Nick Quain
Vice President, Venture
Invest Ottawa
Attention Investors: Ottawa delivers better IRR than Techstars – and just about everywhere else, too.
Yes, you read that right.
I’m not here to throw shade on Techstars. With 4,400 startups accelerated and $27.6 billion in capital invested, Techstars is one of the most prolific startup engines in the world.
But what if I told you that a Canadian city known more for government jobs and hockey rinks is outperforming it on the only metric that really matters: building $100M+ revenue companies?
Investors, welcome to Bootstrap City. You’ve probably been sleeping on it. That’s about to change.
Let’s Cut the Hype: Centaurs Eat Unicorns for Breakfast
Everyone loves a unicorn. Big, flashy, headline-grabbing $1 billion valuations. But here’s what VCs don’t always say out loud:
A unicorn isn’t real money — it’s just a paper valuation, often inflated by complex investor terms like liquidation preferences and participation rights. The founders? Common shareholders? They often don’t see a dime unless the company exits for way more than what it raised. According to Stanford research, unicorn valuations are inflated by as much as 50%. These are often paper tigers.
Centaur status at $100M in revenue, on the other hand, reflects real economic strength. Recurring revenue. Scalable operations. Market dominance.
Bessemer Venture Partners estimates just 15% of unicorns become centaurs. The rest? Burnout, down rounds, or worse — nice logos on a graveyard wall.
The Numbers Don’t Lie (but VC valuations might)
| Ecosystem | Companies | Capital Raised | Known Centaurs | Capital per Centaur |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Techstars | 4,400 | $27.6B | ~12 | $2.3 billion |
| Ottawa | 776 | $4.95B | ~6 | $825 million |
Shopify, Kinaxis, Fullscript, Ross Video, Assent, and Solace all quietly scaled to $100M+ in revenue in Ottawa. Some are publicly traded, others are private powerhouses — but all are real, scaled companies.
Could there be a few Techstars centaurs I missed? Probably. Are there other Ottawa firms that arguably belong on the list, like Calian or Telesat? Could we have included acquired Ottawa Centaurs like Halogen and March Networks? Also, yes.
But the results are clear enough — more refined data won’t change the trajectory of this story.
Here’s the kicker: Ottawa has produced those centaurs with less than 20% of the capital Techstars deployed.
That’s not just impressive — it’s economically terrifying if an investor is wondering why their IRR looks like a hockey stick in reverse.
And let’s be clear: Techstars reports a 24% Internal Rate of Return (IRR) — a strong, above-market return that puts them in the top third territory among VC funds.
So no, we’re not comparing Ottawa to a patsy. We’re comparing it to one of the most respected names in global acceleration — and Ottawa looks like the better bet.
Bootstrap City: The Capital-Efficient Powerhouse
We call Ottawa Bootstrap City. Not because companies here don’t raise capital — billions have flowed into the ecosystem in recent years — but because our founders do more with less. They stretch every dollar. They build with discipline.
And they are typically default alive in a way their Silicon Valley peers are not. It’s a cultural mindset, where founders here build to scale without assuming another round will save them.
That capital efficiency isn’t a constraint. It’s an edge.
Ottawa founders aren’t just building to raise. They’re building to last. And increasingly, they’re building the next generation of global category leaders.
Why This Matters for Investors
Investors obviously care about actual returns, and Ottawa is their blue ocean.
It’s a startup ecosystem built on capital efficiency, high IRR potential, and an underpriced market. Ottawa should be on your radar.
While the masses are chasing unicorns and hoping the math works out, smart investors are starting to pay attention to something else:
Real companies. Real revenue. Real returns.
That’s what we build in Bootstrap City.
Ready to start something great in Ottawa?
Ready to start something great in Ottawa? Invest Ottawa supports the local startup ecosystem, helping founders at every stage of business, from the spark of an idea to going global. If your venture is in the early stages, we have programs and services that can benefit you: