The State of B2B Canada Tech in 2018

December 28, 2017

Our neighbors to the north have gifted the earth wonderful things like curling and poutine.

Their people are some of our biggest heroes; from Drake and Bieber to Celine Dion and Alex Trebek, Canadians are diverse and influential.

In addition to these aforementioned gems, this nation of wonders has a thriving tech scene. And it’s been flourishing for some time. Companies such as Cognos and Intuit are staples in today’s B2B technology scene.

Following the steps of their corporate predecessors, startups such as Shopify and Hootsuite have quickly become the top-rated products in their particular categories (E-Commerce Platforms and Social Media Management, respectively).

Companies such as these ($1 billion startups) are referred to as “Unicorns” in the U.S. But in Canada, these successful startups are colloquially referred to as “Narwhals.” But you don’t need a billion-dollar valuation to disrupt a market.

Canada is one of the largest hubs for tech startups in the world. It’s ranked fifth globally with 1,526 startups, according to Startup Ranking. The nation has established itself as an industry leader, and signs point to the country maintaining that status for the foreseeable future.

Some people attribute much of the country’s success to efforts from the Canadian government. There are a number of federal programs geared specifically toward supporting startups and other innovative small businesses.

This year, the Canadian government pledged $100 million to development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. They’ve also streamlined their immigration process for highly skilled workers through programs like the Global Skills Strategy (GSS).

It’s no surprise Canada has seen success in the technology industry. As the country continues to produce top-tier products, Canadian innovators will continue competing with the U.S., as well as other hubs like Germany and Australia.

Canada-tech-companies

Note: Only software vendors on G2 Crowd with headquarters currently in Canada are included in graph.

With Canada emerging as a tech hub, we have pulled together a state of the Canadian B2B tech scene that includes all of the top-rated products on G2 Crowd which have parent companies headquartered in Canada. Our list is ranked by user satisfaction of a company’s top-rated product. To qualify, a product was required to have at least 10 verified real-user reviews.

For each qualifying product, we created a company profile to recognize what that company is and does, as well as give a little insight into its history. The data relies on G2 Crowd’s nearly 300,000 B2B software and services reviews, or from publicly made available data sources such as LinkedIn or each vendor’s website. The report features 25 B2B Canadian software companies which are represented with more than 4,700 verified user reviews across categories from Demand Side Platforms to Event Management Platforms to Content Marketing Software. Let’s take a look at the major players in Canada’s tech scene, shall we? 


TOP B2B CANADIAN TECH IN 2017


shopify

1. Shopify

Product: Shopify
Category: E-Commerce Platforms
City: Ottawa
Founded: 2006
Employees: 2,602

 

 With an impressive 1,432 reviews on G2 Crowd, Shopify is both a leader in the e-commerce platform and a leader within our Canadian-based products. This tool is designed for small and medium-sized businesses to set up their online store. Brands such as Tesla, Budweiser and Red Bull utilize Shopify.


picatic

2. Picatic

Product: Picatic
Category: Event Registration & Ticketing
City: Vancouver
Founded: 2012
Employees: 8

Picatic is an event registration and ticketing platform and was ranked a High Performer in its category on G2 Crowd for Spring 2017. This tool makes it easy for users to create an event, manage registrations and sell tickets.


stackadapt

 

3. StackAdapt

Product: StackAdapt
Category: 
Demand Side Platform (DSP)
City: Toronto
Founded: 2013
Employees: 61

StackAdapt is a demand side platform (DSP) that helps businesses accelerate customer acquisition by reaching relevant audiences through native, display, and video advertising. The folks at StackAdapt are focused on improving customer engagement through the platform.

“The recognition that we’re most proud of is ranking #1 in performance and customer satisfaction by G2 Crowd in the DSP category for the fourth season in a row. As a customer-centric and performance-oriented company, nothing makes us happier than serving our users with the best technology and customer service in the industry. We’ll increase our investments in our machine learning, data-intelligence technologies, as well as, our proprietary 1st-party audience data in 2018 and build the most intelligent, reliable and intuitive DSP out there.” Ildar Shar, CEO at StackAdapt

clio

4. Clio

Product: Clio
Category: Legal Case Management
City: Burnaby
Founded: 2008
Employees: 267

Small law firms and sole practitioners can look to Clio for legal case management. This tool also assists with time and billing, and client collaboration, allowing you to spend less time on administrative tasks.


officebooks

5. Officebooks

Product: OfficeBooks
Category: ERP Systems
City: Ottawa
Founded: 2010
Employees: 1

Officebooks is an ERP system optimized for distributors and manufacturing. This tool automates your purchase, sales and work order generation, which leaves you free time to build your business. The mission of the people behind this Ottawa-based company is to allow users to take charge of their days.


uberflip

6. Uberflip

Product: Uberflip 
Category: Content Marketing
City: Toronto
Founded: 2012
Employees: 121

Marketers can up their content game with Uberflip. This content marketing platform is designed to create, manage and optimize content experiences. Uberflip was ranked a High Performer on G2 Crowd in the content marketing category for Summer 2017.


influitive

7. Influitive

Product: Influitive Advocate Hub
Category: Brand Advocacy
City: Toronto
Founded: 2012
Employees: 152

Influitive AdvocateHub is a brand advocacy platform that was ranked a Leader in Fall 2017. This tool leverages the power of relationships to improve marketing campaigns, sales support, and customer retention. This Toronto-based company received $38M Series B funding in 2015.


touchbistro

8. TouchBistro

Product: TouchBistro Restaurant POS
Category: POS Restaurant
City: Toronto
Founded: 2011
Employees: 195

Users can manage multiple aspects of their restaurant with TouchBistro Restaurant POS. This tool helps users to oversee things such as tableside orders, floor plans & tables, mobile payment processing, staff & scheduling. Access reporting and analytics anytime you need with TouchBistro Restaurant.


1password

9. AgileBits Inc.

Product: 1Password
Category: Password Manager
City: Toronto
Founded: 2005
Employees: 60

1Password is a password manager solution that was ranked a leader on G2 Crowd for Fall 2017. Not only does this tool remember your passwords, but it gives you tips to make them stronger. You can login to sites with one click using 1Password.


kashoo

10. Kashoo

Product: Kashoo
Category: Accounting
City: Vancouver
Founded: 2005
Employees: 20

Small businesses looking to organize their accounting books need to look no further than Kashoo. This accounting software solution was ranked a High Performer on G2 Crowd’s accounting software for Fall 2017. Kashoo’s app is the most-downloaded accounting app in the App Store.

“At Kashoo, we are always trying to meet our clients’ needs through continuous improvements in our software, and providing the support and information needed to manage their accounting efficiently. Our reviews reflect our world-class service and dedication to our customers, and we are proud to be included in G2 Crowd’s top-rated software list!” Jim Secord, CEO of Kashoo

 

iwavepro

11. iWave Information Systems Inc.

Product: iWave PRO
Category: Fundraising
City: Charlottetown
Founded: 1991
Employees: 44

iWave is a donor prospect research tool that was ranked a High Performer on G2 Crowd for Winter 2018. This tool helps you to answer questions like does your donor prospect have a history of giving? And does that donor love your cause? The folks behind this Canadian product allow you to filter and prioritize prospects based on a number of different features.


elasticemail

12. Elastic Email

Product: Elastic Email
Category: Email Marketing
City: Sooke
Founded: 2010
Employees: 20

Elastic Email is an all-in-one email marketing platform. This tool offers a suite of tools and features for functions such as managing contacts, templates, campaigns, and reports. Elastic Email was ranked a high performer in the email marketing category on G2 Crowd for Fall 2017. It was also named one of the best free email marketing tools in 2017.


hootsuite

13. Hootsuite

Product: Hootsuite
Category: Social Media Suites
City: Vancouver
Founded: 2008
Employees: Nearly 1,000

 Hootsuite was ranked a Leader in the social media suite category on G2 Crowd for winter 2018 and boasts a staggering 1,400-plus user reviews. It’s safe to say that this Vancouver-based product is far-and-away the leader for Canadian-based products on G2 Crowd. Hootsuite allows you to monitor keywords, manage multiple accounts and schedule messages.

“We are proud to be listed among Canada’s top rated B2B technologies. Hootsuite’s customers are the cornerstone of our company. We will continue to build on our platform to help customers solve business problems and drive ROI from social media. Thank you for the recognition.” Kirsty Traill, VP Customers at Hootsuite

7shifts

14. 7shifts

Product: 7shifts Restaurant Scheduling
Category: Restaurant Management
City: Saskatoon
Founded: 2013
Employees: 59

 This scheduling software is geared toward the restaurant industry. 7shifts allows restaurateurs to respond to schedule changes in real time. Users can save up to 80 percent of time normally spent scheduling staff with this tool.

“At 7shifts we are proud to be part of the vibrant tech community here in Saskatchewan and across Canada. We believe that we have the people, talent and skills necessary to make a massive impact in the restaurant technology space and to demonstrate that Canadian start ups have what it takes to compete and thrive globally.” Jordan Boesch, CEO of 7shifts

freshbooks

15. FreshBooks

Product: FreshBooks
Category: Small-Business Accounting
City: Toronto
Founded: 2003
Employees: 292

FreshBooks was born out of mistake. In 2003, its founder accidentally saved over an invoice, which led him to create a solution that would prevent that from happening again. This small-business accounting solution and was ranked a leader in this category on G2 Crowd for Fall 2017.


prontoforms

16. ProntoForms Corporation

Product: ProntoForms
Category: Forms Automation
City: Ottawa
Founded: 2001
Employees: 113

This forms automation product was named a High Performer on G2 Crowd for Fall 2017. ProntoForms connects data to back office or cloud services. This solution is used by more than 3,500 businesses to collect and analyze field data using mobile devices.


eclipse

17. Eclipse Foundation

Product: Eclipse
Category: Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
City: Ottawa
Founded: 2004
Employees: 121

Eclipse is known for its Java Integrated Development Environment, but also supports C/C++, IDE and PHP IDE. This tool allows you to easily combine language support and other features in any of the available packages. This tool was ranked a leader in the Integrated Development Environment category on G2 Crowd for Winter 2017. Eclipse was also named one of the top ruby ide options for developers in 2017.


bridgit

18. Bridgit

Product: Bridgit Closeout
Category: Construction Management
City: Kitchener
Founded: 2012
Employees: 39

This construction management tool is a mobile punch list management solution that allows users to receive real-time notifications. Manage communication with Bridgit Closeout while making data-driven decisions for your business.


agencyanalytics

19. AgencyAnalytics

Product: AgencyAnalytics
Category: SEO
City: Toronto
Founded: 2010
Employees: 9

AgencyAnalytics is an SEO tool that was ranked High Performer on G2 Crowd for Fall 2017. This tool is geared toward agencies and marketing consultants. AgencyAnalytics integrates SEO tools, PPC data, social media, web analytics and more.


heyorca

20. HeyOrca

Product: HeyOrca
Category: Social Media Management
City: St. John’s
Founded: 2015
Employees: 33

This tool allows marketing agencies to plan and approve their clients’ social media with its client-facing interface. HeyOrca helps these agencies cut delays in client approvals and eliminate redundant tasks. This tool was ranked a High Performer in the social media management category for Winter 2018 on G2 Crowd.


krow

21. Krow Software

Product: Krow PSA
Category: Professional Services Automation 
City: Burlington
Founded: 2014
Employees: 8

Krow PSA is a professional services automation (PSA) tool that was ranked a high performer in that category on G2 Crowd for Winter 2018. This solution combines project management tools with resource planning, time and expense, social collaboration and more to create a comprehensive PSA platform.


lookbookhq

22. LookBookHQ

Product: LookBookHQ
Category: Content Marketing
City: Toronto
Founded: 2012
Employees: 76

This content marketing tool is geared toward B2B marketers looking to tell their stories simply and effectively. LookBookHQ helps businesses educate their sales-ready buyers at the most opportune time. This platform was ranked a High Performer in the content marketing category on G2 Crowd for Summer 2017.

