A HelloSafe report lists Toronto as the best Canadian tech hub & 24th best globally for startups. It names Vancouver & Montreal on 2nd & 3rd places. The Tech Factor finds out more about the report.
A new report from HelloSafe has named Toronto as the best Canadian tech hub for launching startups. It also listed Toronto as the 24th best city in the world to build a startup. The recently-released HelloSafe report analyzed the ranking based on three main sets of criteria: quality, quantity and business environment. The report used the extensive data provided by the StartupBlink database to arrive at its findings. In fact, the database also comes up with the StartupBlink Index annually, and has reported similar findings itself about Canada’s place as a global startup ecosystem.
As per the HelloSafe report, Toronto emerges as the clear winner and stood out against competition from other Canadian cities. Notably, its diverse startup ecosystem, multi-faceted economy, and supportive government policies have helped its top ranking. Moreover, the city ranked ahead of Vancouver (2nd), Montreal (3rd), Ottawa (4th) and Kitchener-Waterloo (5th). Interestingly, despite their modest sizes, Kingston (8th) and Victoria (9th) find themselves placed fairly high in this ranking.
The report says that Toronto’s thriving tech ecosystem has been a major driver of the city’s startup success, which is not surprising. The city is home to a growing number of tech startups & big tech firms, as well as varied kinds of venture investors, including accelerators, incubators, VC funds, and ecosystem enablers. The study highlighted that many startups are choosing to base themselves in the city thanks to its vibrant startup community and also access to tech talent. A few of the largest success stories in Canadian startup ecosystem, like Cohere, are based in Toronto. The city has also had the privilege of hosting the Collision Conference for the past few years.
Ontario the most dynamic Canadian tech hub among provinces
HelloSafe is a technology company that provides a comparison of insurance deals in the market. Its Canadian operations are primarily driven from Quebec. Blue, a venture capital firm focused on fintech, is the primary supporter, as well as investor in the company. In late 2022, HelloSafe raised a seed round of CA$4.2 million from OneRagtime and Kima Ventures. Oleksiy Lysogub (CEO and CTO) and Pauline Laurore (CMO) are the founders of the company, and launched the product sometime in 2021.
Overall, the HelloSafe report ranks Canada as the fourth-best country for startups, following closely behind the United States, the United Kingdom, and Israel. Further, the report indicates that Canada falls ahead of nations like France, Germany, China or India, based on the chosen criteria. In fact, the analysis ranked China as 10th and did not rank India even in the top ten, based on the quality, quantity and business environment criteria. Perhaps the two countries rank low on the environment leading to the resultant ranks.
Further, 11 locations in the top 200 cities worldwide for startups, or more than 5%, are located in Canada. Overall, 41 Canadian towns are listed among the top 1000 global cities for startups in 2022 in the analysis. Of those 41 cities, 51% are in Ontario, which remains by far the most dynamic Canadian province for startups in 2022. However, apart from Toronto (24th), only two other Canadian cities, Vancouver (40th) and Montreal (45th), are listed among the top 50 startup cities in the world.
