Next to top tech names like Amaya and Hootsuite on this year’s list of the fastest-growing companies in Canada were three prominent Toronto programmatic companies — AcuityAds, Juice Mobile and Addictive Mobility.
All three broke the top 20 on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 list, released Friday, and all had four-year growth rates in excess of 500%.
Generalist demand-side platform AcuityAds ranked ninth in its second consecutive year in the top 10 with 1,123% growth since 2011. Mobile-focused DSP and programmatic direct platform Juice Mobile ranked 15th right alongside competing mobile DSP Addictive at 17th.
Acuity’s growth has largely come from its self-serve platform, used by agencies and trading desks. The company saw Q2 self-serve revenue grow 256% year-over-year, according to its quarterly earnings report. It’s also had success drawing in clients south of the border, growing its U.S. revenue by 370% in the same period. Acuity’s overall revenue in 2014 was $13.7 million.
Juice has also been expanding into the U.S., opening new offices in Chicago and Los Angeles and hiring several new executives at its New York office, including a director of marketing and director of business development. Several big-name U.S. publishers like Federated Media, Demand Media and CBS use its automated direct buying platform, Nectar, to sell premium inventory. Juice CEO and founder Neil Sweeney estimates about a third of the company’s business now comes from U.S. buyers and publishers.
Addictive Mobility, meanwhile, is seeing its biggest growth in emerging markets through its Dubai office. Addictive first opened an office there in 2012 when Naveed Ahmad took over as CEO, and has won several major clients in the market including Nestle and Jaguar.
Here at home, Ahmad says that brands are getting much more comfortable in mobile advertising and expanding their budgets.
“More and more brands are moving business towards mobile-centric solutions, as opposed to dipping their toes in,” he said. “The banks are an ideal example — their budgets historically were small, but they are getting bigger, and we’ve been able to benefit from that.”
The Deloitte Fast 50 ranks the fastest growing companies headquartered in Canada based on their growth over the previous four-year period. The corresponding Fast 500 ranks the fastest growing companies in North America. On that list, Acuity ranked 76th, Juice was 127th and Addictive 144th.
Last year’s number one company on the Fast 50 was also a DSP, Chango, which wasn’t on the list this year since it was acquired by U.S. company The Rubicon Project.
Other 2015 Fast 50 companies that marketers are bound to recognize are Klick Health (ranked 44th), ScribbleLive (ranked 13th) and Hootsuite (ranked 7th).
This year’s fastest growing company won’t be unfamiliar to Marketing readers either — Frank & Oak, the hot online-turned-brick-and-mortar men’s retailer, recorded four-year growth of 18,480%.