“We’re proud to be included on this list of the best technology companies in Canada. Canada’s diversity and quality of life allows companies here to build some of the most interesting, innovative solutions and services anywhere in the world. LookBookHQ wouldn’t be on this list, however, without the trust placed in us by our customers – the enterprise marketers who generously share their feedback and insights with us every day. Thank you for an incredible 2017. We can’t wait to see how you transform marketing next year.” Mark Opauszky, CEO of LookBookHQ

unbounce

23. Unbounce

Product: Unbounce
Category: Landing Page Builders
City: Vancouver
Founded: 2009
Employees: 177

Unbounce is a landing page builder that was ranked a leader in that category on G2 Crowd for Winter 2018. Not only can you build landing pages with this tool, but you can also publish and A/B them. More than 14,000 businesses including Shopify, Vimeo and the New York Times use Unbounce to drive leads and revenue.


maropost

24. Maropost, Inc.

Product: Maropost Marketing Cloud
Category: Marketing Automation
City: Toronto
Founded: 2011
Employees: 153

This tool was named a High Performer in the marketing automation category on G2 Crowd for Fall 2017. Maropost Marketing Cloud’s marketing automation functions allow you to target potential clients by delivering specific messaging to these prospects at the most opportune time.

loopio

25. Loopio Inc.

Product: Loopio
Category: Proposal
City: Toronto
Founded: 2014
Employees: 42

 

Loopio streamlines the way businesses respond to RFPs, RFIs and security questionnaires. Instead of digging through old proposal to respond to these requests, Loopio automates these tasks. This proposal solution was ranked a High Performer in that category on G2 Crowd for Summer 2017.

“We’re excited and proud to be featured as one of the top contributors to Canada’s B2B Tech Scene. Thank you to our customers for their feedback and support — you’ve helped us become a top-rated software solution! Customer Success has always been an integral part of our company, and our entire team is looking forward to making our customers’ lives even better through 2018 and beyond!” Zakir Hemraj, CEO of Loopio

OTHER B2B CANADIAN TECH COMPANIES

While we recognized only the best 25 SaaS and service tech companies in Canada, there are still an abundance of other tech companies impacting Canada’s B2B scene. Here’s a rundown of other Canadian B2B software and service companies with their founded dates.

