uncertainty and risk, but with this risk comes the potential for great success too. Two of the top-valued businesses in Canada are the Royal Bank of Canada and Toronto Dominion Bank, worth $174 billion and $1112 billion respectively. These two businesses, along with Shopify which places third on the list, are all publicly owned companies. Recently, however, there has been an increasing number of businesses that have achieved incredible success all while sticking with private funding and ownership. There are plenty of companies that have achieved great success by means of private funding, but inviting public ownership via IPO or other men’s can help broaden the net in terms of inviting investment. That’s why the business world has come up with a special term for companies that are still operating under private ownership and have exceeded a $1 billion valuation. Of course, it’s impressive for any company to soar to such great heights, but it’s even more impressive for those who have managed to do so by means of “ private funding “. Of course, companies’ valuations change frequently, depending on new investments that they bring in, which means that businesses often drop in and out of unicorn lists. However, as of 2024, Canada is home to between 20 and 30 unicorns. These are the top 8 unicorns in Canada. Currently Canada’s highest-valued unicorn, Dapper Labs is a blockchain gaming platform that makes use of blockchain-enabled applications to help link fans to brands they really like and to help consumers delve into the world of content creation. Dapper Labs brings new forms of digital engagement to people all over the world. Founded in 2018, the startup is worth an impressive $7.6 billion and it’s based in Vancouver , British Columbia. It was launched by a team of three, including Roham Gharegozlou, Dieter Shirley, and Mik Naayem, and about six years later, Dapper Labs now has over 140 investors and nearly 200 employees. Hopper is a VC-backed startup that was founded in Montreal in 2007. The company launched a booking application that is limited to mobile use. Designed to help people revolutionise the way in which they plan their travel, it collects, organises and manages travel data in order to create an effective and trustworthy trip-planning platform. Users can find and book suitable flights and hotels by means of their cell phones, making the process significantly easier than before. It also offers users access to deals, giving them not only a convenient way to plan travel but save money too. The startup was founded by Frederic Lalonde, Sebastien Rainville and Dakota Smith, and nearly two decades later, Hopper is worth $5 billion, making it one of the highest-valued unicorns in Canada. Clearco, based in Ontario, Canada, is the developer of an online financial platform. The platform helps provide growth capital to e-commerce companies using proprietary software as well as data science-powered models. Essentially, this allows them to identify high-growth funding opportunities. From there, they offer allocation in exchange for a steady revenue share of earnings until the full amount has been repaid. Ultimately, the idea is to assist startups financially without them having to give away valuable equity. Clearco was founded by Michele Romanow and Pavel Melnichuk in 2015, and after having received $60 million worth of later-stage funding, the company is now valued at $2 billion.