You can never have too much of a good thing. That’s why this year we’ve expanded our list of fastest-growing companies to feature the top 20, and not only the top 10. There are just too many awesome applicants and great stories to share.
“It’s always educational and inspirational to hear from these local companies doing so many great things,” says Anne Howland, editor-in-chief of OBJ. “I also really appreciate the mix of companies and organizations on our list, including a non-profit, and from a range of sizes and stages of growth. Hats off to all of our applicants and to our top 20.”
This year’s fiscal 2021 to fiscal 2023 revenue growth period has been especially interesting, as we learn about how local businesses pushed through the thick of COVID-19 and are now looking to what lies ahead.
OBJ360 (Sponsored)
Non-profit innovation: Taking risks and embracing failure
In the corporate world, failure, risk-taking and continuous improvement are often baked in the organizational culture. Importantly, non-profit organizations are not commercial businesses – nor should they be. The sector
Connecting homebuyers with convenient, attainable options in Ottawa’s west end
Minto Communities has been building new homes, master-planned communities, and condominiums for almost 70 years across North America, always putting homeowners and homebuyers first. To ensure the best quality of
“Business success takes so much more than a great idea,” says Chad Saikaley, partner and head of tax at sponsor GGFL LLP. “This year’s winners have demonstrated their ability to withstand challenges, reexamine their strategy, and adapt to a changing business and economic environment. There will be more change, challenges and opportunities in the years ahead. Tomorrow’s successful business leaders will need to remain nimble and vigilant to build a sustainable and profitable company.”
So without further ado, it’s time for the big reveal:
#1 Trellis Corporation
962.5% three-year revenue growth
Trellis is an AI-powered demand generation SaaS platform that delivers profitable growth for brands selling on e-commerce marketplaces.
What is your biggest opportunity post-pandemic?
With a vast market comprising over three million sellers and 300,000 brands within our target segment, a tremendous opportunity lies ahead. As travel restrictions have eased, we can now actively engage with clients by attending trade shows, participating in events, or visiting their offices. Despite the expansive market, our current market penetration is below 0.1 per cent, indicating substantial growth potential. To capitalize on these opportunities, it is imperative to persist in innovation, stay ahead of the competition, and effectively execute our go-to-market strategy.
#2 ZeroTek Inc.
780% three-year revenue growth
ZeroTek develops identity access management software that helps IT managed services providers (MSPs) to secure their small business customers from hackers using stolen identities.
How did you grow your company’s revenue during the global pandemic?
The pandemic meant that, for a business to survive, it would need to have employees working from home. This meant they had to leave the security and protection of the office network to face the risks of insecure and vulnerable home technologies. ZeroTek provides identity access management software that verifies all employees’ identities and provides personal secure access to the applications they need to do their jobs. ZeroTek worked for three years on its identity access management solution before signing a critical partner relationship agreement on Jan. 31, 2020. COVID was declared a global pandemic in March 2021, just two months after we opened for business.
#3 TryCycle Data Systems
757.5% three-year revenue growth
TryCycle is a digital mental health software company.
How did you grow your company’s revenue during the global pandemic?
We needed to be flexible beyond our existing product lines and markets. We had existing relationships with some First Nation communities prior to the pandemic and the pandemic had an extremely negative effect on those populations. We were able to come up with a creative solution called Talking Stick to help address some of the issues. By listening to the unique needs of our customers and potential customers, we were able to develop new enterprise solutions in a space that was adjacent to the current products we had deployed.
#4 Autocorp.ai
595.08% three-year revenue growth
At Autocorp, a fusion of industry expertise and technology empowers both consumers and dealerships with a suite of digital retailing products centred around credit and financial services.
What is your biggest opportunity post-pandemic?
Our biggest opportunity lies in leveraging the accelerated digital transformation and the heightened acceptance of remote operations by both businesses and consumers. The pandemic has fundamentally altered the landscape of the automotive industry, creating a more receptive environment for innovative, technology-driven solutions. This shift provides us with a unique chance to expand our digital offerings, enhancing our products to meet the evolved needs of our clients and end-users.
#5 Kahi.io
532.4% three-year revenue growth
Kahi helps the disaster restoration industry manage and track assets, vehicles and people using IoT technology.
How did you grow your company’s revenue during the global pandemic?
We worked aggressively to promote our newly launched asset tracking platform via social media (in particular Facebook). Our CEO Kevin Dooley was already a highly regarded thought leader in the disaster restoration space and his organic posts about our product yielded a lot of direct inquiries for demos and subsequent sales.
What was your biggest challenge during that time?
We had to rely on online tools to meet and build trust with early adopters. This particular industry relies a lot on face-to-face relationship-building and subsequent referrals when introducing a new way of doing things.
