Tech + Science

Canada’s 6 biggest tech investments in the last year

By Trevor Melanson /

6. Real Matters: $40 million on December 18, 2013 (Toronto)

Real Matters provides financial services tech, primarily for property valuation.



5. Wattpad: $46 million on April 8, 2014 (Toronto)

Wattpad, often called the “YouTube of ebooks,” is a popular website and app for aspiring writers to share their fiction.



4. Verafin: $60 million on May 15, 2014 (St. John’s)

Verafin, which creates fraud detection software, recently raised more money than any other startup from Atlantic Canada, ever.



3. Desire2Learn: $85 million on August 14, 2014 (Kitchener)

Desire2Learn, which creates education software, has so far raised more money than any other software company in 2014.



2. Shopify: $100 million on December 12, 2013 (Ottawa)

Shopify is a popular tool for setting up online shops. It was valued at $1 billion in December.



1. Hootsuite: $165 million on August 1, 2013 (Vancouver)

Hootsuite, famous for its social media dashboard and strong presence in Vancouver, broke the record for most money ever raised by a Canadian software company last August.


See where the largest investments in Canadian software companies have been placed since last August, from smallest to biggest

Another monster round of funding went to a Canadian software company Thursday: Kitchener-based Desire2Learn scored a whopping $85 million. The Series B round included a handful of venture capital (VC) firms, including the usual suspect: OMERS Ventures.
 
Desire2Learn’s latest round marks the biggest of its kind in Canada so far this year. It also continues a recent trend of Canadian tech companies finally scoring serious growth capital. Last year, VC spending in Canada was up by a third, $2 billion from $1.5 billion in 2012.
 
The trend, it should be noted, is Canada-wide. While recent articles have crowned Vancouver “Silicon Valley North,” the VC numbers suggest Ontario may be more deserving of the title. In fact, only one of the top six biggest deals was for a B.C.-based company, albeit it’s the frontrunner: Hootsuite.

In the gallery above are the six largest investments in Canadian software companies since August 2013, ranked from smallest ($40 million) to biggest ($165 million). Half of them were doled out this year, but the two most notable were in 2013.