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Vancouver, BC, September 28, 2023--(T-Net)--LinkedIn has released its 6th annual Top Canadian Startups list, featuring 15 young Canadian companies that are growing fast and gaining attention. 

The 2023 Top Startups Canada list included three local BC startups: Sanctuary AI (130 employees), Makeship (60 employees) and Vessi (60 employees).

The past year has been challenging for a range of businesses, marked by continued inflation and an increasingly uncertain economic landscape. 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.

The 6th annual LinkedIn Top Canadian Startups list features 15 young Canadian companies that have trailblazed their way through recent economic and workplace challenges — and managed to stand out to investors and top talent along the way.

To compile the list, LinkedIn says it looked at data across four pillars: employee growth; jobseeker interest; member engagement within the company and its employees; and how well these startups pulled talent from their LinkedIn Top Companies list.

This year, they also adjusted their eligibility requirements, lowering the age criteria to five years or younger in order to feature more companies in their earlier, venture stages of growth. (You can learn more about their methodology at the bottom of this article.)

Linkedin said in its announcement that this list is ultimately meant to be a resource for readers. 

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Here are LinkedIn's year's 15 Top Startups in Canada (with the three in BC highlighted and hyperlinked to their company websites).

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Full-time headcount: 695 | Headquarters: Calgary | Year founded: 2019 | Most common skills: SQL, Customer Experience, Software Development | Most common job titles: Customer Support Specialist, Software Engineer, Salesperson | Largest job functions: Customer Success and Support, Sales, Engineering | What they do: Neo Financial is a fintech company providing digital-first spending, savings and rewards programs.

Full-time headcount: 90 | Headquarters: Toronto | Year founded: 2021 | Most common skills: Software Development, Data Analysis, SQL | Most common job titles: Business Development Representative, Software Engineer, Account Executive | Largest job functions: Sales, Engineering, Operations | What they do: Float is a corporate card and spend management platform helping businesses handle expenses.

Full-time headcount: 230 | Headquarters: Toronto | Year founded: 2019 | Most common skills: Python, Machine Learning, Software Development | Most common job titles: Quality Assurance Manager, Data Analyst, Software Engineer | Largest job functions: Quality Assurance, Engineering, Information Technology | What they do: Dubbed a "ChatGPT rival,"

Cohere's large-language models and technology can be used by businesses to deploy chatbots, search engines and other A.I.-driven products.

Full-time headcount: 60 | Headquarters: Toronto | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: IT Accessibility, User Experience (UX), Digital Marketing | Most common job titles: Accessibility Tester, Customer Experience Manager, Business Development Representative | Largest job functions: Quality Assurance, Sales, Engineering | What they do: Fable helps companies make their digital products more accessible to people with disabilities by providing accessibility testing and training.

Full-time headcount: 85 | Headquarters: Toronto | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: Software Development, Python, JavaScript | Most common job titles: Full Stack Engineer, Customer Success Lead, Machine Learning Engineer | Largest job functions: Engineering, Marketing, Product Management | What they do: ODAIA uses AI and machine learning to provide predictive analytics and commercial insights that help pharmaceutical companies target new drug sales to health care practitioners and reduce patients' time to care.

Full-time headcount: 120 | Headquarters: Toronto | Year founded: 2019 | Most common skills: Customer Service, Project Management, SQL | Most common job titles: Pharmacy Assistant, Product Manager, Software Engineer | Largest job functions: Healthcare Services, Engineering, Marketing | What they do: Felix is a digital health company committed to giving people easier access to treatments for common but often stigmatized health needs via online consultations and prescriptions.

Full-time headcount: 130 | Headquarters: Edmonton | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: Machine Learning, Python, Artificial Intelligence | Most common job titles: Machine Learning Engineer, Data Science Manager, Business Development Manager | Largest job functions: Engineering, Business Development, Information Technology | What they do: The software company offers AI-powered solutions to mostly enterprise-level clients seeking digital transformation or predictive value from their data.

Full-time headcount: 170 | Headquarters: Calgary | Year founded: 2019 | Most common skills: Nursing, Mental Health, Data Analysis | Most common job titles: Nurse Practitioner, Registered Nurse, Software Engineer | Largest job functions: Healthcare Services, Operations, Engineering | What they do: The telehealth company aims to improve access to complex care for at-risk and underserved communities in Canada.

