Deloitte has issued its annual list of the 500 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and clean technology companies in North America.

Canadian companies punched above their weight this year.  Seventy-five of the top 500 companies, or 15%, are headquartered in Canada.  In the previous five years the percentage had ranged between 8-to-11%.  Even more impressively, five of the seven fastest growing companies are Canadian.

The growth rates required to make the list range from remarkable to mind-boggling.  The 500^th-ranked company grew revenues a total of 134% from 2006 to 2010, while the top-ranked company grew by over 70,000% during the same period. 

Equicom has been fortunate to work with a number of this year’s Fast 500, including:  Avigilon (#4), GuestLogix (#50), SXC Health Solutions (#51), Nightingale Informatix (#290), BSM Wireless (#291), and Bridgewater Systems (#386).  We also had two clients – EcoSynthetix Inc. and BIOX Corporation – on the Deloitte Technology Green 15, which recognizes companies that are leading the way to create major breakthroughs in the field of green technology. 

Through our work with these companies, we have gained some insights into how they have achieved their successes.

·         Avigilon (the top-ranked software company out of 194 on the list) made the bold decision to spend several years and millions of dollars to design the world’s first HD video surveillance system based completely on IP technology, leapfrogging much larger competitors who were tied to older analog technology.

·         GuestLogix recognized that airlines could generate significant incremental revenue by deploying onboard retailing and merchandising technology, and became a world leader in the space by signing a lengthy roster of air carriers and rail operators.

·         SXC Health Solutions has expanded its business model from its base in healthcare information technology to a full service pharmacy benefit manager (PBM). Along the way, SXC has made a series of acquisitions, starting in 2008 with NMHC to build-out its scale and skill and emerge as the leading mid-market PBM in the sector.

·         Nightingale foresaw the trend towards medical records becoming stored and accessed electronically, and developed a web-based EMR offering with broad appeal to everyone from small primary care providers to large regional health networks.

·         BSM Wireless took a niche technology it had developed for law enforcement agencies, and successfully customized it for a range of specific industry verticals that could benefit from remote monitoring and fleet and asset management services.

·         Bridgewater (recently acquired by AmDocs) recognized early on that the explosion of mobile devices and services would require specialized software to allow telecom carriers to manage and monetize all the added data traffic.

·         EcoSynthetix has developed bio-based polymers that provide customers in the coated paper and paperboard markets with an alternative to materials based on volatile, expensive petroleum feedstock.

·         BIOX produces biodiesel from low value feedstock using a proprietary continuous flow process that achieves higher yields with lower energy and chemical inputs.

Interestingly, only 33% of the Canadian companies (25 of the 75) on the Fast 500 are publicly traded, compared to 51% of the overall 500.  Perhaps (one can hope) this is an early indicator of a growing pipeline of IPO candidates in Canada.

Jeff Codispodi, VP, Technology Group