Hockeystick Unveils Free Database of Canada’s Innovation Economy

Open data drives innovation—that’s what Hockeystick believes.

The Toronto-based private market data and software provider has officially released the largest open database of Canadian startups and investors. The database is a cutting-edge look into Canada’s innovation economy and boasts more than 8,000 entities in the system already.

“We believe in the power of data to make better companies, investors and markets,” said Hockeystick’s founder and CEO, Raymond Luk. “The lack of accurate, standardized data has hurt the performance of the entire private market. We see a future where high-quality data is available to everyone, whether you’re an entrepreneur looking for funding or an investor seeking the next unicorn. Data has the power to produce meaningful insights, including predictive ones, and to drive better returns.”

The system already has companies and some early-stage funders like angel groups, accelerators, government programs, venture capital firms and private equity firms. The database can be sorted by province, with Ontario featuring the most results, followed by B.C., Alberta and Nova Scotia.

Broken down further, there are currently over 6,900 companies, 157 VC firms, 44 angel groups, 199 accelerators and 597 government programs. Companies and investors can publish information directly to their public profile if they wish to. Below is a deeper breakdown of the companies and investors.

Hockeystick’s methodology is that users should not have to pay to access their own information—typical models like this are usually subscription-based and can cost a lot of money for fledgling startups. This data is all gathered through public sources, from open government data to press releases.

“Creating a database shouldn’t mean that businesses can put up a paywall and sell customer data back to them or to others. Entities should own their own data, control how it’s used, and have clear incentives to share it if they choose to,” said Luk. “Hockeystick is the only data company that approaches data rights and ownership this way.”

Users can search through the database and create lists influenced by the industries they care most about. Search parameters include company size, operating status, and companies with alternative names. Results feature website and social media links.

More companies will continually be added and Hockeystick has a roadmap of new functionality to integrate, including APIs and searched based on fund or capital raises.

Hockeystick acquired LaunchSpot in late 2017 to help the former “offer a suite of operations and data tools for innovation organizations,” according to Luk. This move built on an April 2017 partnership with the Lazaridis Institute that helped Hockeystick build this scale-up data platform.