Techopia

Last-mile logistics firm GoFor leads Ottawa firms on Globe and Mail’s fastest-growing companies list

September 24, 2021

Ottawa-based last-mile logistics platform GoFor just keeps delivering when it comes to racking up industry accolades in 2021.

The five-year-old startup that provides just-in-time delivery services for the likes of home reno giant Home Depot and paint manufacturer Sherwin-Williams ranked 10th on the Globe and Mail’s annual list of Canada’s fastest-growing firms released Friday.

GoFor was the highest-ranked Ottawa company on the list with three-year revenue growth of 3,744 per cent. It’s the first appearance in the Globe and Mail rankings for GoFor, which also topped OBJ’s list of the city’s fastest-growing companies earlier this year.

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Opening Doors to Dignity: Ottawa Salus’ new campaign helps older adults with mental health challenges age in the right place

Last month Ottawa Salus launched “Opening Doors to Dignity,” a $5-million campaign to construct a 54-unit independent living building on Capilano Drive. Set to open in late 2025, this innovative

Opening Doors to Dignity: Ottawa Salus’ new campaign helps older adults with mental health challenges age in the right place

Last month Ottawa Salus launched “Opening Doors to Dignity,” a $5-million campaign to construct a 54-unit independent living building on Capilano Drive. Set to open in late 2025, this innovative

The company has positioned itself as a dominant player in what it believes could soon be a trillion-dollar industry thanks to its lean operating model, which relies on freelance drivers the same way Uber employs independent contractors in the ride-hailing space.

“GoFor, without a doubt, has the potential to be a many-billion-dollar company,” founder Brad Rollo told OBJ earlier this year.

Now operating in more than 85 cities in Canada and the U.S., GoFor has tripled its headcount in the past 12 months to more than 125 full-time employees. The company has raised nearly $30 million in venture capital to finance its scaleup push while adding auto industry heavyweights such as former BMW executive Stefan Krause to its advisory team.

Firms from the National Capital Region have been steadily growing their presence in the third annual rankings, which rely on companies to voluntarily submit applications with supporting financial documents.

GoFor was one of 28 locally based companies to make this year’s list of 444 firms, up from 19 last year and 16 the year before.

For the first time, two Ottawa-based companies cracked the top 20. RV online rental platform RVezy came in at No. 18 with three-year revenue growth of 2,768 per cent.

Diverse list

Not surprisingly, tech firms once again formed a large chunk of the local contingent. But the list also included such diverse entries as home-care provider Assurance Home Care, which ranked 67th overall with three-year growth of 865 per cent, D-Squared Construction, which is making its third straight appearance (No. 146, 302 per cent), and staffing and recruitment firm Keynote Search (No. 226, 177%).

Here is the full list of Ottawa-Gatineau firms on the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business ranking of Canada’s top-growing companies: