Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal among the world's top 50 cities for startups
As a Montreal-based startup, in HelloSafe we wanted to know what are the best cities in Canada to develop a startup. With that purpose, we dived deep into the giant Startup Blink database, with which we elaborated rankings between the different Canadian cities and provinces, and see their position on global rankings. This ranking based on 3 main sets of criteria : quality, quantity and business environment.
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[[translations.score]] : city.score
[[translations.rank]] : city.rank (city.rankDifference)
[[translations.europeanRank]] : city.europeanRank (city.europeanRankDifference)
Keep in mind
- Canada ranks as the 4th best country for startups in the world in 2022
- Toronto is the best Canadian city for startup in 2022, ahead of Vancouver (2nd), Montreal (3rd), Ottawa (4th) and Kitchener-Waterloo (5th)
- More than 5% of the cities that are part of the top 200 best cities for startups in the world are Canadian (e.g. 11 in total)
- In 2022, 41 Canadian cities ranks among the top 1000 best cities for startups in the world
- Among those 41 cities, 51% are located in Ontario, which remains by far the most dynamic province for startups in 2022.
Canada, the 4th best country in the world for startups in 2022
This dynamism of the Canadian startup ecosystems is again verified through the Startup Blink 2022 best countries for startups ranking, where Canada appears to be 4th, just behind the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel. This means Canada is ahead of countries such as France, Germany or China, as shown in the following chart :
Canada has 11 cities ranking in the world top 200 cities for startups
The Canadian startup ecosystem is more lively than ever, with 10 cities ranking into the top 200 cities for startups in the world. This means that in 2022, 5% of the cities present in the world top 200 are located in Canada. Not bad for a country that represents less than 0,5% of the world population! As we observe in the below table, Toronto (24th), Vancouver (40th) and Montreal (45th) are the only Canadian cities making part of the world top 50 cities for startups.
| Canada rank | City | Score | World rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toronto | 31,266 | 24 |
| 2 | Vancouver | 18,880 | 40 |
| 3 | Montreal | 15,084 | 45 |
| 4 | Ottawa | 7,943 | 89 |
| 5 | Kitchener-Waterloo | 7,916 | 91 |
| 5 | Calgary | 6,997 | 104 |
| 6 | Edmonton | 5,306 | 140 |
| 7 | Quebec City | 5,239 | 142 |
| 8 | Kingston | 4,495 | 183 |
| 9 | Victoria | 4,490 | 184 |
| 10 | Winnipeg | 4,335 | 192 |
In this top 10, the 8 main cities of Canada appears to be present. But more surprisingly, Kingston (8th) and Victoria (9th) find themselves very high in this ranking, despite their smaller size, which is very remarkable.
51% of Canadian locations ranked in the world top 1000 of best cities for startups are in Ontario
When looking at the world top 1000 best cities for startups in 2022, we observe that 41 Canadian cities rank this year, which represents 4% of the total. Here is the complete ranking of the top Canadian cities for startups in 2022 :
| Rank | City | Province | Score | World rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toronto | Ontario | 31,266 | 24 |
| 2 | Vancouver | British-Columbia | 18,880 | 40 |
| 3 | Montreal | Quebec | 15,084 | 45 |
| 4 | Ottawa | Ontario | 7,943 | 89 |
| 5 | Kitchener-Waterloo | Ontario | 7,916 | 91 |
| 6 | Calgary | Alberta | 6,997 | 104 |
| 7 | Edmonton | Alberta | 5,306 | 140 |
| 8 | Quebec City | Quebec | 5,239 | 142 |
| 9 | Kingston | Ontario | 4,495 | 183 |
| 10 | Victoria | British-Columbia | 4,490 | 184 |
| 11 | Winnipeg | Manitoba | 4,335 | 192 |
| 12 | Halifax | Nova Scotia | 3,340 | 233 |
| 13 | St John's | Newfoundland and Labrador | 3,004 | 247 |
| 14 | Hamilton | Ontario | 1,969 | 309 |
| 15 | Fredericton | New Brunswick | 1,570 | 342 |
| 16 | Saskatoon | Saskatchewan | 1,354 | 377 |
| 17 | Kelowna | British-Columbia | 1,130 | 413 |
| 18 | London | Ontario | 947 | 445 |
| 19 | Regina | Saskatchewan | 903 | 452 |
| 20 | Charlottetown | Prince Edward Island | 752 | 495 |
| 21 | Sherbrooke | Quebec | 635 | 533 |
| 22 | Guelph | Ontario | 629 | 536 |
| 23 | Moncton | New Brunswick | 474 | 624 |
| 24 | Windsor | Ontario | 429 | 659 |
| 25 | Saint Catharines | Ontario | 368 | 706 |
| 26 | Thunder Bay | Ontario | 336 | 731 |
| 27 | Peterborough | Ontario | 296 | 775 |
| 28 | Cornwall | Ontario | 265 | 807 |
| 29 | Barrie | Ontario | 254 | 820 |
| 30 | Sudbury | Ontario | 253 | 821 |
| 31 | Collingwood | Ontario | 230 | 852 |
| 32 | Saint John | New Brunswick | 227 | 857 |
| 33 | Brantford | Ontario | 223 | 865 |
| 34 | Nanaimo | British-Columbia | 199 | 897 |
| 35 | Lethbridge | Alberta | 198 | 900 |
| 36 | Sault Ste. Marie | Ontario | 192 | 919 |
| 37 | Stratford | Ontario | 185 | 937 |
| 38 | Hawkesbury | Ontario | 184 | 938 |
| 39 | Owen Sound | Ontario | 171 | 971 |
| 40 | Port Hope | Ontario | 168 | 976 |
| 41 | Red Deer | Alberta | 165 | 987 |
Among those 41 Canadian cities ranked in the world top cities for startups in 2022, 51% are located in Ontario, which shows the overwhelming position of this province in the Canadian startup ecosystem, as we can observe in the below graph :
Methodology
Startup Blink's annual ranking of the best countries and cities for startups is based on 3 sets of criteria, updated each year, which allows this organization to establish a top 100 of the best countries and a top 1000 of the best cities for startups in the world.
| Sets of criteria | Criteria |
|---|---|
| Quantity |
Number of startups Number of coworking spaces Number of incubators Number of meetups linked with startups |
| Quality |
Main startups analysis (including traffic, domain authority and client) Presence of R&Dcenters Presence of multinational companies Private sector investment Number of employees per startup Number and size of events in relation with startups Presence of Unicorn, Pantheon o Exit companies Presence of Global Startup influencers Organization of Global Startup events Number of startups backed by incubators |
| Business environment |
Diversity index Internet speed Internet freedom R&D investment Technological services availability Number of patents per capita English level Universities level |
About HelloSafe Canada
Hellosafe.ca is a comparison platform which is shaking up the insurance market – giving you access to the best Canadian insurance deals in less than 30 seconds. Hellosafe.ca is supported and financed by Blue, an Insurtech Venture Capital firm. Blue already owns two leaders in the French insurance comparison market, Réassurez-moi and Coover. These platforms help more than 10 million people with their insurance every year. We have developed a unique comparison technology that gives access to cover details and quotes without customers having to give their phone number or email address. This engine is the result of four years of hard work.
For all press enquiries, please contact :
Nolwenn Abolivier
Press relations officer for HelloSafe in Canada