Retail Landscape of Toronto
1,173 Retail companies in Toronto, in one picture: who is hiring, who is raising money, who founded them, what the news is about and which skills employers want. Updated August 2026.
Who leads Retail in Toronto
The page lists 1,173 retail firms in Toronto, highlighting the 69 currently hiring and the 108 that have disclosed funding, with top hiring firms such as Sitter.com, Canadian Tire and Holt Renfrew.
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Sitter.com11last posted Jun 2026
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Canadian Tire11last posted Jun 2026
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Holt Renfrew11last posted Jun 2026
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Moneris11last posted Jun 2026
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Home Depot11last posted Jun 2026
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Shoppers Drug Mart Corporation10last posted May 2026
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Mejuri9last posted May 2026
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Pivotree8last posted Jul 2026
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Flowr$196.4MPost IPO · Jul 2021
- 02
Shoplazza$160MSeries C · Jan 2022
- 03
FLIP-INC.COM$144MSeries C · Apr 2024
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Primaris REIT$134MPost IPO · Feb 2025
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Auxly$132.5MPost IPO · Feb 2023
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Entourage Health$94MPost IPO · Mar 2021
- 07
Flipp$78MSeries C · Jan 2024
- 08
Open Farm$65MSeries C · Jan 2021
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- 02Indigo5,000tracked employees
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array marketing1,800tracked employees
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sporting life600tracked employees
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- 01Indigo78.1%1,387 tracked events
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EMERGE Commerce1.3%23 tracked events
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Flora Growth1.1%20 tracked events
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Jasper0.7%12 tracked events
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PesoRama0.7%12 tracked events
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Kijijitop 5kkijiji.ca
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RedFlagDeals.comtop 50kredflagdeals.com
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Lilliotop 50klillio.com
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The Ordinarytop 50ktheordinary.com
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Auction Exporttop 50kauctionexport.com
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Peggy≥176articles in the window
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Northern Reflections≥12articles in the window
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See all 1,173 Retail companies in Toronto
Filter by funding, headcount, hiring and location, and export the list.
How the Retail ecosystem in Toronto grew, 2016–2025
It shows the number of retail startups founded each year from 2016 to 2025, peaking at 152 companies in 2020 and dropping to three in 2025.
The Retail market map of Toronto: what these companies actually do
This section breaks down the product categories these firms target, noting that consumer digital and B2C e‑commerce are the largest groups, and that product‑sale e‑commerce is the most common revenue model.
The biggest kinds of Retail company, by how many we track.
- Consumer Digital644 companies · $676.2M raised · 29 hiring
- B2C E-Commerce602 companies · $630.5M raised · 26 hiring
- Internet First Brands260 companies · $180.5M raised · 10 hiring
- Enterprise Tech232 companies · $560.6M raised · 22 hiring
- B2C Fashion E-Commerce223 companies · $135.8M raised · 7 hiring
- Commerce Enablers155 companies · $571.6M raised · 17 hiring
- Enterprise Software148 companies · $252.9M raised · 16 hiring
- Internet First Fashion Brands137 companies · $89.5M raised · 3 hiring
- Marketplaces120 companies · $121.7M raised · 4 hiring
- SaaS88 companies · $161.2M raised · 11 hiring
- Retail SaaS74 companies · $135.6M raised · 10 hiring
- Beauty E-Commerce73 companies · $24M raised · 5 hiring
Monetization
How Retail companies make money
How many companies earn revenue each way. Plenty use more than one model, so the counts add up to more than the sector.
Funding, M&A and the deals moving Retail in Toronto
In the past two years, 267 corporate events were recorded, including 70 earnings releases, 37 company announcements, and 32 key‑people updates.