Full-time headcount: 130 | Headquarters: Montreal | Year founded: 2020 | Most common skills: Software Development, Python, SQL | Most common job titles: Salesperson, Software Engineer, Customer Experience Manager | Largest job functions: Engineering, Sales, Customer Success and Support | What they do: Novisto is an environmental, social and governance (ESG) data management platform, helping companies streamline their data collection and reporting for sustainability management.

Full-time headcount: 60* | Headquarters: Vancouver | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: Social Media Marketing, E-Commerce, Adobe Photoshop | Most common job titles: Customer Service Representative, Salesperson, Brand Representative | Largest job functions: Customer Success and Support, Sales, Marketing | What they do: Vessi is an all-weather footwear brand, known for their waterproof (and vegan) technology and materials.

Full-time headcount: 125 | Headquarters: Winnipeg | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: Software Development, JavaScript, Agile Methodologies | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Quality Assurance Specialist, Product Team Manager | Largest job functions: Engineering, Information Technology, Product Management | What they do: Conquest Planning offers a financial planning platform for consumer wealth management.

Full-time headcount: 90 | Headquarters: Calgary | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: Laboratory Skills, Data Analysis, Research & Development | Most common job titles: Prototype Engineer, Laboratory Technician, Chemist | Largest job functions: Engineering, Research, Operations | What they do: Summit Nanotech, a cleantech organization, has developed a way to sustainably extract high-purity lithium for electric vehicle demand.

Full-time headcount: 130 | Headquarters: Vancouver | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: C++, MATLAB, Python | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Automation Engineer, Hardware Engineer | Largest job functions: Engineering, Information Technology, Operations | What they do: Sanctuary AI is a robotics and artificial intelligence company that aims to create the first human-like intelligence in general-purpose robots to make work safer, more efficient and sustainable.

Full-time headcount: 60 | Headquarters: Vancouver | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, E-Commerce | Most common job titles: Business Development Representative, Product Design Consultant, Software Engineer | Largest job functions: Sales, Marketing, Arts and Design | What they do: Makeship is a crowdfunding platform for creators, allowing them to build limited edition products funded by fans via time-sensitive campaigns.

Full-time headcount: 310 | Headquarters: Montreal | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: Mortgage Lending, JavaScript, SQL | Most common job titles: Mortgage Broker, Mortgage Underwriter, Software Engineer | Largest job functions: Finance, Engineering, Business Development | What they do: nesto is a digital mortgage brokerage that offers mortgage lending and automates part of the application and underwriting process of financing a home.

Methodology

LinkedIn measures startups based on four pillars: employment growth, engagement, job interest and attraction of top talent. Employment growth is measured as percentage headcount increase over methodology time frame, which must be a minimum of 10%. Engagement looks at non-employee views and follows of the company's LinkedIn page, as well as how many non-employees are viewing employees at that startup. Job interest counts rate at which people are viewing and applying to jobs at the company, including both paid and unpaid postings. Attraction of top talent measures how many employees the startup has recruited away from any global LinkedIn Top Company, as a percentage of the startup's total workforce. Data is normalized across all eligible startups. The methodology time frame is July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023.

To be eligible, companies must be fully independent, privately held, have 50 or more full-time employees, be 5 years old or younger and be headquartered in the country on whose list they appear. We exclude all staffing firms, think tanks, venture capital firms, law firms, management and IT consulting firms, nonprofits and philanthropy, accelerators and government-owned entities. Startups who have laid off 20% or more of their workforce based on corporate announcements or public, reliable sources between July 1, 2022 and the list launch, are not eligible. These decisions are made by the LinkedIn News team based on company statements and/or reputable news outlets.

About company insights

*Company insights were sourced from LinkedIn Talent Insights. Data reflects aggregated public member data from active LinkedIn profiles in the relevant country and includes full-time employee profiles associated with the company on LinkedIn. We exclude members who identify as part-time or contractors. Headcounts are provided by the companies directly, unless otherwise noted with an asterisk. Those headcounts are based on LinkedIn data. All insights reflect a 12-month time period looking back from July 2023. Skills data was derived from measuring the most frequent skills among a company's employees. Most common job titles represent the occupations that are most common within each company. Largest job function measures the function area most prevalent within each company.

Reported by: Mariah Flores, Riva Gold and Jessy Bains

Methodology and insights by: LinkedIn Economic Graph team

Honouree companies: 1. Neo Financial | 2. Float | 3. Cohere | 4. Fable | 5. ODAIA | 6. Felix | 7. AltaML | 8. PurposeMed | 9. Novisto | 10. Vessi | 11. Conquest Planning | 12. Summit Nanotech | 13. Sanctuary AI | 14. Makeship | 15. nesto