On This Page, You Will Find:
- How this list was built
- Shopify
- Cohere
- Wealthsimple
- 1Password
- Clio
- Waabi
- Tenstorrent
- Lightspeed Commerce
- League
- Hopper
- Who dropped off the list, and why
- How foreign tech workers reach these employers
- Frequently asked questions
Lists of Canada’s most valuable start-ups age badly. Private valuations are set in a single funding round and then quoted for years afterwards as though nothing has happened. Public companies are marked to market every trading day. And a company that was a household name in 2021 may since have been bought, folded into a larger firm, or quietly wound down.
All figures in this article were checked on 30 August 2026, and every number carries the date it was reported. Where a company’s current valuation is not public, that is stated rather than filled in with an older figure.
How this list was built
Companies are ranked by the most recently reported valuation or market capitalisation that can be traced to a filing, an exchange listing, a company announcement or credible business reporting. Two cautions apply. First, a private valuation is the price a small group of investors paid on one day; it is not a market price. Second, several firms here are no longer start-ups in any meaningful sense. Shopify and Lightspeed are listed public companies, and Cohere and Wealthsimple are late-stage businesses with thousands of staff between them. They are included because they anchor the ecosystem that smaller Canadian start-ups hire into and sell to.
Shopify
- Status: public (NYSE and TSX: SHOP)
- Market capitalisation: about US$204 billion, as of August 2026
- Headquarters: Ottawa, Ontario
- Sector: e-commerce software and payments
- Headcount: roughly 7,600
Shopify remains, by a wide margin, Canada’s most valuable technology company. It is worth noting how far the old figure had drifted: the previous version of this article cited a US$97 billion valuation dated December 2023. The company runs a deliberately small workforce relative to its market value and hires selectively, mostly in senior engineering, infrastructure and machine learning roles.
Cohere
- Status: private
- Valuation: about US$20 billion for the combined business, reported April 2026; US$7 billion before that, confirmed in late 2025
- Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario
- Sector: enterprise artificial intelligence
- Headcount: roughly 1,100 to 1,200
Cohere is the biggest single change on this list. It closed a US$500 million round at US$6.8 billion in August 2025, extended to US$7 billion shortly after. In April 2026 it announced a merger with German AI firm Aleph Alpha, with Schwarz Group companies investing about US$600 million; press reports put the combined entity at roughly US$20 billion. That US$20 billion figure comes from reporting on the term sheet rather than a company statement, and should be read as such. Cohere has offices in Toronto, Montreal, San Francisco, London, New York, Paris and Seoul, and is among the most active technical recruiters in the country.
Wealthsimple
- Status: private, majority-controlled by Power Corporation of Canada
- Valuation: Power valued its 52.3 per cent stake at C$4.7 billion as of the second quarter of 2026
- Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario
- Sector: financial technology
- Assets under administration: about C$155.6 billion, as of Q2 2026
Wealthsimple is unusual among private Canadian companies in that a listed shareholder restates its value every quarter, which makes the figure far more reliable than a stale funding-round headline. The stake valuation was raised roughly 15 per cent in the second quarter of 2026 and implies a whole-company value near C$9 billion. The old article’s C$3.7 billion figure dated from 2021.
1Password
- Status: private
- Valuation: US$6.8 billion, set in a January 2022 round; no newer figure has been made public
- Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario
- Sector: security and identity software
- Headcount: not reliably published
1Password is a reminder of why dates matter. Its valuation was set at the top of the 2021-22 software cycle and the company has not raised a priced round since. It may be worth more or less today; there is no public number to say which. The business is substantial and remote-first, with a large share of its engineering staff in Canada.
Clio
- Status: private
- Valuation: US$5 billion, Series G announced 2025
- Headquarters: Burnaby, British Columbia
- Sector: legal practice management software
Clio raised US$500 million led by New Enterprise Associates and closed a US$1 billion acquisition of Spanish legal research firm vLex at the same time, adding US$2 billion to the valuation it held in July 2024. It is one of British Columbia’s most valuable private technology companies.
