While at the fourth CanTech Investment Conference, I met some promising Canadian high-tech companies. CanTech is the Canada’s largest technology investment conference organized by Cambridge House International.
Photo source: Cambridge House International
Toronto Waterloo corridors are considered as Canada’s Silicon Valley, one of the largest technology hubs in North America. Overall, Canadian high-tech funding is on the rise as per CB insights report 2011- 2016 below. In 2016, there were 358 deals with the disclosed funding of $1,447 million.
Photo source: CB Insights
Some Canadian high-tech companies have done well in 2016:
Maluuba, a Montreal/Waterloo based startup focusing on deep learning, a type of artificial intelligence, has been acquired by Microsoft recently.
Shopify, a cloud-based, multichannel commerce platform designed for small and medium-sized businesses headquartered in Ottawa, had a 95% increase in revenue in Q3 2016. Its stock is up over 200% year to date.
High-tech Investment Opportunities in Canada
Canada has never been short of the high-tech investment opportunities. However, the overall capital markets need to learn new technologies fast enough to be able to evaluate the demand/market size and forecast revenues/profits for each high-tech opportunity. Here are some sectors worth paying attention to:
Quantum Computing
Quantum technology is a priority for Canada. University of Waterloo has launched the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC), a world-leading research centre in quantum information science and technology a decade ago.
D-Wave Systems, a Burnaby-based quantum computing company, is the first company in the world to sell quantum computers. It has designed a quantum computer that is 100 million times faster than its conventional computing counterpart. The big names including Google and NASA has invested heavily into the technology.
BioTech
The Canadian biotech industry has largely suffered from difficulty raising capitals. In the United States, investors have supported numerous biotech projects that are in the stage of discovery and development. In Canada, I saw many biotech entrepreneurs pulling their hair off to find funding for promising projects.
Here are local biotech companies that have sustained in Canada:
RepliCel is a Vancouver-based regenerative medicine company developing autologous cell therapies to treat conditions linked to a deficit of healthy cells required for normal healing and function. It mainly treats chronic tendinosis, UV-damaged or aged skin, and pattern baldness. RepliCel has signed a deal with Shiseido Company, a Japanese multinational personal care company.
ProMIS Neurosciences Inc., is a Toronto-based development stage biotech company that discovers and develops game changing precision therapeutics for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
To explore more Canadian biotech companies, visit BIOTECanada, the national industry association with over 200 members located nationwide, reflecting the diverse nature of Canada’s health, industrial and agricultural biotechnology sectors.
Photo source: BIOTECanada
Commercial Drones
The Sky Guys, a Toronto based drone company, offers a wide range of commercial and industry drones services for various industries. Here are a few use cases:
- Oil and gas, onshore/offshore field inspection
- Unmanned inspection for power and utility assets: Hydro Poles, Transition Lines and Power lines, Solar Installations, Wind Turbines, and Nuclear Facilities, etc.
- Commercial and residential real estate, condos, high rises
In the near future, the competitive advantages of a drone company will rely heavily on the capability to capture data, maintain the data security, and interpret data into meaningful business intelligence, besides integration of the innovative technologies.
IoT, Blockchain, and Fintech
There has been a lot of interest in IoT, blockchain, and Fintech. Cortex Business Solutions is a Calgary-based B2B Network-as-a-Service that combines blockchain, IoT, and Fintech to enable scalable e-invoicing.
The future of Canada has relied and will continue to rely on the prosperity of high-tech sectors. With numerous creative high-tech talents, pipelines for entrepreneurs to grow and national/international investment funds in place, there will be a tech boom across nationwide.
Resources
For entrepreneur and startup support, visit Banting & Best Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Cossette Labs, Founder Institute Toronto, and Highline.
For marketing, business development, and investment services, visit Mans International.
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