#6 KidsCanSwim Canada
456.8% three-year revenue growth
KidsCanSwim Canada are privately run swim schools delivering learn-to-swim lessons to babies/kids in purpose-built facilities containing shallow pools, warm water and a proprietary and science-based curriculum.
What was your biggest challenge during the global pandemic?
We opened our doors six weeks before the COVID shutdown. We needed to ensure that we were keeping our momentum while building/training our team members with our new offerings, while also keeping guests informed and engaged in supporting our new business. Very early on we made the decision to keep all of our full-time employees and used that time to create a robust system/operating procedures for when we were able to re-open. With the help of our awesome team, we turned that challenge into a positive situation.
#7 Fellow
298.9% three-year revenue growth
Fellow is an all-in-one AI meeting management software that allows fewer, more effective meetings with an integrated AI meeting assistant.
How did you grow your company’s revenue during the global pandemic?
By being very customer-centric and truly understanding what customers’ new and existing challenges were when it came to meeting productivity. Being so customer-centric allowed us to build a product that was easy to adopt, had virality within organizations, and quickly became part of a productive, efficient workflow.
What was your biggest challenge during that time?
On the business side, we had to adapt to how companies were purchasing software amid their evolving needs and challenges. Everything was moving so fast and the uncertainty made it essential that we understood our customers and their needs.
#8 Zenbooks
254.75% three-year revenue growth
Zenbooks is a full service online accounting experience offered by a team of advisers, accountants and payroll professionals that provides insight to businesses and key decision-makers.
How did you grow your company’s revenue during the global pandemic?
We focused on getting elite accountants from across the country who don’t just have a bunch of designations, but are well-rounded professionals who can have valuable conversations with modern business owners about a variety of topics. Our small team of six grew quickly to 15! We have a phenomenal work culture and we’re a beacon for accountants who want to work from home permanently. We then focused internally on how to deliver the best experience for the modern business owner, which included advocating for important topics.
In March 2020, we wrote to the Canada Revenue Agency advocating to allow electronic signatures (which was adopted). Then we delivered free personal tax returns for front-line workers through our Accounting for Bravery program and developed guides to pandemic government assistance for business owners.
#9 MPN Capital Markets Ltd.
244.6% three-year revenue growth
MPN Capital Markets is an energy brokerage firm specializing in expert energy procurement and management solutions tailored for Canadian commercial and industrial end users.
What was your biggest challenge during the global pandemic?
Connecting with decision-makers became a significant hurdle, as traditional channels of communication were disrupted and the shift to remote work environments led to our contacts having limited access to their essential materials, complicating the management of renewals. This situation was further compounded by the difficulties our sales force faced in engaging with new prospects, requiring us to keep them motivated and driven. However, the most daunting of these challenges was retaining good talent, as the uncertainty and stress of adapting to a new normal took a toll on mental health, underscoring the need for supportive and flexible workplace policies.
#10 Craft&Crew Corp.
196.2% three-year revenue growth
Craft&Crew Corp. is a Canadian marketing network that offers creative, media planning and buying, website design, technology development, and video production services.
What was your biggest challenge during the global pandemic?
As a company with no external funding, I cannot stress how incredibly difficult it is to manage cash flow effectively during these growth phases. We went from a business with 12-plus months of cash runway at the start of our 2020 fiscal year, to one with, at many times over the last two years, three to four weeks max. Related to this, in the past three years we had to invest heavily in operational infrastructure to support growth, which reduced our margins. As a leader, I have spent more time in CFO-mode these past two years than I have in CEO-mode.
#11 Better Retirement Living
187.2% three-year revenue growth
Better Retirement Living provides professional services as a turn-key manager and operator for retirements throughout Canada.
What is your biggest opportunity post-pandemic?
Better Retirement Living sees a prime opportunity to innovate while reinforcing the essence of community and personal connection. Our response to staffing challenges and increased operational costs has prepared us to further invest in our workforce, offering competitive benefits and a supportive environment that ensures high-quality care. Simultaneously, we’re embracing technology to enhance health monitoring and communication, while deeply understanding the irreplaceable value of face-to-face interactions.
#12 Sidi.io
184% three-year revenue growth
Sidi.io solves revenue challenges by leveraging performance marketing to generate opportunities for clients.
What is your biggest opportunity post-pandemic?
The honour of being named to OBJ’s Fastest Growing Companies for a third consecutive year comes with an important responsibility — to remain humble and relevant. With a strong foundation and team in place, our biggest opportunity is to scale up the impact we can have on our clients and community. With clients across North America and countless engagements beyond our core services, including cutting-edge website development and a rapidly growing partnership with HubSpot, we are primed to help our clients in new and exciting ways.