- M&AFrancisco Partners, a US-based technology-focused private equity firm, is reportedly in advanced negotiations to acquire Moneris, one of Canada's largest merchant payment processors, from its joint owners, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and Bank of Montreal (BMO). The potential transaction is valued at up to USD 2 billion, according to reports.2026-05-05
- FundingPesoRama Inc. (TSXV: PESO) ... intends to complete a non-brokered private placement of up to 20,000,000 units ... resulting in gross proceeds to the Company of $7.0 million.2026-04-08
- M&ANorth American workplace food company HUNGRY has acquired Canada-based office meal delivery provider hungerhub.2026-02-26
- M&AHudson’s Bay Company took a different path in 2025 ... selling brand rights to Canadian Tire Corporation in a $30 million transaction.2025-12-29
- FundingClosing a $3 million funding round recently marks a major milestone for a company that only a year ago was hustling to convince investors of its technology’s potential.2025-09-25
- FundingGiftagram ($441,900 seed funding)2025-08-08
- M&AOn July 23, 2025, Gordon Brothers announced that they have provided C$30 million to finance the Canadian women’s clothing retailer Northern Reflections’ acquisition of two other Canadian women’s retailers, Cleo and Ricki’s.2025-07-23
- FundingAccess to a new $10 million revolving facility, providing financial flexibility to support continued growth.2025-07-08
- M&ACanadian retail company Hudson's Bay will buy the Kaufhof German department store chain from Metro for US$ 3.2 billion, with the goal of expanding into Europe.2025-06-20
- FundingBy 2021, the startup had raised a total of $13.5 million USD (then $16.5 million CAD) from mainly US investors.2025-06-06
Mergers and acquisitions
Deals from the last 24 months where a Retail company in Toronto was the buyer or the one bought, newest first. “Undisclosed” means the price was never published — not that the deal was worth nothing.
| Acquirer | Target | Deal value | Status | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $2B | Announced | 2026-05-05 | ||
| undisclosed | Announced | 2026-02-26 | ||
| $30M | Completed | 2025-12-29 | ||
| Na | $2B | Rumored | 2025-08-18 | |
| intellectual property of Hudson’s Bay | undisclosed | Completed | 2025-07-23 | |
| Cleo and Ricki’s | undisclosed | Announced | 2025-07-23 |
Who is listing, hiring leaders, launching and winning work
Detailed event listings cover leadership changes, product launches and customer contract wins for the sector’s companies.
The Fitting RoomMelissa Antoniou · Resignation — was Head of PR at The Fitting RoomJan 2026
Inwit Solutionswon timMar 2026
Hubbascale undisclosed · cost reductionJun 2025
Hudson\'s Bay~30 roles reported · financial strugglesMar 2025
Mastermind Toys~272 roles reported · ownership changeDec 2024
Half of these companies grew revenue faster than +15.0%, half slower.
Who is building Retail in Toronto
The data profiles 421 founders and CEOs across 335 firms, showing that the University of Toronto produced the most alumni (27) and that Google and Amazon are the most common prior employers.
Founder & CEO Canada Pooch, RSM Richter, PricewaterhouseCoopers. Queen's University B.Com 2007
Ex-Evisors, AfexGroup, Education Nationale. Carnegie Mellon University BS
Director - Futurpreneur Canada. INSEAD Master of Business Administration 2012, Queen's University Bachelor of Commerce 2005
CEO at Textbookrental.ca, Co-founder at YoungStars Athletics Inc., York University
Ex-Meituan, Momenta, Google, Amazon · University of Toronto BS 2012, Carnegie Mellon University MS 2014
Rabbinical College of America
McGill University
Ivey Business School at Western University 2008
CEO-Adeptmind · Ex-Co-Founder Maluuba, Amazon · University of Waterloo BMAth 2011, MMath 2014
- flagged as repeat founders3
- no repeat-founder flag333
Look up the people behind Retail companies in Toronto
Search founders, executives and operators by company, role and location.
