British Columbia’s largest technology companies have continued to grow unabated despite the global pandemic.
During the past year, the province’s biggest tech companies boasted their second-highest one-year average growth in employment over the past five years, according to data collected on Business in Vancouver’s Top 100 Tech Companies in B.C. list (https://biv.com/lists).
Average B.C. employment at the top 100 tech companies grew 5.2% to 431.2 employees in 2021 from 410 in 2020. However, average growth has slowed slightly from the 7.1% growth reported in 2020.
While the average growth in the number of employees has remained relatively stable over the past three years, median growth fell significantly to 2.8% in 2021 from 18.3% in 2020. This suggests that larger companies higher on the list grew faster than smaller companies lower on the list.
Companies that were on the list five years ago moved up in rank on the list by an average by 5.7 places. More companies moved up than down, but the companies that fell in rank did so by 7.2 places on average.
No. 35 Copperleaf had the largest movement up the list. It jumped 46 places to 35th in 2021 from 81st in 2020. This escalation was largely the result of a 165.6% growth in B.C. employment to 247 in 2021 from 93 in 2017.
LivaNova Canada Corp. recorded the steepest decline in list ranking. It dropped 32 places to 48th in 2021 from 16th in 2015. This was largely because of a 50.4% decline in employment to 190 in 2021 from 383 in 2017. •
