By Shaun Penner

Peace Country business

Grande Prairie area start-ups ranked among Canada’s fastest-growing companies

Oct 16, 2020 | 5:07 PM

Two Grande Prairie area businesses have been ranked amongst Canada’s biggest new growth companies for 2020.

Canadian Business published its annual Top New Growth Companies for 2020, where both Grande Prairie-based Grassroots Realty Group and DeBolt-based Sonar Software were placed amongst the top 85 fastest growing start-ups in the country.

For Grassroots President Yuri Smith, he says the acknowledgment exemplifies the entrepreneurial spirit the Peace Country embodies.

“We are very proud to be a part of it. A lot of people have supported us from day one,” said Smith, who helped start the real estate firm back in 2017. “We owe that to our team here in Grande Prairie, the rest of our team across the rest of Alberta, but most importantly the clients and all the people in the community who have supported us.”

Grassroots comes in ranked 51^st amongst start-ups in Canada, seeing a growth rate of 475 per cent over a two-year period. For Sonar, which makes the list for a second straight year, it came in ranked 72^nd in Canada, growing its revenues by 201 per cent over that same time period.

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The two are also among 13 Alberta-based businesses to be ranked, with all other businesses from the province coming from either Edmonton or Calgary.

Seeing Peace Country start-ups fall into the same category with the likes of those operating in metropolitan centres like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver may be surprising to some, but for Sonar Chief Operating Officer Glenn Moore, the change to more remote-based workplaces, especially because of the ongoing pandemic, means businesses from all over the world have the opportunity to thrive on the national and international stage.

“The opportunities for people to be able to fully participate in a remote workforce, COVID has opened the doors to that,” said Moore. “People are just awakening to the idea that ‘You know what? I can live wherever I want to live’. [Even] if it’s out in the middle-of-nowhere in DeBolt, Alberta.”

“I think it’s going to be really nice for people to be able to live where they want to, but yet work in industries that will challenge them and pay them for their abilities, versus where they live.”

Sonar is a technology company that works with internet service providers to centralize their management, which can include things like billing and troubleshooting. It also works with oil and gas companies that want to monitor equipment in the field and companies that have multiple-unit apartment or office buildings.

Moore says his company has now grown to over 60 employees, based in DeBolt and across North America. Their client base, he adds, is based all around the globe.

He says to those looking to make it big in the business world, it’s important to diversify and seek out emerging opportunities.

“Be open to the new opportunities that are out there, because they are out there now when they weren’t before the unfortunate hit of COVID.”

As for Smith and Grassroots, their team has grown to include four offices across Alberta, starting in Grande Prairie and spreading out to High Prairie, Edmonton and Calgary. Smith adds that Grassroots plans to open two or three more offices in Alberta in 2021.

“Our goal is to hit all the major centres and all of the small, outlying communities. We want to be a household name in Alberta Real Estate,” said Smith. “Our goal is to really build an Alberta company that is by Albertans, for Albertans.”

The full 2020 rankings for the Top New Growth Businesses in Canada can be found here.

(With files from Curtis Galbraith, EverythingGP)