The newest Startup Genome report has recognized the Toronto-Waterloo Corridor as the #7-ranked Global Fintech Ecosystem. This is a substantial jump from our 13th-place finish in 2020.
The report notes that Toronto-Waterloo’s improved funding scores have helped drive this higher ranking, but our top talent, significant technology workforce – more than 300,000 workers – and excellent universities are also significant factors. Our immigration programs – considered among the best in the world – are also given major focus, particularly in an overheated global tech talent market.
In terms of funding, Toronto-Waterloo was above average for median seed round value, median Series A round value, total venture capital funding and exit value. Our ecosystem total early-stage funding is about four times the global average and the overall ecosystem value is $46 billion.
Where did everyone else place on the list? Here are the top-10 Global Fintech Ecosystems:
- Silicon Valley
- New York City
- London
- Singapore
- Hong Kong
- Beijing
- Toronto-Waterloo
- Los Angeles
- Boston
- Paris
Startup Genome’s ecosystem rankings have, historically, shown the Toronto-Waterloo Corridor to be an emerging power. Earlier this year, the region’s startup ecosystem ranked 17th globally, 12th among cleantech ecosystems and 11th among agtech ecosystems. We are almost always on an upward trajectory, competing with global superpowers like Silicon Valley, Singapore and Boston, among others.
Our strength across tech subdisciplines speaks to the adaptability of our talent – earlier this year, CBRE recognized Waterloo as the #1 small tech talent market in North America, and Toronto was #3 among larger talent markets. We also have the highest-quality tech workforce in Canada, according to CBRE.
Our unique talent advantage driven by the two universities within the Toronto-Waterloo Corridor that have landed in the global top-25 for computer science. Students at the University of Waterloo and University of Toronto are among the world’s best, and the schools themselves are the largest in the top-25. These two universities have more students in computer science than UC Berkeley, Cornell University, Carnegie Mellon University, MIT and Stanford University combined.
The Waterloo fintech ecosystem includes companies like Google, OpenText, Deloitte, Interac, Faire and more, supported by a cybersecurity industry that includes leaders like McAfee, Arctic Wolf, eSentire and BlackBerry. Our supportive and collaborative ecosystem includes the Accelerator Centre – consistently rated the top fintech accelerator in Canada – and dozens of research centres driving new innovation in artificial intelligence, user experience and more.