Canada's Startup Hot Spots Take a Dive in New Startup Genome Ranking

      This report from ITbusiness states that Canadian startup ecosystems have slowed down relative to the rest of the world over the last 5 hears. Vancouver and Toronto are among the examples on the list that fell furthest since the last Startup Genome report was released. Toronto fell from number 8 to 17 and Vancouver moved from number 9 to 18 - and notable Waterloo slid out of the top 20 altogether.
     This is due to the fact that Canada hasn't been able to accomplish "big exits" or billion dollar additions, displaying clear challenges. "This can have a pervasive effect on ecosystem growth because very large exits galvanize the local entrepreneur and investor communities and investor communities, while a lack therefore depresses them. This does not create international poles of attraction, in fact it does the opposite. Also leading to lower returns on venture capital and lower investors.

     In our reading "Waterloo, The David vs. Goliath of Startup Ecosystems" it stated that "a factor contributing to the lack of large exits in Canadian Ecosystems, and generally, in other lower performance ecosystems, is a local funding gap". An evident lower proportion of startups are obtaining funding from private investors. The reading also states that although Waterloo produces better business ideas and high technical talent, fewer startups get series A funding.

I found this quite interesting and provided a peer-to-peer platforms attempts to increase the flow of access to finance and private investors, called Lendified Holdings.

The Lendified story begins with an abundance of banking experience, knowledge of the Canadian financial services marketplace, accompanied with cutting edge technology. Their understanding of the financial needs of business owners and the gaps in traditional lending practices that impact their access to funding gives Lendified a unique perspective. Their passion is to support the economic engine of our country - small businesses. I believe if platforms like Lendified continue to appear then the opportunity for locations such as Vancouver, Toronto, and Waterloo to move in the rankings is quite reachable.

ITbusiness report - http://www.itbusiness.ca/news/canadas-startup-hot-spots-take-a-dive-in-new-startup-genome-ranking/58307

David vs. Goliath reading - http://blog.startupcompass.co/waterloo-the-david-vs-goliath-of-startup-ecosystems/

Lendified - https://www.lendified.com/?ads_cmpid=672087357&ads_adid=35246218558&ads_matchtype=p&ads_network=g&ads_creative=145280782518&utm_term=lendified&ads_targetid=kwd-143184199243&utm_campaign=&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&ttv=2&gclid=Cj0KEQiA25rFBRC8rfyX1vjeg7YBEiQAFIb3b-dSRdwWVJD0-WZv8L3TaM7skY3wMlRuIlgZXcvZC2UaAgCU8P8HAQ