Who funds Retail in Toronto
Since 2016, 209 funding rounds have been logged from 212 investors, with an average round size of $2.1 million.
| Investor · most active investors since 2016 | Rounds | Led | Latest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accelerator Centre | 9 | 9 | Sep 2022 |
| Techstars | 9 | 5 | Dec 2024 |
| BDC | 8 | 3 | Jun 2025 |
| 500 Global | 7 | 4 | Jun 2022 |
| FJ Labs | 5 | 1 | Dec 2022 |
| Y Combinator | 4 | 3 | Feb 2022 |
| Green Acre Capital | 3 | 2 | Mar 2019 |
| Golden Ventures | 3 | 2 | Sep 2020 |
| Acton Capital | 3 | 2 | May 2021 |
| Kensington Capital Partners | 3 | 2 | Apr 2022 |
The typical round is $2.1M — half were bigger, half smaller.
The biggest Retail funding rounds in Toronto
The largest disclosed round is Shoplazza’s $150 million Series C, and ten other large rounds are highlighted.
| Company | Round | Size | When | Backers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Series C | $150M | Jan 2022 | SoftBank Vision Fund, StepStone, Qianhai Ark Asset Management +3 more | |
| Series C | $144M | Apr 2024 | Streamlined Ventures | |
| Series D | $93.5M | Jul 2019 | Imperial Brands | |
| Series C | $65M | Jan 2021 | General Atlantic, Encore Consumer Capital | |
| Series C | $61M | Apr 2016 | General Atlantic, Insight Partners | |
| Series B | $55.6M | Nov 2021 | Bain Capital Double Impact, Round13, BDC | |
| Series B | $53M | May 2021 | Heron Rock, TZP Group, Acton Capital +3 more | |
| Series A | $40M | Apr 2022 | Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors | |
| Series B | $40M | Feb 2022 | Y Combinator, Claire Johnson, Scott Belsky +4 more | |
| Series C | $35M | Nov 2017 | — |
23 venture rounds with a disclosed amount in the window.
What the news says about Retail in Toronto
Fifty‑thousand‑four‑hundred‑twenty news articles were published about the sector in the last year, covering topics such as trade policies and international sports competitions.
What the coverage is about
The subjects that dominate Retail news in Canada. The arrow shows whether each one is being written about more or less than a year ago.
- Administrative and political subdivisions≥4,196,209▲+17%
- Geographic naming conventions and etymology≥81,545▲+420%
- International sports competitions≥39,501→+4%
- Trade policies and agreements≥34,454▼-48%
- International political relations≥29,060▲+18%
- Olympic games coverage≥23,102→-1%
- Sports broadcast rights updates≥17,337▼-36%
- Security and defense policies≥16,798▲+11%
- Professional league updates≥16,453→-6%
- Sports governance and policy changes≥16,301→-4%
- ≥340
- ≥176
- ≥42
- ≥36
- ≥14
- ≥14
- ≥12
- ≥12
- ≥7
- ≥7
26 Retail companies here were named in the news over this period.
Watch Retail coverage in Canada as it happens
Prism follows these subjects story by story — which companies are named, what is said about them and how the tone moves.
Momentum
The words getting louder — and quieter
Which terms are showing up in more stories than a year ago, and which are fading. The percentage is the change in how many articles mention them.
The pressures the press keeps returning to
Three recurring angles in Canada Retail coverage, and whether each is getting more attention year on year (through 2025).
Retail jobs in Toronto: who is hiring and what they ask for
There were 1,527 job postings from 93 employers over the past year, with the most‑asked skills in e‑commerce and enterprise infrastructure and a median advertised salary of $30 k per year.
Demand
The Skills Employers Ask For
What Retail employers in Toronto put in their job ads. The bar is how many postings ask for it; the arrow shows whether demand grew or shrank against the year before.
- ecommerce15→
- enterprise grade infrastructure13→
- mdm platforms13→
- workday6▼
- excel6▼
- oracle commerce2→
- sap hybris2→
- react native2▲
- javascript2▼
- java2▼
- Manager$46k/yr (n=66)
- Senior$73k/yr (n=30)
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Track Retail in Toronto beyond this page
Radar finds and filters the companies. Prism watches what is being said about them.
Direct contact details for the people on this page are held in Fliar Radar, behind its own access controls.