The Toronto-Waterloo Corridor is home to more than 15,000 tech companies, including 5,200 startups, and around 250,000 tech workers. The largest tech hub in Canada and one of the largest in North America, the region is rapidly growing and attracting both tech giants and innovative new startups. Microsoft opened four floors of new office space in a downtown tower in February 2022, while Google has announced plans to build a 400,000 square foot building in Toronto.

Toronto saw CA$3.7 billion ($2.7 billion) in investments in 2022, more than double the CA$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion) raised in 2019. Waterloo-based companies, meanwhile, raised CA$856.4 million ($632.9 million) in 2022, for a combined total of just over CA$4.5 billion ($3.3 billion). In April 2023, traffic-tech company Miovision raised CA$260 million ($192.2 million) to grow its smart-city technology. PointClickCare Technologies, one of the largest private Canadian software vendors was valued at over $5 billion in July 2022, making it the ecosystem’s highest valued unicorn.

The success of Toronto’s tech startup scene is in part a result of Canada’s immigration-friendly policies. The Global Skills Strategy expedited the immigration process for highly skilled workers to just two weeks, and today over half of all Toronto residents were born outside of Canada. Leading innovation hubs including MaRS and Communitech have built a strong entrepreneurial community and continue to nurture it with dedicated support, and a steady stream of talent comes out of local post-secondary institutions, which include the University of Waterloo, York University, and the University of Toronto.