Three Canadian Cities Place Among 20 Best Startup Ecosystems in World

Startup Compass has released its second report tracking the world’s top startup ecosystems.

The first report, in 2012, saw Toronto and Vancouver both place in the top 10, while Waterloo ranked 16th and Montreal fell just outside the top 20 in 25th. Now, no Canadian city ranks in the top 10; Toronto and Vancouver both fell a staggering nine spots—the two biggest drops of any city—while Waterloo has been bumped out of the top 20. Only Montreal, squeezing in at 20th, improved among Canadian hubs.

The index is produced by ranking ecosystems along five major components: Performance, Funding, Talent, Market Reach, and Startup Experience.

 

“The startup ecosystems which made the biggest falls are Vancouver, Toronto, Sydney, and Seattle,” the report reads. However, it does note that “all of these ecosystems did grow in the past three years”—just “not as fast as other environments, which puts them at risk of eventually being left behind.”

“The growth of … Waterloo likely took a hit due to their close proximity to the larger startup ecosystem of Toronto,” the report reads. “Smaller ecosystems with close proximity to larger ecosystems often have a hard time continuing to grow due to new and existing talent and capital migrating to the larger nearby ecosystem.”