Toronto entrepreneurs ‘as ambitious as their counterparts’ in Silicon Valley, report says
Silicon Valley may still rank first, but Toronto, Vancouver and Waterloo, Ont., are among the world’s top 20 ecosystems for startups, according to a new report from San Francisco-based Startup Genome and Spain’s Telefónica Digital.
The report, based on data compiled on more than 50,000 startups globally, ranked Toronto in eighth spot, followed by Vancouver in ninth and Waterloo at no. 16. Right behind Silicon Valley as “the leading alternative” was Tel Aviv.
Among its findings on the Canadian choices, the report called Toronto the largest startup ecosystem in Canada and one of the largest globally, and said Toronto entrepreneurs are “as ambitious as their counterparts” in Silicon Valley.
Key challenges for Toronto-based startups, not dissimilar to other places, are customer acquisition, building the product, finding funding and building the team. The report said that “the increasingly vibrant startup activity of Toronto combined with its lack of capital presents a large opportunity for investors.”
The report noted that, similar to Toronto, Vancouver startups are “heavily undercapitalized in later stages,” creating an opportunity for “later-stage funds to find good startups cheaply.”
Waterloo, it said, offers “great access to talent and innovative projects and ideas,” and an opportunity for business angels or super angels to help startups grow.
The report also said Waterloo is among the startup ecosystems where the most entrepreneurs were previously based in Silicon Valley.
The full ranking of the top 20:
- 1. Silicon Valley
- 2. Tel Aviv
- 3. Los Angeles
- 4. Seattle
- 5. New York City
- 6. Boston
- 7. London
- 8. Toronto
- 9. Vancouver
- 10. Chicago
- 11. Paris
- 12. Sydney
- 13. Sao Paulo
- 14. Moscow
- 15. Berlin
- 16. Waterloo
- 17. Singapore
- 18. Melbourne
- 19. Bangalore
- 20. Santiago
Source: Globe and Mail
