Canada's startup ecosystem has attracted high-profile US investors in recent years and the plunge of the local currency may attract more.
The plunge of Canada’s currency against the US dollar means that foreigners investing US dollars will find Canadian startups to be a relative bargain, according to reporting in the Toronto Star:
“In terms of the dollar, Canadian companies would look like they would be an excellent value for them [foreign investors] at this point,” said Steve McCartney, vice president of Ontario-based startup incubator, Communitech.
Canada’s startup scene has produced notable recent standouts, including e-commerce platform Shopify, with its IPO valuing it at $1.26B last year, and instant messaging startup Kik Interactive, which has backers including Foundation Capital, Spark Capital, RRE Ventures, and Union Square Ventures. Kik sold a minority stake to Chinese internet giant Tencent last year in a transaction that valued it at $1B and pushed Kik into the unicorn club (Vancouver-based social media management startup Hootsuite is also in the club).
Other Canadian companies like Desire2Learn, Lightspeed and Wattpad have seen investments from US smart money VCs in the last two years.
With this context in mind, we used the CB Insights database to select a list of 13 early-stage Canadian startups that raised seed or Series A funding in the last year. None of them have yet raised a Series B. These companies are operating across a variety of fields, including investment advice, genomics, and e-commerce.
| Company | Description | Total Raised (USD) | Select Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cymax | Online furniture retailer that recently launched an e-commerce platform, Constant Retail | $25M | BDC Venture Capital, Salman Partners |
| WealthSimple | Robo-adviser that helps invest your savings and build a personalized portfolio | $25M | Power Financial Corporation, Impression Ventures |
| PHEMI | Data warehouse focusing on healthcare and other sectors | $11.8M | BDC Healthcare Venture Fund, CTI Life Sciences Fund, Discovery Capital, Yaletown Venture Partners |
| Clearpath Robotics | Robotics company developing self-driving vehicles for industries | $11.3M | GE Ventures, iNovia Capital, RRE Ventures |
| Hubba | E-commerce business-to-business platform connecting brands and retailers | $11.2M | Brightspark Ventures, Real Ventures, Kensington Capital Partners, Two Small Fish Ventures, Social Capital |
| Crew (f.k.a. Ooomf) | Freelance marketplace that connects clients with designers and developer | $11M | Accomplice, AngelList, BDC Venture Capital, BOLDstart Ventures, iNovia Capital, LaunchCapital, LDV Capital, Real Ventures, FounderFuel |
| Figure 1 | An app that allows healthcare professionals across the globe to connect and share information | $10.9M | Union Square Ventures, Version One Ventures, Rho Canada |
| Granify | SaaS platform that targets online shoppers leaving a website without making a purchase | $8.55M | BDC Venture Capital, Extreme Venture Partners, iNovia Capital, Valar Ventures, Extreme Startups, Klass Capital, Neu Venture Capital |
| Plotly | Platform similar to GitHub, but for analyzing data and creating charts and dashboards online | $7M | MHS Capital, Real Ventures, Rho Canada, Siemens Venture Capital, Silicon Valley Bank, National Research Council |
| Meta (f.k.a. Sciencescape) | AI platform for science research and content | $6.8M | Rho Canada, iGan Partners, Extreme Startups |
| Klipfolio | Business dashboard software | $6.54M | OMERS Ventures, Acadia Woods Partners, BDC Venture Capital, BOLDstart Ventures, Converge Venture Partners, FundFire, Mistral Venture Partners |
| Jobber | Business management software for mobile services business | $6.5M | OMERS Ventures, Point Nine Capital,Version One Ventures |
| Deep Genomics | Uses deep leanring technology to identify disease-cauasing genetic mutations | $3.7M | Bloomberg Beta, True Ventures |
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