A pair of high-profile Ottawa companies have been named to a list of Canadian tech enterprises with the strongest potential for long-term growth.
A recent report from CIBC Capital Markets includes health-care technology powerhouse Fullscript and data-backup software firm Rewind among 40 Canadian “narwhals” – companies that are most likely to become global market leaders based on criteria such as their ability to acquire capital, number of employees and head-count growth.
Fullscript, which closed a US$240-million financing round in November 2021, comes in at No. 19 on CIBC’s list. Rewind, which raised US$80 million in fresh capital in back-to-back rounds two years ago, was close behind in 25th spot.
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However, neither company has been immune from the recent market turbulence affecting the tech sector.
Fullscript laid off more than 10 per cent of its employees last fall, trimming its headcount to about 800. Still, co-founder and CEO Kyle Braatz recently told Techopia he believes Fullscript will soon be doing a billion dollars in annual sales as demand for its platform that provides nutritional supplements and treatment plans to patients across Canada and the U.S. continues to grow.
Meanwhile, Rewind – which makes software that backs up and recovers data for Shopify merchants, QuickBooks customers and users of other cloud-based software platforms – gave 37 of its 135 employees pink slips in March amid a slowdown in revenue growth.
But co-founder and CEO Mike Potter told Techopia the company’s sales are still rising despite economic headwinds that have hit the tech sector hard. He said Rewind has reined in spending to the point where it should become self-sufficient this year or some time in 2024.
In addition, four Ottawa-area firms – software-makers Assent, Solace and Solink and video-equipment manufacturer Ross Video – made CIBC’s list of emerging Canadian tech companies. Assent was also named to the bank’s list of 29 Canadian-based “unicorns,” or privately held firms with market valuations exceeding $1 billion.
