One of the main stories we highlighted in our recent 2024 Atlantic Canada Startup Data report was the strong performance shown by the region’s leading startups.

While sounding alarm bells about the dearth of early-stage funding, our 11th startup data report also stressed that the region’s Elite and Scaling startups accounted for most of the community’s funding and revenue growth.

While we have specific criteria for Elite and Scaling companies, it might help just to think of Elite companies as those that have raised or could raise a Series A round, whereas Scaling companies are like fast-growing seed-stage companies.

For 2024, we had a group of 58 Elite startups in our databank, a net increase of two companies. Our tally of Scaling companies fell by nine from the previous year, for a total of 25. We should emphasize that these 83 exemplary companies represent about 11 percent of the total number of startups in the region, a higher proportion than we’ve ever seen.

Elite Startups

The most striking feature of the Elite startups is their revenues – not their revenue growth, but simply the absolute totals. When we surveyed these startups, 21 of the 58 startups gave us their full revenue information, and collectively they brought in $104 million in revenue, or an average of more than $5 million.

Admittedly, the revenue growth overall is modest at 18 percent, but these companies began 2024 with high revenue levels already. Though we can’t divulge the contents of the surveys, we can say that some Elite companies revealed strong revenue growth.

Take for example the two Atlantic Canadian companies that were named to the 2024 Deloitte Fast 50 list. The Moncton-area fintech company WeyMedia, which is best known for its CreditcardGenius product, was named to the Fast 50 for the first time. It was the 46th fastest-growing company in the country over the four-year period with revenue growth of 431 percent.

Dartmouth-based Site 20/20 placed 31st on the list of meteoric Canadian startups in 2024, with revenue growth of 686 percent in the past four years. It was the second year in a row that Site 20/20 made the list. In 2023, it captured sixth place on the back of remarkable 2,392 percent revenue growth over four years.

Turning to funding, this group raised $126.5 million. They were led in 2024 by CoLab Software of St. John’s raising US$21 million and the C$11 million round by its neighbour Mysa Smart Thermostats. We were struck by the number of major funding rounds that were not reported publicly, and that we learned of only when we received completed surveys.

Female executives play a strong role in the Elite group of companies as 15 (or 26 percent) are led by women. That’s a much stronger weighting than the startup community overall. Conversely, there is less representation of immigrant CEOs or founders, as 19 companies (or one-third) are led by newcomers.

Scaling Startups

The Scaling category is always interesting because it’s a snapshot of the companies that have just hit the corner of the hockey stick. They’re suddenly in growth mode, and the revenue gains can be striking. Then after a year or two they either progress to the Elite category, are bought out, or fade back into the general population.

While some Scaling companies from 2023 graduated to the Elite category in 2024, others failed, exited or left the region. And we could only find six new Scaling companies to replace them. Furthermore, we’re concerned that there doesn’t appear to be a wave of new Scaling companies that we’ll be able to add to the list next year.

One thing we can say with certainty is that several of the 2024 batch of Scaling startups will move up to the Elite section. The reason for this is that the companies in this category reported revenue growth of 181 percent on a weighted average.

Six of them reported growth of more than 100 percent. Three of them more than tripled their revenues.

The Scaling category produced equity funding of $13.7 million, a steep fall from $31 million a year earlier, no doubt attributable to the reduced number of companies in the category.

The largest funding round in this group was booked by Dieppe, NB-based Triple Hair, which is aiming to treat Androgenetic Alopecia, a type of genetic hair loss. It raised a venture capital round worth $4 million.

About the Atlantic Canada Startup Data report

For 11 years, we have produced the Atlantic Canada Startup Data report, documenting the size of the startup community and following such metrics as revenues, employment and funding. We compile the data based on confidential surveys completed by CEOs and interviews with the companies. You can download the report here.