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 characteristic powerhouse tech markets. Seattle ranked No. 2 on CBRE’s recent list of prime North American markets for tech expertise — with Toronto proper behind at No. 3. Seattle additionally edged out Toronto in CBRE’s measure of AI talent.
Seattle is anchored by longtime behemoths Microsoft and Amazon, together with different giant companies headquartered within the area reminiscent of Expedia, Zillow, and T-Cell. Toronto lays declare to firms like Rogers Communications and Thomson Reuters — nevertheless it doesn’t fairly match Seattle’s depth of company tech prowess.
A number of U.S. tech firms have opened Toronto satellite offices lately. However a fast take a look at GeekWire’s engineering center list reveals greater than 100 engineering 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 firm that just hit a $7 billion valuation.
As we’ve reported in GeekWire, the Seattle startup scene is stuffed with technical expertise however lacks a breakout AI upstart on Cohere’s degree.
Toronto can be dwelling 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 world ecosystem rating, Seattle got here in at No. 15 and Toronto at No. 20.
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. Times Higher Education flips the order, with Toronto at No. 21 and UW at No. 25. Toronto additionally has the College of Waterloo and its personal AI Institute. The UW boasts one of many top-ranked laptop science applications within the U.S.
Exterior academia, Toronto has the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. Seattle has the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center.
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 considered one of MLB’s largest-video show scoreboards. WINNER: Tie
FINAL SCORE: Seattle 2, Toronto 1 (with two ties).
