In the tech startup world, the network effect is used in part to explain the incredible success of Silicon Valley over other geographies where startups flourish.
The basic concept is that a network’s value is equal to the number of nodes in it. In Silicon Valley that translates to the number of talented technical people with experience operating successful businesses. When you walk into a Palo Alto, Calif. coffee shop, you’re just way more likely to bump into a serial entrepreneur, or a venture capitalist, or a software engineer than you are anywhere else in the world. This critical mass of talent is why so many technology firms are drawn to the Valley.
Except now it might have some competition. According to the CBRE, Toronto ranks as the sixth-best tech talent market in North America. It’s also got a fast-growing pool of tech talent and number of tech startups that are building new products. For an in-depth view of Toronto’s tech sector growth, and what it looks like across the rest of Canada, view our Tech Sector Growth Map.
To look at just how connected Toronto startups are, Toronto-based startup Nudge.ai created a Top 100 Most Connected list. The startup’s software is all about analyzing connections, designed to help its users track the strength of their business relationships and take actions to strengthen them. According to Nudge.ai, it has more than 20,000 users with over 50 million relationships total and more than 1,000 companies in Toronto that have at least one user.
To evaluate the connectedness of firms, Nudge.ai assumes that communications done over business email are business relationships. Strength of relationship could be improved by the frequency of contact, the duration of contact, and the depth of it (a one-on-one meeting as opposed to a huge conference.)
With that in mind, here are the top 10 most connected tech startups in Toronto. Be sure to check out Nudge.ai’s full list for more details on these companies and the other 90.
- League
- Top Hat
- Scribblelive
- Hubba
- Vena Solutions
- Influitive
- Wave Financial
- Uberflip
- Myplanet
- Pathfactory (formerly LookBookHQ)