Seattle and Toronto are squaring off on the baseball diamond this week within the American League Championship Collection. However how do the 2 cities fare in a battle over tech bragging rights?
Each function powerhouse tech markets. Seattle ranked No. 2 on CBRE’s current checklist of high North American markets for tech expertise — with Toronto proper behind at No. 3. Seattle additionally edged out Toronto in CBRE’s measure of AI expertise.
Seattle is anchored by longtime behemoths Microsoft and Amazon, together with different giant companies headquartered within the area corresponding to Expedia, Zillow, and T-Cell. Toronto lays declare to firms like Rogers Communications and Thomson Reuters — but it surely doesn’t fairly match Seattle’s depth of company tech prowess.
A number of U.S. tech firms have opened Toronto satellite tv for pc places of work lately. However a fast have a look at GeekWire’s engineering heart checklist exhibits greater than 100 outposts within the Seattle space, together with substantial operations for Google, Meta, and Apple. WINNER: Seattle
On the startup entrance, Toronto has a famous person in Cohere, the fast-growing enterprise AI mannequin firm that simply hit a $7 billion valuation.
As we’ve reported in GeekWire, the Seattle startup scene is filled with technical expertise however lacks a breakout AI upstart on Cohere’s stage.
Toronto can be residence to safety startup 1Password (hit a $6.8 billion valuation in 2022); VPN firm Tailscale (raised $160 million this yr); and autonomous trucking startup Waabi (raised $200 million final yr).
In keeping with CB Insights, the Seattle space has 14 unicorns, whereas the Toronto area has 11.
And in Startup Genome’s newest international ecosystem rating, Seattle got here in at No. 15 and Toronto at No. 20.
The GeekWire 200 checklist has many longstanding tech firms and fast-growing startups within the Seattle space — together with gross sales software program firm Highspot ($3.5 billion valuation in 2022); fusion startup Helion (backed by Sam Altman and SoftBank); and well being knowledge agency Truveta (reached unicorn standing this yr).
Software program testing startup Statsig was ranked No. 5 on the GeekWire 200 earlier than its current $1.1 billion acquisition to OpenAI.
Regardless of missing an AI all-star, the Emerald Metropolis will get the slight edge right here. WINNER: Seattle
Seattle and Toronto have premier analysis universities. EduRank lists the College of Washington at No. 8 and College of Toronto at No. 12 amongst North American colleges. Instances Greater Training flips the order, with Toronto at No. 21 and UW at No. 25.
The College of Waterloo in Toronto has its personal AI Institute. The UW in Seattle boasts one of many top-ranked pc science packages within the U.S.
Exterior academia, Toronto has the Vector Institute for Synthetic Intelligence and the Canadian Institute for Superior Analysis. Seattle has the Allen Institute for Synthetic Intelligence and the Fred Hutchinson Most cancers Middle.
This one is a toss up. WINNER: Tie
Tech luminaries: Seattle’s lineup options veteran family names like Invoice Gates (Microsoft co-founder), Wealthy Barton (Zillow and Expedia co-founder), and Satya Nadella (Microsoft CEO). Toronto counters with AI heavyweights Geoffrey Hinton (Nobel laureate and “godfather of deep studying”), Raquel Urtasun (Waabi founder), and Aidan Gomez (Cohere CEO). WINNER: Toronto
Each cities have baseball stadiums with retractable roofs, although Toronto’s Rogers Centre was the primary on the planet to debut that engineering feat. T-Cell Park in Seattle options one in every of MLB’s largest video show scoreboards. The Pacific Northwest Seismic Community additionally recorded seismic power at T-Cell Park throughout the Seattle’s win over Detroit on Friday. WINNER: Tie
FINAL SCORE: Seattle 2, Toronto 1 (with two ties).