Waabi
- Status: private
- Valuation: reported at about US$3 billion following a US$750 million round announced January 2026; the company declined to confirm
- Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario
- Sector: autonomous driving software
Founded by University of Toronto professor Raquel Urtasun, Waabi raised one of the largest venture rounds in Canadian history, backed by Khosla Ventures, Uber, Nvidia and Volvo, with milestone-based commitments taking total available capital to about US$1 billion. It is expanding from autonomous trucking into robotaxis on the Uber platform. It replaces Thalmic Labs as the hardware-adjacent entry on this list, and unlike Thalmic it still exists.
Tenstorrent
- Status: private
- Valuation: about US$2.7 billion after a US$693 million Series D closed December 2024; reported in late 2025 to be raising at roughly US$3.2 billion
- Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario
- Sector: AI semiconductor design
Led by chip architect Jim Keller, Tenstorrent designs and licenses RISC-V based processors for AI workloads. It is one of the few Canadian companies competing in silicon rather than software, and it recruits a narrow, globally scarce category of hardware and compiler engineers.
Lightspeed Commerce
- Status: public (NYSE and TSX: LSPD)
- Market capitalisation: about US$1.4 billion, as of August 2026
- Headquarters: Montreal, Quebec
- Sector: point-of-sale and commerce software
Lightspeed is the clearest example of a valuation moving the wrong way. The previous edition of this article described it as worth “over $3 billion.” Following a strategic review, the company concluded that remaining public and executing a transformation plan focused on North American retail and European hospitality was the best route for shareholders. It still employs well over a thousand people, but it is a smaller company than it was.
League
- Status: private
- Valuation: not publicly confirmed; the last disclosed priced round was a US$95 million Series C in January 2022
- Headquarters: Toronto, Ontario
- Sector: digital health platforms
- Headcount: roughly 500
League survives on this list, but the C$2 billion valuation quoted in the 2024 version cannot be verified from any public source. The company has raised roughly US$300 million in disclosed equity and continues to sell its health platform to insurers, employers and health systems.
Hopper
- Status: private
- Valuation: US$5 billion, last disclosed November 2022; almost certainly not current
- Headquarters: Montreal, Quebec
- Sector: travel technology and fintech
Hopper cut about 30 per cent of staff in 2023 and made further reductions in 2024 and 2025. In March 2026 Capital One announced it would acquire the technology, supplier relationships and roughly 150 employees behind Capital One Travel, closing that deal in April 2026. Capital One had accounted for the great bulk of Hopper’s business-to-business revenue. Hopper continues to supply fintech products and Capital One remains an investor, but the 2022 valuation should not be treated as live.
Who dropped off the list, and why
- Thalmic Labs / North: acquired by Google in 2020. The Focals smart glasses were discontinued weeks later. The company no longer operates.
- Element AI: acquired by ServiceNow for roughly US$230 million, completed January 2021. Its team was absorbed and the brand retired. A US$2 billion valuation was never a realistic reflection of the outcome.
- AppDirect: headquartered in San Francisco. It has Canadian roots and a Montreal office, but it does not belong on a list of Canadian companies.
- ApplyBoard: the Kitchener edtech firm has been hit directly by Canada’s international student caps and study permit restrictions, with repeated rounds of layoffs including more than 150 roles in 2025. Its valuation has fallen sharply from the C$3.2 billion set in June 2021, and no current figure is public.
How foreign tech workers reach these employers
With the Start-Up Visa closed, the realistic question for most readers is not how to found a Canadian company but how to be hired by one. Four routes carry most of the traffic.
The Global Talent Stream. Employers use this to hire specialised foreign talent quickly. Category A requires a referral from a designated partner and covers unique or specialised talent needed to scale a business; Category B covers occupations on the global talent occupations list and needs no referral. Employment and Social Development Canada targets a 10-business-day service standard, and eligible applicants can access two-week work permit processing under the Global Skills Strategy. See our guide to the Global Talent Stream.
