Deloitte Technology Fast 50 winners announced

Deloitte released the list of firms on this year’s Technology Fast 50, a program that recognizes Canadian technology companies for technological innovation, entrepreneurship, rapid growth and leadership.

In its 16th year, the 2013 list welcomed 17 first-time companies, including the three companies in the top spots. Established in 2006, Vancouver-based QuickMobile, a developer of secure mobile event apps, took the top spot with a growth rate of 10,444 percent. Kitchener-based Miovision placed second; the company provides cloud-based traffic data collection and adaptive traffic signal control services. Ottawa-based ecommerce software developer, Shopify, took the third spot.

(Complete list of Technology Fast 50 winners – pdf link)

According to the report, the average growth rate of this year’s Fast 50 companies was 832 percent, which is down from 1,953 percent in 2012 and a decrease from 5,272 percent in 2011. Even so, findings from Deloitte’s annual CEO survey of Technology Fast 50 companies suggest optimism within the industry. Sixty-six percent of respondents believe the global economy will grow significantly outside of Canada. This is up markedly compared to 2012 when only 46 percent of respondents felt there would be strong growth in the overall world economy.

The survey also found that 72 percent of CEOs agreed the various levels of government do enough to support Canadian technology companies. Further, 80 percent of survey respondents said the SR&ED tax credit program works well and needs no major improvement. Similarly, sixty-nine percent said Canada’s strong network of accelerator programs help early stage technology companies succeed.

“Finding and attracting people are two of the most important talent challenges facing the Fast 50 companies,” said Richard Lee, Technology, Media and Telecommunications at Deloitte. “Having the right talent is crucial for innovation and growth. Fast 50 companies look to networking and social network tools more than methods such as job firms and executive search firms to find talent.”
www.fast50.ca