Vancouver’s tech ecosystem is growing, and it now ranks as the 11th best city in North America in tech talent.
Vancouver’s startup scene is strong and there are now 91,200 tech employees in Vancouver, up 36% over the past five years.
So it’s no wonder why major US tech companies are expanding into Vancouver.
Canadian cities have become some of North America’s fastest-growing tech hubs. Education forms the foundation for the quality of tech labor in Canada and several of Canada’s post-secondary schools have been rated among the world’s best universities.
The top five ranked Canadian tech talent cities are also those that produce the highest number of tech graduates.
Post-secondary institutions in Vancouver issued 12,944 tech degrees between 2015 and 2019, and 24,200 tech jobs were added in the city from 2016 to 2020, which represents a net “brain gain” of 11,256 tech workers.
Canada has also made it simple for people already on temporary visas to become permanent residents. Canada has eased its immigration process with the Global Talent Stream (GTS), a program designed to fast-track the entry of foreign workers with specialized skills.
All of this adds up to a highly skilled Canadian workforce that includes 900,000 tech talent workers. This easy access to foreign professionals is very tempting to tech companies hurting for new talent.
And plenty of US-based tech companies have caved to Canadian temptation and have moved into Canada to open up or greatly expand their tech offices.
Toronto is a popular destination for tech, but many companies have laid down roots in Vancouver. So, which US tech companies have gone North to Vancouver?
Major US tech companies are expanding into Vancouver – here are 5 of them
American tech companies are heading to Canada. Just look at tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Intel, and Uber that have gone — or plan to go — north of the border.
I’ve already written about the companies that have set up shop in Toronto — companies like Wayfair and Netflix — but the western city of Vancouver shouldn’t be overlooked.
Here is a roundup of the latest swarm of global tech firms setting up shop in Vancouver:
1. Amazon
Amazon first established a presence in Vancouver in 2013, but it’s been growing its footprint in Canada.
Amazon plans to hire 3,000 people for a 1.1 million square foot office that will open in 2023. Currently, Amazon has over 2,700 full-time employees in Vancouver.
After Amazon’s HQ2 in New York City was canceled, the tech giant announced that the jobs slated for the canceled HQ2 in New York City will be redistributed across its existing tech hubs in North America, including Vancouver, San Francisco, and Boston.
2. Asana
Asana is one of the world’s most popular work management tools, so it’s not surprising that they’ve been actively growing their team, not only in the number of team members but also in the company’s international footprint.
When looking to expand north, Asana found Vancouver to be a perfect fit because of its talent quota, the high number of startups, and great schools training plenty of engineering students.
3. Postmates
San Francisco-based Postmates — an on-demand delivery platform — has recently set up shop in Vancouver. Founded in 2011, Postmates serves over 3,500 cities across the United States.
The team in Vancouver was put together specifically for their R&D branch creatively labeled Postmates X. Interestingly, Postmates X has been tasked with solving real-world problems with machine learning, computer vision, and robotics.
Just like Asana, Postmates chose Vancouver for its talent pool and the city’s proximity to “world-class universities” like the University of British Columbia (UBC).
4. Tile
Tile is a small square that helps you keep track of your things. You attach Tile to an item — your purse, keys, even your dog — and then are able to track your item using Bluetooth and an app on your phone.
Tile is a handy and popular tool, and as the company began to quickly grow they looked to Canada as an engineering hub to expand their talent base. Tile evaluated Canada’s largest cities — Montreal, Calgary, and Toronto — but they finally settled on Vancouver because of its rich talent base.
The city’s location had the added bonus of being in the same time zone and reachable by a direct two-hour flight from the Bay Area. Tile’s team was also drawn to Vancouver’s community of left-leaning progressives with a love of nature.
5. Salesforce
Salesforce is a cloud-based CRM heavyweight that rakes in more than $13 billion in revenue.
In 2015, the company opened its Vancouver office, but even before that Salesforce reportedly spent $476 million to acquire north-of-the-border companies.
After unveiling its Canadian office, founder, chairman, and co-CEO, Marc Benioff pledged a $2B investment in the company’s Canadian expansion, bringing with it a promise of increased jobs, real estate, and data center capacity for the company’s Toronto and Vancouver locations.
Syndesus can help you expand into Canada without having to open an office so you can follow these 5 major US tech companies expanding into Vancouver!
Vancouver has it all — tech talent, a booming tech scene, and close proximity to the Bay Area. As you can see, companies have already begun to flock to Vancouver — you have no time to waste expanding into Canada!
If opening an international office seems overwhelming, don’t worry, Syndesus can help. You don’t have to open an office or incorporate in Canada to tap into Canadian talent.
Hiring workers remotely through a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) like Syndesus means that the immigration, payroll, and even finding talent and other administrative processes are taken care of for you while you focus on expanding your talented workforce and moving your company forward.
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Syndesus can help you expand your team with the world’s most talented technology professionals but without the world’s most frustrating immigration system.
