Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50

Deloitte Canada’s Technology Fast 50 program recognizes Canada’s fastest growing tech companies, with the majority of this year’s winners being based in Ontario, followed by Quebec. Now in its 24th year, the 2021 top winners are Snapcommerce, a Toronto-based commerce platform; Maple, a Toronto-based virtual healthcare platform; and Mistplay Inc., a Montreal-based mobile game loyalty platform. Snapcommerce saw a 33, 614% growth; Maple saw a 15, 568% growth; and Mistplay Inc. saw a 13, 545% growth, according to Deloitte’s findings.

A new category was added to the program in 2021, the Clean Technology award, which awards Canada’s top clean innovators. In focus are goods or services that reduce environmental impact. The bulk of the companies’ revenues came from products or services with a positive environmental impact in the following areas: carbon emissions and reduction potential, resources circulation (reduce, reuse, recycle), or environmental preservation and safety.

The top three cleantech winners in 2021 are: Pela, a Kelowna-based company that creates eco-friendly products, including phone cases and smart watch bands; Vancouver’s mCloud Technologies, which offers asset management solutions for commercial buildings, renewable energy, healthcare, heavy industry, and connected workers; and Mississauga-based Stromcore Energy Inc, a leading designer and manufacturer of lithium-ion forklift batteries.

Executive leaders believe the labour market is the most concerning (56%) issue, citing it as the biggest challenge facing Canadian business in 2021, while COVID-19 is the third most concerning issue felt by leaders. 83% of this year’s Fast 50 winners believe working from home will continue for the foreseeable future. Although, Deloitte Canada’s Erica Pretorius also notes there is still an interest for increased physical office space.

“For those companies who expect the majority of their employees to return to the workplace, it’s interesting to see a sizeable number of respondents claiming they’re going one step further, planning to increase the physical space of the office,” says Pretorius, who is a partner at Deloitte Canada and national co-leader for the Technology 50 program.

As for the Enterprise Fast 15, winners included Valsoft, Vosker Technology, Prodigy Education, Jobber, Sangoma Technologies, and Hopper.

The 2021 companies to watch are Blockthrough, BluWave-ai, Canalyst, Cinchy, Clir Renewables, and Flashfood, among others.

Other key findings from the report include:

64% of respondents rate the government’s support for their company during the pandemic as good or very good.

33% of the winners believe they’ll be reducing their office space in some capacity or eliminating their office entirely.

The virtual summit that will celebrate the winners takes place on November 24 and 25. Kara Swisher, the New York Times opinion writer, will be one of the morning keynotes.

More of the Technology Fast 50 list can be found below.

Photo and info provided by Deloitte Canada.