Newfoundland’s Kraken Robotics tops technology category.
The TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) has unveiled its annual ranking of the 50 top performing companies on the exchange for the past year.
As Toronto Stock Exchange CEO Loui Anastasopoulos noted, mining and energy companies top the roster as the tech sector buckles “under pressure” amid the market downturn. The TSXV’s Venture 50 list reflects the impact of these challenging conditions as investors look beyond SaaS companies in a variety of regions, including those outside of Canada.
”At one point our technology market cap had outpaced our mining franchise market cap, something no one could have ever foreseen.”
– Loui Anastasopoulos, TMX Group
According to the TMX Group, which operates the TSXV, the Venture 50 ranking this year equally weighs each firm’s performance during 2022 across three key indicators: market capitalization growth, share price appreciation, and trading volume.
The TMX Group noted that performance for mining and energy companies grew 174 percent and 89 percent respectively, compared to 34 percent combined growth among other sectors. The 2023 Venture 50 companies overall delivered an average financial return of 73 percent and saw an average market capitalization increase of 145 percent.
Across the entire Venture 50 list, there are 17 firms from British Columbia and 10 from Alberta. Half of the top 10 companies in the energy category are from Alberta, with Southern Energy Corporation ranked in first place.
Of the top 10 ventures in the mining category, three are based in Québec and four of them come from British Columbia.
Though the 2023 roster is largely made up of Canadian companies, it is topped by Brazilian mining company Sigma Lithium Corporation.
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The technology category is led by Newfoundland startup Kraken Robotics, which offers advanced sensors for unmanned underwater vehicles used in military and commercial applications. It saw its share price and market cap increase by 52 percent between 2021 to 2022.
Loui Anastasopoulos, CEO of the Toronto Stock Exchange and global head of capital formation at TMX Group, told BetaKit at the unveiling of the TSXV 50 list that mining and energy companies outperforming the tech sector is “the cyclical nature of the markets.”
“What we’re confident about is the foundation that has been built over the last few years in Canada to be able to support good technology,” said Anastasopoulos. “If we reflect back on 2021, which was a stellar year, at one point our technology market cap had outpaced our mining franchise market cap, something no one could have ever foreseen.”
As a by-product of these market challenges, Anastasopoulos highlighted changing investment trends within the tech sector.
“We’re seeing a shift from what was sort of more SaaS-based technology focus last year to different types of tech that investors are looking for,” he said, citing the Venture 50 list as an example where mining and energy companies “are big winners this year.”
“In a world where energy security has been a bit of an issue … Canada has shown to be a bit of a safe haven, and a bit of a hedge against inflation, and so investors have rewarded those companies,” Anastasopoulos said.
Speaking to his outlook for the rest of 2023, Anastasopoulos said he expects continued volatility in the market, but is hopeful that things will “turn around” in the second half of the year.
With files from Josh Scott.
Featured image courtesy Josh Scott.
