CIX Reveals the Top 20 Most Innovative Companies in Canada

September 6, 2018

In a world that is constantly evolving and shifting with the advent of technology, it can be tough to keep a cutting-edge attitude and work ethic in place.

As one of the country’s leading innovation and tech conferences, CIX (Canadian Innovation Exchange) knows exactly what it takes to stay ahead of the game. They release an annual list of the top 20 most innovative technology companies in Canada, and this year’s list has just been unveiled. The companies span industries including fintech, e-commerce, medtech and more. Below are CIX’s top 20 in alphabetical order.

Borrowell, Toronto.
Canvass Analytics, Toronto.
Clearbanc, Toronto.
Coconut Software, Saskatoon.
Delphia, Toronto.
Dialogue, Montreal.
eSight, Toronto.
inkbox, Toronto.
Intuitive AI, Vancouver.
IRYStec Software, Montreal.
Island Water Technologies, Charlottetown.
Kiite, Waterloo.
Klue, Vancouver.
Myant, Toronto.
Roadmunk, Toronto.
skritswap, Sault Ste. Marie.
Smooch, Montreal.
Validere, Toronto.
Vendasta, Saskatoon.
Zighra, Ottawa.

Companies were chosen via a selection committee featuring entrepreneurs and industry leaders from the likes of Sidewalk Labs, Scotiabank, Highline BETA and MaRS. From there, hundreds of company profiles were slimmed down to the top 20 based on product/service offering, depth of management, market opportunity, and business model. This list also features better representation of female founders and leaders.

“We received 30 percent more submissions this year for the 2018 CIX Top 20 Program, with 18 per cent from female-led startups,” said Lauren Linton, executive director of CIX. “It is exciting to see more women founders with such great potential to contribute to Canada’s success as a global innovation leader. Eight of the CIX Top 20 companies have female founders. We were also pleased to see so many companies from coast to coast.”

Toronto is the most well-represented city on the list, with nine total companies hailing from the country’s largest city. Montreal has three companies on the list while Vancouver and Saskatoon both have two.

“Being part of the CIX Top 20 brought Zoom.ai a lot of exposure, which is exactly what we needed since as a 9-month old startup we were still not yet well known,” said Roy Pereira, CEO & Founder, Zoom.ai, and a CIX Top 20 company in 2016. Zoom.ai also went on to win the Best New Startup award at the 2018 Canadian Innovation Awards.

“Since then, our brand awareness has shot up and we’ve recently closed our seed round of financing, in part due to that extra exposure.”

Some of the largest tech companies in Canada have been featured in the CIX Top 20, such as Wealthsimple, League, Vidyard and Wattpad. The conference, which takes place on October 22 and 23, has already named its innovator of the year for 2018: ecobee. The company’s CEO will deliver a keynote address on CIX’s opening day.