Attracting the right talent, the rise of AI, and data protection at the forefront for Deloitte Technology Fast 50 winners

ApplyBoard tops the list with revenue growth of over 12,500 per cent between 2015 and 2018

TORONTO, Nov. 7, 2019 /CNW/ - Deloitte is pleased to announce the 2019 winners of the Technology Fast 50, Companies-to-Watch, and Enterprise Fast 15 awards. Recognizing the world-class achievements of Canadian technology companies, the Technology Fast 50 program highlights commitment to innovation, leadership, and rapid revenue growth between 2015 and 2018. This year, the average three-year growth of the Fast 50 winners is 1,689 per cent.

At the top of the Fast 50 list is ApplyBoard, an SaaS-enabled recruitment platform designed to help international students study at the best institutions of higher education in the world. With three-year growth of 12,525 per cent, the Kitchener-based company is revolutionizing the way students experience the application process by empowering them to access the best education available.

Taking second place with three-year growth of 10,246 per cent is another Kitchener company: Intellijoint Surgical. It develops smart tools that enhance the accuracy of orthopedic surgery, increase hospital efficiencies, and improve patients' lives by providing surgeons with effective, easy-to-use technology.

In third place is Waterloo-based Auvik Networks. With three-year growth of 7,913 per cent, Auvik is a cloud-based network-monitoring and management software for IT managed service providers, offering them an efficient and profitable way to manage network infrastructure.

"This year's Fast 50 winners should be incredibly proud of the impact they are making across all industries. They are living proof that innovation and adaptability are key factors in remaining competitive and thriving in unpredictable times," said Erica Pretorius, partner and national leader for the Technology Fast 50 program at Deloitte Canada. "This outstanding designation is being noticed and it enables companies to attract local and international talent to the sector, which will continue to fuel the fire of innovation and growth."

Labour market top of mind for third year straight

Deloitte's annual survey of Technology Fast 50 CEOs found the labour market to be the biggest challenge facing businesses in 2019. A reoccurring theme seen over the last three years, half of the respondents (49 per cent) ranked the labour market as their top challenge. Seventy-five per cent indicated the main difficulties are the availability of the talent they need and attracting the right talent.

There's room for hope. While Fast 50 CEOs highlighted the labour market as a challenge domestically, there has been an 11-percentage point increase from last year in the number of respondents who believe it is becoming easier to attract international talent to Canada compared to other countries (68 per cent of respondents, up from 57 per cent in 2018).

AI is no longer on the horizon; it's here

Cited as the second biggest challenge among this year's Fast 50 CEOs, 31 per cent of respondents believe technology advancements pose a significant hurdle to their business. On a positive note, there has been a 5-percentage point increase in those who reported using more artificial intelligence and cognitive technologies than they did a couple of years ago; it now stands at 65 per cent. Forty per cent of the Fast 50 companies surveyed believe the primary impact of their use of AI and cognitive technologies is that it allows their business to grow faster and be more flexible.

With more companies using AI and cognitive technologies, 78 per cent of respondents also noted that recent news coverage of the ethical use of data has influenced how they protect their data. The second greatest change in the wake of this coverage is how they collect data (57 per cent).

"With advancements in technology acting as a big concern for Fast 50 CEOs in 2019 and in previous years, we're seeing these companies lean more and more into emerging technologies like AI," said Anders McKenzie, managing partner of Deloitte Canada's Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) practice. "While AI can and will transform decision-making, drive efficiencies, improve customer experiences, and power sustained profitable growth, Fast 50 companies understand they need to embrace this technology and start adopting it in a more meaningful way to ensure future growth and success for their companies and our country."

The majority of this year's Fast 50 winners are based in Ontario (27), followed by British Columbia (10), Quebec (7), with the balance from the Prairie region (4), National Capital Region (1), and Atlantic region (1).

The 2019 Companies-to-Watch category winners are Altus Assessments, Checkfront, d1g1t Inc., Daisy Intelligence, Encircle Inc., FlexPay, Jane App, Kognitiv Spark, Mistplay, Rewind, Sensibill, Traction Guest, Upchain, and Wavo.me Inc. These outstanding companies are key to the future success of the technology sector.

The 2019 winners of the Enterprise Fast 15 category are AcuityAds Inc., Aucerna, Behaviour Interactive, BroadbandTV, Buyatab Online Inc., Canada Drives Ltd., Doxim, ecobee, Fleet Complete, GSoft, Plusgrade, and Sangoma. This new award category is open to organizations that recorded a minimum revenue of $10 million in 2015 and a minimum revenue of $25 million in 2018. These winners dominate in their sector, and join the ranks of other global leaders across Canada.

