Go Figure: The numbers behind Vancouver’s first Web Summit

For the first time, Vancouver will host Web Summit, one of the world’s most highly touted technology conferences, at the Vancouver Convention Centre (May 27 to 30). Here we take a statistical look at the show and how it resonates in this province.

The first Web Summit, held in Dublin in 2009, had 150 attendees. An offshoot conference, Collision, took place in Toronto in 2019, 2022 and 2023, attracting more than 36,000 attendees in its final year.

Various levels of government are contributing $14.8 million in funding for Web Summit Vancouver over its planned 3-year commitment. Destination Vancouver estimates the conference will generate $57 million in direct tourism spending and $93 million in total economic impact this year.

Ticket prices for Web Summit Vancouver (tax included)

• $415 – general attendee
• $1,990 – executive (includes evening receptions)
• $7,870 – chairperson (includes food, meeting space and access to speakers’ lounge)

US$31 billion was invested in Metro Vancouver technology companies between 2018 and 2023. $18 billion of that total went specifically into information technology ventures. Burnaby-based Clio’s $1.24-billion financing in 2024 was the largest venture capital investment ever recorded in Canada and by itself accounted for 47% of all VC dollars raised across the country in the third quarter. In total, B.C. companies raised $2.1 billion in 64 deals over the first nine months of the year, 30 of them in the information and communications technology space.

Sources: Web Summit, Invest Vancouver, Pitchbook, The Logic, CBRE, CVCA, B.C. Technology Association