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Toronto Tech Boom

AlbertC said:
Shopify: The Canadian tech champion taking on Amazon

24 July 2020

Lockdowns have been a bonanza for Shopify, as companies have scrambled to sell products online. According to internal figures, new stores created on the Shopify platform grew 62% between 13 March and 24 April this year, compared to the prior six weeks.

It has become Canada's most valuable public company, with sales of of $1.58bn (£1.24bn) last year, up 47% on the previous year.

"What's interesting about this company is that not many people know about it but it's been around since 2004," says Dan Wang, associate professor of management at Columbia University in New York.

"They saw the trend of selling directly to small businesses before most, at a time when Amazon and other big players were taking centre stage."

He points to big moves Shopify has made recently that will further elevate its position in online commerce. In particular, a deal with US giant Walmart, under which some of Shopify's small business sellers will appear on Walmart's online marketplace.

The goal is to bring 1,200 Shopify merchants to the marketplace this year.

"If you just take our US-based stores and aggregate them and pretend for a moment these stores are one single retailer, we are the largest online retailer after Amazon," says Harley Finkelstein, Shopify's chief operating officer.

www.bbc.com

Shopify: The Canadian tech champion taking on Amazon

Canada's Shopify provides websites for other firms looking to sell online and it is expanding rapidly.
www.bbc.com
Click to expand...
There's no doubt Shopify is Canada's largest Internet company.
 
AlbertC said:
Shopify: The Canadian tech champion taking on Amazon

24 July 2020

Lockdowns have been a bonanza for Shopify, as companies have scrambled to sell products online. According to internal figures, new stores created on the Shopify platform grew 62% between 13 March and 24 April this year, compared to the prior six weeks.

It has become Canada's most valuable public company, with sales of of $1.58bn (£1.24bn) last year, up 47% on the previous year.

"What's interesting about this company is that not many people know about it but it's been around since 2004," says Dan Wang, associate professor of management at Columbia University in New York.

"They saw the trend of selling directly to small businesses before most, at a time when Amazon and other big players were taking centre stage."

He points to big moves Shopify has made recently that will further elevate its position in online commerce. In particular, a deal with US giant Walmart, under which some of Shopify's small business sellers will appear on Walmart's online marketplace.

The goal is to bring 1,200 Shopify merchants to the marketplace this year.

"If you just take our US-based stores and aggregate them and pretend for a moment these stores are one single retailer, we are the largest online retailer after Amazon," says Harley Finkelstein, Shopify's chief operating officer.

www.bbc.com

Shopify: The Canadian tech champion taking on Amazon

Canada's Shopify provides websites for other firms looking to sell online and it is expanding rapidly.
www.bbc.com
Click to expand...
Johnny Au said:
There's no doubt Shopify is Canada's largest Internet company.
Click to expand...

Amazon has gotten too big (just like Google/Alphabet), and their main product isn't as good as it used to be (just like Google)... I do hope that Shopify stays independent and doesn't go with the Buyout/Merger route that too many Canadian companies have taken.

Keep it local!
 
I think Amazon and Shopify have fundamentally different business models.

Amazon is more of a monolith enclosed system like a Walmart or an Apple. Shopify is more of a messy real-world platform more reminiscent of some Chinese e-commerce players. The strength of Shopify’s approach is the potential to vacuum up data about how the real messy world outside the Amazon e-commerce bubble works. The weakness is that the real world is an intense fickle dog-fight.
 
Shopify revenues nearly double in Q2 amid COVID-19 shift to e-commerce

July 29, 2020

COVID-19 is proving to be no match for Shopify Inc., which nearly doubled revenues and reported US$36 million in profits as the pandemic raged across Canada.

While many Canadian businesses filed for bankruptcy or watched sales disappear in record time amid the health crisis, the Ottawa-based tech company said Wednesday that its revenues surged by 97 per cent in its second quarter.

Shopify's stock price was up by almost 10 per cent or $127.60 to reach $1,436.55 in morning trading.

Chief operating officer Harley Finkelstein attributed the growth to companies -- including Schwinn, Farm Boy, Snickers and Molson Coors -- switching to using Shopify's products or starting e-commerce stores for the first time.

"We're also seeing digital transformation generally is pushing larger retailers to look at partners who are nimble, who are flexible, who are certainly cost-effective and that's Shopify Plus for the larger brands."

