SAAS NORTH, Canada’s largest technology conference for SaaS (software-as-a-service) companies scaling up, was founded in 2016 in Ottawa by Cube Business Media Inc. and L-Spark Corporation. The conference brings together the entire Canadian SaaS ecosystem under one roof. Despite pressures to launch SAAS NORTH in other cities, the Founders saw the potential of Ottawa as a host to the growing cloud-based software market.
Industry leaders from startup CEOs to enterprise-level tech executives and investors gather to learn, connect and grow around the most pressing issues for entrepreneurs building companies in the cloud based software industry.
Some of North America’s most successful entrepreneurs have graced the stages of SAAS NORTH such as Bruce Croxon and Michele Romanow of Dragon’s Den fame; e-commerce trailblazers Tobias Lütke and Harley Finkelstein of Shopify; small business accounting software pioneer, Mike McDerment, Founder & CEO of Freshbooks; David Ossip, CEO & Chair of Ceridian, one of the fastest growing global Human Capital Management technology companies; unicorn builders, Bruce Linton, formerly of Canopy Growth Corporation and now CoChair of Martello Technologies and Dax Dasilva, Co-Founder & CEO of Lightspeed. Over 400 SaaS experts have delivered thought-leading insights to nearly 5000 attendees since the conference began and the conference has doubled in size from 2016-2019.
SAAS NORTH has become a hub for VCs and other investors looking to deploy capital. The conference is regularly attended by Canada’s leading and most active investors including iNovia Capital, BDC Capital, OMERS Ventures, Georgian Partners, MaRS, IAF and many, many more. The conference has led to investments by Wesley Clover, iNovia Capital, TIMIA Capital, Surepath Capital, BDC, OMERS Ventures, 500 Startups, Round13 Capital, and many more. Canada’s abundance of capital and its growing economy with relatively low unemployment, has kept us on pace with both an increase in the value of deals being done and a rise in the volume of transactions. SAAS NORTH has played a role in fueling the engine of our nation’s economy.
Although there are multiple paths we can take to build global giants of the SaaS variety, SAAS NORTH will continue to galvanize the tech ecosystem in Canada as we bring the depth and breadth of experience from those who have built billion dollar successes together year over year. It is with this that we celebrate the true entrepreneurial spirit of Canadians.