Rank
Company

Product

Founded
26 Wagepoint Wagepoint 2012
27 Flockrush Inc. Flockrush 2017
28 Traction Guest Traction Guest n/a
29 Carmel Vision InfoFlo Software 2004
30 Proposify Proposify 2012
31 YGen Development Aiveo 2012
32 SlickPie SlickPie 2015
33 Affinio Affinio 2013
34 Navvia Navvia 1999
35 ReplyApp Reply n/a
36 Transoft Solutions, Inc. AutoTURN n/a
37 SafetySync Corp. SafetySync n/a
38 Hover Hover n/a
39 LemonStand LemonStand 2010
40 MediaValet MediaValet 2010
41 CalendarBudget Inc. CalendarBudget 2009
42 Wave Accounting Inc. Wave 2010
43 Dundas Data Visualization Dundas BI 1992
44 Vanilla Vanilla Forums 2009
45 Axiom Zen ZenHub 2002
46 Vidyard Vidyard 2011
47 Klipfolio Klipfolio 2001
48 TabbleDabble Inc QuickTapSurvey 2010
49 Officevibe Officevibe 2014
50 Flow Flow n/a
51 Pressly Pressly 2011
52 Plan Academy Inc. Plan Academy n/a
53 PROMYS PROMYS n/a
54 5Touch Solutions Inc. eventmobi n/a
55 GlobalVision GlobalVision n/a
56 Soti Soti MobiControl 1995
57 Primalogik Primalogik 360 2012
58 Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager 2014
59 knak. knak 2015
60 Desire2Learn (D2L) Brightspace 1999
61 Wishpond Wishpond 2009
62 Prophix Prophix Software 1987
63 Snappa Snappa 2015
64 FunctionFox FunctionFox 2000
65 Maximizer Software Maximizer CRM 1987
66 CRMfusion CRMfusion DupeBlocker 2000
67 BCIT CodeIgniter n/a
68 JumpDEMAND Inc. ActiveDEMAND 2012
69 Acquisio Acquisio 2003
70 Plumlytics Social Plumlytics Social 2016
71 OpenBSD OpenSSH 2007
72 PostBeyond Inc. PostBeyond 2013
73 Rise People Rise 2011
74 Fusebill Fusebill 2011
75 Jostle Corporation Jostle 2009
76 Vision Critical Vision Critical 2000
77 Function Point Productivity Software Function Point n/a
78 Appveyor Systems, Inc AppVeyor n/a
79 Marketcircle Daylite 1999
80 Retreaver Retreaver 2012
81 gShift gShift 2009
82 CaseWare International Working Papers 1988
83 Signority Signority n/a
84 Allocadia Software Allocadia 2010
85 Edsby Edsby 2010
86 Universe Universe n/a
87 Logic Software Easy Projects 1999
88 Active State Komodo IDE 1997
89 C2 Enterprise C2 ATOM n/a
90 ScribbleLive ScribbleLive 2008
91 Asigra Asigra Cloud Backup 1986
92 Nexonia Tallie 2002
93 Igloo Igloo 2008
94 Bananatag Systems Inc. Bananatag 2011
95 Grass Valley EDIUS Pro n/a
96 Venngage Venngage 2012
97 Lightspeed Lightspeed Retail 2005
98 Chalk & Wire Chalk Wire Learning Assessment 1995
99 SkySignature SkySignature 2013
100 Northplains Xinet by Northplains 1994
101 Telmetrics Inc. Telmetrics 1990
102 Achievers Corp. Achievers n/a
103 Celtx Celtx 2001
104 Mitel Networks Corporation Mitel Unified Communications 1973
105 Sysomos Sysomos 2007
106 Norada Corporation solve 360 2008
107 Corel Corporation Painter n/a
108 Panorama Software Panorama Necto 2006
109 Top Producer Top Producer CRM 1982
110 Needls.com needls 2014
111 SideFX Houdini n/a
112 ContactMonkey Inc. ContactMonkey 2011
113 OpenText OpenText TeamSite 1991
114 Lavasoft Ad-Aware 1999
 
For any questions about the methodology or data included in this piece, or to request that your Canadian B2B tech company be added, please reach out to Editorial Team Lead Jakub Rudnik at jrudnik@g2crowd.com.
The State of B2B Canada Tech in 2018 Who are the best tech companies in Canada? We list out the best B2B software companies in Canada for 2019. https://learn.g2crowd.com/hubfs/architecture-buildings-business-374870-1.jpg
Aaron Walker Aaron has been researching security, cloud, and emerging technologies with G2 for more than half a decade. Over that time he's outlined, defined, and maintained a large portion of G2's taxonomy related to cybersecurity, infrastructure, development, and IT management markets. Aaron utilizes his relationships with vendors, subject-matter expertise, and familiarity with G2 data to help buyers and businesses better understand emerging challenges, solutions, and technologies. In his free time, Aaron enjoys photography, design, Chicago sports and lizards. https://learn.g2.com/hubfs/_Logos/Aaron%20WalkerUpdated.jpeg https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-montemayor-walker/

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