The flurry of activity Finkelstein discussed propelled Shopify revenues in the three months ended June to US$714.3 million from US$362 million a year earlier.

---------
Shopify chief executive Tobi Lutke said the trends he saw at Shopify and elsewhere over the last few months tell him that "2030 has gotten pulled forward into 2020."

"I think in retail they are all finding ... software that feels like a decade-old because all the assumptions have been tossed into the air and reassembled based on COVID," he said.

"COVID has accelerated this thing that was already going on."

www.ctvnews.ca

Shopify revenues nearly double in Q2 amid COVID-19 shift to e-commerce

COVID-19 is proving to be no match for Shopify Inc., which nearly doubled revenues and reported US$36 million in profits as the pandemic raged across Canada.
www.ctvnews.ca
 
Toronto is emerging as a tech superpower as immigrants choose Canada over the US

July 30, 2020

But while the US is closing doors, Canada has been rolling out the welcome mat. Since 2013, the number of tech jobs in Toronto has skyrocketed from about 148,000 to 228,000, an increase of 54%.

"We have over 100,000 people immigrate to the Toronto region each year, which is twice as many as San Francisco Bay Area," Jason Goldlist, cofounder of TechToronto, said. And we don't just attract the quantity. It's also quality because a fifth of these immigrants already have a STEM degree before they even arrive here.

Canadian e-commerce giant Shopify is trying to capitalize on the opportunity. Following Trump's announcement, CEO Tobias Lutke — himself an immigrant from Germany — tweeted, "If this affects your plans consider coming to Canada instead."

Sandeep Anand, the company's senior mobility lead, echoed Lutke's call for talent: "Whether they're already in Canada, whether they're globally present, we're looking to really expand our diverse workforce. And in some cases it does mean that we would need to relocate and provide immigration support, which we're happy to do," she told Business Insider Today.

According to a 2016 study, 25% of Canada's workforce are immigrants. And in the tech space, that number is even higher — 40%, or 350,000 workers.

www.businessinsider.com

Toronto is emerging as a tech superpower as immigrants choose Canada over the US

Since 2013, Toronto has added more tech jobs than any other place in North America, including Silicon Valley.
www.businessinsider.com www.businessinsider.com
 
The Ontario Peninsula could be rebranded the Silicon Peninsula.

Ontario_Peninsula.jpg
 
AlbertC said:
Toronto is emerging as a tech superpower as immigrants choose Canada over the US

July 30, 2020

But while the US is closing doors, Canada has been rolling out the welcome mat. Since 2013, the number of tech jobs in Toronto has skyrocketed from about 148,000 to 228,000, an increase of 54%.

"We have over 100,000 people immigrate to the Toronto region each year, which is twice as many as San Francisco Bay Area," Jason Goldlist, cofounder of TechToronto, said. And we don't just attract the quantity. It's also quality because a fifth of these immigrants already have a STEM degree before they even arrive here.

Canadian e-commerce giant Shopify is trying to capitalize on the opportunity. Following Trump's announcement, CEO Tobias Lutke — himself an immigrant from Germany — tweeted, "If this affects your plans consider coming to Canada instead."

Sandeep Anand, the company's senior mobility lead, echoed Lutke's call for talent: "Whether they're already in Canada, whether they're globally present, we're looking to really expand our diverse workforce. And in some cases it does mean that we would need to relocate and provide immigration support, which we're happy to do," she told Business Insider Today.

According to a 2016 study, 25% of Canada's workforce are immigrants. And in the tech space, that number is even higher — 40%, or 350,000 workers.

www.businessinsider.com

Toronto is emerging as a tech superpower as immigrants choose Canada over the US

Since 2013, Toronto has added more tech jobs than any other place in North America, including Silicon Valley.
www.businessinsider.com www.businessinsider.com
Click to expand...
Canada still needs the huge angel investor component, some huge homegrown tech institutions, and the higher wages that come with the two before it can compete with Silicon Valley.

Otherwise the best talent/tech will still ultimately trickle into the US, and all you end up with is essentially the same branch plant/back office situation that plagued our manufacturing sector.


Interesting initiative- I agree that focusing procurement more on made- in-Canada solutions is one way to stimulate innovation growth.
betakit.com

Altering Canada’s approach to public procurement could stimulate innovation, finds University of Calgary report | BetaKit

A new approach to public procurement might be an answer to Canada’s innovation problem, according to a report from the University of Calgary.
betakit.com betakit.com
 
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