Marketing startups had a strong showing in this year’s PROFIT Hot 50, which ranks Canada’s fastest-growing small businesses. Number one on the list? Chango Inc., an ad tech vendor and RTB demand-side platform with a whopping 9,630% two-year revenue growth.
A pioneer on the still modest but rapidly growing Canadian RTB scene, Chango was founded in Toronto in 2008 and quickly expanded to the U.S. and U.K. Today the company operates six offices and three global data centres, with a headcount of 62 and a 2012 revenue estimated between $10-20M. In a venture funding round last November, it raised $12 million. (Read the full Profit profile here.)
According to a recent Digiday column by chief strategy officer Dax Hamman, one of the keys to Chango’s success has been demonstrating the benefits of RTB and ad tech to clients in language they can understand. “Having the best product isn’t enough. It’s only the beginning. If the ad tech community is ever going to rise to the top, it’s going to have to do a much better job of marketing to marketers,” he writes.
Also on the PROFIT Hot 50 were Toronto-based Gen Y-marketing agency Redwood Strategic (rank 13), London, Ont.-based web design/social media agency tbk Creative (rank 35), and integrated PR agency Anstice Communications (rank 28), with offices in Toronto and Vancouver.
In the publishing space, deals digital website Buytopia.ca was a standout, ranked 3rd with a 6,426% two-year growth and 2012 revenue of $6.5 million. Indoor advertising network UB Media (rank 27) and digital ad network Ideon Media, Vendustry Inc, (rank 36) also made the list.
In social media, real-time commenting and liveblogging platform ScribbleLive is one to watch, falling just outside the top 10 in 11th place.
The average two-year revenue growth for the Hot 50 was 1,450%. To see the full list, check out PROFIT’s Hot 50 annual ranking.