Express Entry. Read the current rules carefully before assuming a tech background helps. As of the categories published on 22 June 2026, the STEM category covers architecture and science managers, cybersecurity specialists, civil, mechanical, electrical and electronics, industrial and manufacturing, and geological engineers, three engineering technologist codes, and insurance agents and brokers. General software developers and data scientists are not on that list. In February 2026 the Minister set 2026 priorities around Canadian work experience, adding categories for physicians, researchers, senior managers, transport occupations and skilled military recruits. For most tech workers, the practical route is Canadian experience first, then a Canadian Experience Class round. Our Express Entry guide explains the mechanics.
Intra-company transfers. Cohere, Shopify, 1Password, Clio and Lightspeed all run offices outside Canada. Staff who have worked for a foreign branch for at least a year in an executive, managerial or specialised-knowledge role can often move without an LMIA. See intra-company transferees.
Provincial streams. British Columbia held its last dedicated technology draw on December 3, 2024. Technology occupations remain eligible for the BC PNP, but candidates now compete in the program’s High Economic Impact invitations, which cover all sectors – relevant for Clio and other Lower Mainland employers. Details are in our British Columbia immigration guide.
On entrepreneurship, the position is straightforward and worth stating plainly. The federal Start-Up Visa stopped accepting new applications at 11:59pm on 31 December 2025. Holders of a 2025 letter of support had until 30 June 2026 to file for permanent residence. IRCC has promised a replacement “high impact” entrepreneur pilot in 2026, but no eligibility criteria, intake dates or caps had been published as of 30 August 2026. Anyone being sold a Start-Up Visa application today should treat that as a warning sign. Our explainer on the Start-Up Visa suspension and the 2026 entrepreneur pilot sets out what is known.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is Canada’s most valuable technology company in 2026?
Shopify, headquartered in Ottawa, with a market capitalisation of about US$204 billion as of August 2026. It is a publicly listed company rather than a start-up, so its value is set by the market daily rather than by a funding round. No private Canadian technology company is close, though Cohere was reported at roughly US$20 billion after its April 2026 merger with Aleph Alpha.
Can I still apply for Canada’s Start-Up Visa?
No. The Start-Up Visa stopped accepting new applications at 11:59pm on 31 December 2025, and new applications for the related open work permit had already closed on 19 December 2025. Applicants who already held a valid 2025 letter of support from a designated organisation had until 30 June 2026 to submit a permanent residence application. IRCC has said a replacement entrepreneur pilot will be announced during 2026, but as of 30 August 2026 no criteria had been published.
Do software developers qualify for Express Entry STEM draws in 2026?
Generally not. The STEM category list published on 22 June 2026 is engineering-weighted and includes cybersecurity specialists but not software developers, computer programmers or data scientists. Developers can still enter the Express Entry pool through the Federal Skilled Worker Program or the Canadian Experience Class and be invited in a general or program-specific round. Category eligibility should always be checked against the current IRCC list rather than older articles.
What is the fastest work permit route into a Canadian tech job?
For most people it is the Global Talent Stream, which pairs an expedited labour market impact assessment with two-week work permit processing under the Global Skills Strategy. It requires a Canadian employer willing to sponsor the application, so it starts with a job offer rather than an application by the worker. Staff transferring from a foreign office of the same company may move faster still through an intra-company transfer, which does not require an LMIA at all.
Do I need a job offer to move to Canada as a tech worker?
Not for permanent residence through Express Entry, which does not require one, although Canadian work experience materially improves the odds of an invitation under 2026 priorities. A job offer is required for every temporary work permit route discussed here, including the Global Talent Stream and intra-company transfers. In practice many tech workers arrive on an employer-sponsored permit, accumulate Canadian experience, and then apply for permanent residence.