Launchpad for startups
MaRS Discovery District
Few places reflect Toronto’s growing tech sector like MaRS Discovery District . A decade ago, MaRS was an incubator for the city’s startup community. Today, it’s North America’s largest urban innovation hub and a gateway between Canada’s most promising young companies and global markets. From its 1.5-million-square-foot campus in the heart of downtown, MaRS supports over 1,200 fast-growing tech companies that together have raised $4.8 billion in capital and generated $3.1 billion in revenue since 2008. Based across Canada, these firms are innovating in areas like clean technology, healthcare, financial technology, enterprise software, advanced manufacturing and artificial intelligence. Some are already familiar names, like Wealthsimple, a robo-investment firm that manages over $4 billion in assets and serves over 140,000 clients. Or Ritual, a food-ordering app whose “pick up here” signs hang over 5,000 restaurant counters. Other companies are advancing life-changing discoveries, like Highland Therapeutics, which is developing a new drug therapy for ADHD. All these companies are commercializing innovative products and creating new jobs for Canadians. In the view of MaRS CEO Yung Wu, Canada’s future $1-billion companies are already in the pipeline, and high-growth scale-up companies supported by MaRS could soon break into tech’s top flight. His reason for optimism: Canada’s investments in attracting transformative talent and supporting entrepreneurship are paying off. “We have a large number of high-quality companies that are scaling up,” says Wu. “MaRS’ job is to accelerate that growth and help launch based-in-Canada ventures into global businesses.” MaRS is a destination for the global customers, talent, capital and markets that these companies need. MaRS makes these connections while supporting Toronto’s inclusive style of innovation, which contrasts with the dash-for-growth model seen elsewhere. “It’s the Canadian character—how we are wired. It leads us to innovation that’s impactful and inclusive,” says Wu.