The past year has been challenging for a range of businesses, marked by continued inflation and an increasingly uncertain economic landscape.
Startups have not been immune, with venture capital deals in Canada dropping by 71% on an annual basis in the first quarter as higher interest rates and the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank rippled through the global tech sector. Many companies laid off workers or even stopped operations altogether.
However, times of uncertainty can push companies to adapt and innovate — and lead to new opportunities for emerging industries.
Artificial intelligence startups have flourished, buoyed by a global influx of capital and enthusiasm to incorporate generative AI into businesses.
Healthcare disruptors and fintech innovators have also blossomed, helping overall venture capital bounce back in the second quarter of the year.
Five Toronto startups were recently acknowledged on LinkedIn’s 6th annual Top Startups list and deserve your attention as we start the new year.
These startups are rising to the challenges of the moment and continuing to innovate and gain attention in 2024. And they’re hiring!
Cohere
Cohere’s AI platform is uniquely designed for enterprises, offering data-secure deployment options in companies’ existing cloud environments, customization, and customer support. In 2023 Cohere raised $270 million in new capital to accelerate their leadership position.
Fable
Accessibility testing, powered by people with disabilities. Fable‘s Engage enables you to connect to people with disabilities remotely and on-demand to accelerate your user research, design, and development. Fable takes care of tester recruitment, technical support, and compensation so you can focus on building great products.
Felix
Whether it’s sex, hair, skin, or just plain life, Felix is about giving people easier access to the lifestyle healthcare they need. But “easier access” doesn’t just mean more convenient. By introducing a new model of care, Felix is on a mission to change behaviours, attitudes, and conventions around personal health.
Float
Float is on a mission to simplify spend for companies and teams. Their corporate cards and spend management platform enable you to eliminate employee reimbursements and expense reports, seamlessly pre-approve credit card expenses through Slack or the Float app, automatically collect receipts, integrate with accounting software to close your books faster, and manage CAD and USD card spend in one platform.
ODAIA
ODAIA is a leader in life sciences predictive analytics and commercial insights. ODAIA’s AI-powered platform, MAPTUAL, leverages a proprietary analytics engine to help pharma companies prospect, qualify and engage HCPs, which helps reduce patients’ time to therapy.
Photo: Michael Muraz