#13 Matthew House Ottawa
177.1% three-year revenue growth
Matthew House Ottawa is a charitable organization that helps Ottawa’s marginalized populations to establish connected, safe, healthy and dignified homes within our community.
How did you grow your company’s revenue during the global pandemic?
The advantage of running a charity is that there are many different streams that can be tapped into to grow revenue. At Matthew House Ottawa we have increased revenue via a dozen mostly independent streams including social enterprise, rental income from our transitional housing program, donations, grants, consulting and government funding. In the year plus before the pandemic, we had been building the foundations for growing our revenue from these various streams, so we were well positioned when the pandemic hit. When some revenue streams disappeared literally overnight, we could invest in others to make up for it.
#14 Genesislink Consulting Services
153.16% three-year revenue growth
Genesislink specializes in enabling foreign entrepreneurs to establish and grow their businesses in Canada through consultancy and engineering services.
How did you grow your company’s revenue during the global pandemic?
During the onset of the global pandemic, Genesislink was in its early stages, having been founded just a month prior. Faced with unprecedented challenges that were not anticipated in our initial planning, we swiftly pivoted our strategies to adapt to the rapidly changing market conditions. Our approach was multifaceted, focusing on innovation, customer service, and leveraging technology to stay ahead.
#15 Member Lounge
138.78% three-year revenue growth
Member Lounge builds membership websites for associations.
What was your biggest challenge during the global pandemic?
Our biggest challenge was changing the way we worked. We used to serve different types of clients across different industries, and then we decided to focus only on associations. This meant we had to reorganize our team and update our technology. This period of transformation was particularly demanding as we were completely self-funded. The clients also became more cautious in their spending.
#16 Bushbalm Inc.
132.74% three-year revenue growth
Bushbalm was founded on the promise to solve ingrown hairs, razor burn and dark spots with natural products. We create, design and manufacture these products.
What is your biggest opportunity post-pandemic?
As the pandemic came to an end we quickly moved more of our resources into the retail world. E-commerce remains a strength, but it is still only 16 per cent of all commerce revenue. This means growing to a much larger size requires growth in the physical landscape, which we have done now, landing all Ulta Beauty stores (1,350 locations) and being sold in over 3,500 waxing salon doors across Canada and the United States.
#17 Baldwin Audio-Visual Solutions
127.66% three-year revenue growth
Baldwin supplies AV solutions to engage audiences. Serving private and public organizations of all sizes, Baldwin specializes in delivering customized setups and content to bring events to life.
What is your biggest opportunity post-pandemic?
The biggest opportunity in the AV event world is the burgeoning hybrid event space. Our clients have eagerly embraced the return of live events but the demand for hybrid options as part of these reflects the changing expectations brought on by the pandemic. The conventional approach of constant travel for events became obsolete, giving rise to a new standard hybrid format that is more convenient and seamless for all attendees and presenters.
#18 knak Inc.
127.35% three-year revenue growth
Knak is a no-code campaign creation platform that lets enterprise companies build emails and landing pages up to 95 per cent faster.
What is your biggest opportunity post-pandemic?
So much has changed in the last few years, from software valuations coming back to Earth, the job market improving, and a new focus on capital efficiency. The continued focus for companies to be capital efficient is an opportunity for Knak, and you combine that with the potential of AI and there is something really exciting there.
#19 Food Cycle Science Corporation
122.6% three-year revenue growth
Food Cycle Science is on a mission to eliminate food waste globally by empowering people with the advanced FoodCycler suite.
What is your biggest opportunity post-pandemic?
Our most significant opportunity lies in leading the global wave of increasing awareness about the environmental impacts and economic costs of food waste. The pandemic has amplified concerns about sustainability and has brought the issue of responsible consumption to the forefront. As a company at the vanguard of providing innovative solutions to tackle food waste, we are uniquely positioned to capitalize on this shift in public consciousness.
#20 Rewind
97.09% three-year revenue growth
Rewind is on a mission to protect business-critical SaaS data that power organizations of all sizes, in apps such as Jira, GitHub and Shopify. More than 25,000 organizations trust the Rewind platform to back up, restore and copy the critical data that drives their business.
How did you grow your company’s revenue during the global pandemic?
Rewind responded with a focus on people above all else. Rather than just selling a service, we empathized with the challenges faced by businesses and positioned ourselves as a reliable partner to protect their critical SaaS and cloud data. Ensuring they remained compliant and secure, we allowed them to focus on what mattered most: running their businesses. Furthermore, we strategically expanded into new markets, such as integrating with platforms like Jira and Confluence, to meet the evolving needs of our customers.
