U.S. unicorns—private companies worth at least a billion dollars—outnumber those in Canada by a factor of about 45 to one, according to an analysis by Charles Plant, a startup consultant and co-CEO of nanotechnology firm ExactBlue Technologies. Canada has produced just 33 unicorns, compared to at least 1,488 in the U.S. Since Shopify’s initial public offering in 2015, just two Canadian unicorns have exited through an IPO, merger or acquisition, compared to 738 in the U.S. since 2013. (The Logic)
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U.S. unicorns—private companies worth at least a billion dollars—outnumber those in Canada by a factor of about 45 to one, according to an analysis by Charles Plant, a startup consultant and co-CEO of nanotechnology firm ExactBlue Technologies. Canada has produced just 33 unicorns, compared to at least 1,488 in the U.S. Since Shopify’s initial public offering in 2015, just two Canadian unicorns have exited through an IPO, merger or acquisition, compared to 738 in the U.S. since 2013. (The Logic)
Talking point: The report, based on data from Crunchbase and LinkedIn, ranked Canada eighth for producing billion-dollar companies. Its standing jumped to fifth based on unicorns for every million people. Canada’s problem isn’t creating unicorns, necessarily, Plant noted—the number of companies in the category jumped from just three in 2020 to 27 last year. Rather, the challenge for these companies is raising capital and returning liquidity to their shareholders through exits, like an IPO or sale. Plant attributed the shortcomings to weak sales and marketing stunting companies’ growth
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