A year ago, most of us began our year just like any other year, only to end the Q1 2020 in full lockdowns and uncertain of what the future would look like.  Fast forward a year – the markets continue to hit new highs, vaccinations are being rolled out globally, and our industry continues to add to the growing job creation.

Here in Atlantic Canada, there was a large increase in job creation in the tech ecosystem in Q1 2021.  The number of jobs increased by about 493, bringing the number of employed by the sector to 10,790.  

To put that in perspective there was a total of 654 net new jobs added last year.  Funding in the region in 2020 hit $90M according to CVCA. From my count $55M in funding has already been publicly announced in the region in Q1 2021.

Of the companies that I’m tracking 27% hired employees, 48% had no change in staff and 25% had less staff than the previous quarter.

There was some big news out of the region in Q1 2021:

• Funding:
  • Region raises $90M in 2020
  • McCain Invests $30M in TruLeaf
  • Arlene Dickson in Outcast’s $10M round
  • SomaDetect unveils $6M round
  • ClearRisk announces $3.3M growth round
  • Talem Health Closes $2.3M round
• New Funds:
  • NS Invests $5M into Sandpiper
  • Natural Products Canada launches $50M Fund
• Acquisitions:
  • Manifold acquired by Snyk
  • ScreenScape Acquired by Spectrio
  • 2k acquires HB Studios
  • Blue Charm acquires Symbi

We release jobs data each quarter for Atlantic Canada. If you’d like to receive future job data from the industry, please subscribe to our newsletter, by clicking here.

Top Tech Atlantic Canadian Employers in Q1 2021

Sorted by net new jobs created

IntroHive, New Brunswick

Verafin, Newfoundland

Dash Hudson, Nova Scotia

Simply Cast, Nova Scotia

LuminUltra Technologies, New Brunswick

Mysa, Newfoundland

Clear Risk, Newfoundland

Sonrai, New Brunswick

Vid Cruiter, New Brunswick

Swarmio, Nova Scotia

Viewpoint Realty, Nova Scotia

Kraken Robotic Systems, Newfoundland