A complete list of winners of the Technology Fast 50, Companies-to-Watch, and Enterprise Fast 15 categories is available at www.fast50.ca.

Rank	Company name	City	Province	Growth %
1	ApplyBoard	Kitchener	ON	12,525.86%
2	Intellijoint Surgical	Kitchener	ON	10,246.52%
3	Auvik Networks	Waterloo	ON	7,913.57%
4	Borrowell	Toronto	ON	7,679.92%
5	Ecopia Tech	Toronto	ON	6,185.64%
6	Mojio	Vancouver	BC	4,056.24%
7	Flexiti	Toronto	ON	3,244.96%
8	AlayaCare	Montreal	QC	2,731.5%
9	Ample Organics	Toronto	ON	2,038.32%
10	Introhive Inc.	Fredericton	NB	1,699.71%
11	Left	Maple Ridge	BC	1,424.36%
12	Roadmunk	Toronto	ON	1,377.85%
13	Loopio	Toronto	ON	1,330.14%
14	Tulip	Toronto	ON	1,209.64%
15	Zoocasa	Toronto	ON	1,138.7%
16	VOTI Detection Inc.	Saint-Laurent	QC	1,124.4%
17	Cluep	Toronto	ON	985%
18	Rumble	Toronto	ON	954.87%
19	Prodigy Education	Burlington	ON	909.23%
20	Volanté Systems	Toronto	ON	867.67%
21	Stackadapt	Toronto	ON	843.41%
22	LowestRates.ca	Toronto	ON	704.79%
23	Kira Systems	Toronto	ON	693.42%
24	Agence Dialekta Inc.	Montreal	QC	668.75%
25	Jobber	Edmonton	AB	624.72%
26	TouchBistro	Toronto	ON	620%
27	PathFactory	Toronto	ON	586.67%
28	Smile.io (Sweet Tooth)	Kitchener	ON	552.2%
29	TrackTik	Montreal	QC	544.2%
30	Bananatag Systems Inc.	Kelowna	BC	529.86%
31	Visier	Vancouver	BC	515.61%
32	Strawhouse Inc.	Kelowna	BC	512.19%
33	Vanrx Pharmasystems	Burnaby	BC	492.98%
34	Foodee Inc	Vancouver	BC	492.64%
35	Pressboard	Vancouver	BC	489.61%
36	GuildOne	Calgary	AB	485.39%
37	Wave	Toronto	ON	456.79%
38	Landr Audio Inc.	Montreal	QC	449.11%
39	Vidyard	Kitchener	ON	442.47%
40	Race Roster	London	ON	428.96%
41	Bold Innovation Group	Winnipeg	MB	414.01%
42	Flybits	Toronto	ON	407.18%
43	Fiix Inc.	Toronto	ON	406.61%
44	diff	Montreal	QC	405.82%
45	Uken Games	Toronto	ON	376.68%
46	SendtoNews	Victoria	BC	372.37%
47	FixMeStick Technologies Inc.	Montreal	QC	326.94%
48	Assent Compliance	Ottawa	ON	325.76%
49	Carbon Credit	Airdrie	AB	322.11%
50	Pixieset	Vancouver	BC	295.22%

About the Deloitte Technology Fast 50™
The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 program is Canada's pre-eminent technology awards program. Celebrating business growth, innovation, and entrepreneurship, the program features three distinct categories, including the Technology Fast 50 Ranking, Enterprise Fast 15 (recognizing the fastest-growing enterprise-level technology, media, and telecommunications companies by revenue-growth percentage over their last four years of operation), and Companies-to-Watch Awards (early-stage Canadian tech companies with the potential to be a future Deloitte Technology Fast 50 candidate). Program sponsors include Deloitte, Bank of Montreal, CBRE, First West Capital, Miller Thomson, OMERS Ventures, 3C, and Lafond. For further information, visit www.fast50.ca.

About Deloitte
Deloitte provides audit & assurance, consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory, tax and related services to public and private clients spanning multiple industries. Deloitte serves four out of five Fortune Global 500® companies through a globally connected network of member firms in more than 150 countries and territories bringing world-class capabilities, insights and service to address clients' most complex business challenges. To learn more about how Deloitte's approximately 264,000 professionals—14,000 of whom are part of the Canadian firm—make an impact that matters, please connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook.

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SOURCE Deloitte & Touche

For further information: Kyle Wyskiel, Deloitte, 416-354-1574, [email protected]; Marilyne Plouffe, Deloitte, 514-393-5471, [email protected]