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Ottawa’s Fullscript takes second spot on Canadian Business Growth List of country’s fastest-growing firms

October 15, 2020

The highest-ranked Ottawa company on Canadian Business magazine’s annual list of the country’s fastest-growing firms is used to making headlines for its eye-popping revenue figures.

Fullscript – an online dispensary for natural health products such as vitamin supplements – came in at No. 2 in the publication’s annual ranking of companies based on five-year revenue growth.

The local health-tech firm’s revenues jumped an astronomical 32,291 per cent over that span, a rate that might surprise some observers but is business as usual for Fullscript, which topped OBJ’s list of Ottawa’s fastest-growing companies in 2016 and 2017.

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Founded in 2011, Fullscript merged with Arizona-based competitor Natural Partners two years ago. The combined company, which operates under the Fullscript banner, now employs about 200 people in the capital and more than 400 in total.

Fullscript co-founder Kyle Braatz says the firm’s impressive showing on the Growth List shows how far the company has come in the past nine years.

“It’s kind of a really good opportunity to reflect,” he says, adding the firm is on pace to surpass its 2020 growth projections by more than 10 per cent.

Surging demand for wellness products

Braatz says the pandemic has triggered a surge in demand for natural wellness products and virtual health-care services, which plays directly to Fullscript’s target market.

“Our platform is built for anyone who practises in-office or virtually; it doesn’t matter,” he explains. “So the two trends of telehealth being where health care is going and consumers and patients investing more into wellness and (illness) prevention really bodes well for us.”

Fullscript was joined by a healthy contingent of other locally based enterprises on the 2020 Growth List, released Thursday. The list, formerly known as the Growth 500, included 19 firms from the National Capital Region among 415 companies from across Canada.

While many of the local companies are also part of the city’s burgeoning tech sector – for example, software maker Assent Compliance comes in at No. 57 with five-year growth of 1,550 per cent and perennial growth engine Martello Technologies sits at No. 82 with a rate of 1,079 per cent – other industries are also represented.

Radio equipment supplier ROCK Networks was Ottawa’s second-best performer on the list, ranking 23rd overall with growth of 3,663 per cent. NewFound Recruiting clocked in at No. 150 – up from last year’s ranking of 268 – with 579 per cent growth, while D-Squared Construction made the list at No. 275 with 234 per cent growth.

In addition to the Growth List, Canadian Business also releases a list of startups to watch based on two-year revenue growth.

Ottawa-based stipend management platform Hoppier – which pivoted from its origins as a snack delivery service – was the top local company on the Startup List, coming in at No. 20 with two-year growth of 1,464 per cent. Other Ottawa firms included last-mile construction delivery service GoFor (No. 24, 1,346 per cent growth), gaming accessory maker Hit Point Press (No. 29, 1,194 per cent) and health-care provider Assurance Home Care (No. 60, 360 per cent).

Shopify – Ottawa’s top performer in the 2019 Growth 500 list – did not appear in this year’s rankings, which rely on companies to voluntarily submit applications with supporting financial documents.

Here are all the Ottawa companies on the Growth List:

2. Fullscript (32,291%)

23. ROCK Networks (3,663%)

37. Feenics (2,408%)

45. CPOS (1,948%)

57. Assent Compliance (1,550%)

66. Giatec Scientific (1,359%)

77. seoplus+ (1,099%)

80. MDOS Consulting (1,087%)

82. Martello Technologies (1,079%)

95. CanadaWheels.ca (982%)

137. Lightenco (673%)