Toronto, Ontario, is Canada’s most impressive and financially relevant world-class city. One of the most important sectors in the city’s economy is the tech sector, employing roughly 290,000 people across the local industry.
And while there are many great tech companies in Toronto, these ones are the cream of the crop in their respective spaces.
They have each achieved a great deal of success and play an important role in the city’s economy.
In this blog, we will explore some of the biggest, most influential and largest tech companies in Toronto, how their influence and success have impacted the economy and examine the role IT plays in their daily operations.
The Biggest Tech Companies in Toronto
Without further ado, here are some big tech companies in Toronto that are making waves in the tech sector (and making other Toronto technology companies feel like they may need to work just a little bit harder to keep up with the big dogs).
1. Shopify
Founded by Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand and Scott Lake in 2004, Shopify originally started as a Toronto-based online store platform for Snowdevil, a snowboard and extreme sports equipment company owned by Lütke.
After realizing the potential of expanding their platform to other businesses, the founders pivoted to focus solely on Shopify, and it quickly became a high-performing success in the e-commerce market. Today, they have 1,000 employees and an annual revenue of $1.07 billion USD.
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As an e-commerce platform provider, Shopify allows businesses to easily build their own online stores and manage all aspects of their sales and operations through the platform. The company continues to grow and expand, offering additional services such as payment processing and marketing tools for its clients.
As one of the fastest-growing large tech companies in Toronto, they have also recently made moves into brick-and-mortar retail with their acquisition of point-of-sale hardware company Lightspeed POS in 2019.
Shopify’s success is largely reliant on information technology, from building a robust e-commerce platform for their clients to managing their own operations. They also use IT providers for cyber security, data analysis and personal computing.
2. Hootsuite
Founded by Ryan Holmes in 2008, Hootsuite started as a small side project for Holmes’s digital media agency Invoke Media. Soon, the social media management platform gained traction, and by 2010, it had received $1 million in funding from venture capitalists. Today, Hootsuite has 1,000 employees and an annual revenue of $165 million USD.
Hootsuite provides a platform where businesses can easily manage their social media accounts through one central dashboard. Providing integrations with popular networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, the platform allows users to schedule posts, track analytics and monitor interactions on their social media pages.
As a social media management platform, Hootsuite relies heavily on information technology in order to provide its services. This includes personal computing, networking and cloud infrastructure. They also use IT for cyber security to protect their clients’ sensitive data and accounts.
3. Slack Technologies
Slack was originally founded as Tiny Speck in 2009 by Stewart Butterfield, Eric Costello, Cal Henderson and Serguei Mourachov, but rebranded to focus solely on their messaging app Slack in 2014. In just five years since the rebranding, they have grown to 1,200 employees with an annual revenue of $400 million USD.
The Slack messaging app allows teams to easily communicate with each other through group chats, private messaging and file sharing. It also has integrations with popular business tools such as Google Drive and Trello, making it a valuable tool for productivity and collaboration.
Slack heavily relies on information technology in order to provide its messaging app to teams. This includes personal computing, cloud infrastructure and networking for communication and file sharing. They also use IT for cyber security to protect sensitive communications within the platform.
4. D2L (Desire2Learn)
This Canadian company was founded by John Baker in 1999. D2L started out as a small software company providing learning management systems for universities and colleges. Starting with just a small Toronto office, today, they have 1,000 employees with an annual revenue of $140 million USD. Their clients now also include businesses, school boards and government organizations.
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D2L’s learning management system, Brightspace, allows clients to easily create and deliver online courses for their students or employees. The platform also provides tools for collaboration, assessment and analytics.
As a learning management system part of Toronto’s tech hub, D2L relies heavily on information technology in order to provide its services. This includes personal computing for users accessing the platform, cloud infrastructure for storage and delivery of online courses, and networking for communication among users within the platform.
They also use IT for cyber security to protect sensitive data, such as student records.
5. Buchanan Technologies
Buchanan Technologies, founded by James Buchanan in 1988, started out as a small IT support company for businesses. Today, they have 500 employees with an annual revenue of $70 million USD and provide a wide range of IT services, including managed services, cloud solutions and cyber security.
Buchanan Technologies offers its clients personalized technology solutions to fit their specific needs. This includes network design, implementation and integration, database and application support, data backup and disaster recovery, 24/7 monitoring and maintenance of their IT infrastructure and 24/7 end-user support through service desk and business process outsourcing.
As a top North American IT service provider, Buchanan Technologies heavily relies on information technology in order to offer its services to clients. This includes personal computing, networking and cloud infrastructure for designing and implementing networks, managing data backups and ongoing maintenance. They also use IT for cyber security to protect their clients’ sensitive data and accounts.
Choosing Buchanan as Your IT Managed Services Provider
In the world of information technology, it’s important to have a reliable managed services provider that can handle your everyday tech needs and protect you from cyber security threats. That’s where Buchanan Technologies comes in.
At Buchanan Technologies, we offer our clients in North America personalized technology solutions to fit their specific needs.
Get in touch to find out how we help businesses like yours boost productivity and profitability with the right technologies.
