We’re Living In a Tech Gold Rush, and There’s Plenty of Shine to Go Around
We’re living in uncertain times. It’s a quip that sounds faintly similar to the opening line of A Tale of Two Cities, but it arose from a conversation between my barber and I. But one doesn’t need to turn toward the echos of 19th-century British literature to understand the new normal is wrought with on-the-fly adjustments and ulcerating uncertainty: deciding whether to send your kids to school, not knowing how long or how severe a second wave will hit. Our disjointed response to a sprawling pandemic has brought not just personal anxieties, but also the beginning of a broad economic upheaval.
Perhaps gold rush is a more suitable comparison. This tech boom will guide us through COVID-19, to be sure, but this isn’t some pandemic-fluke get-rich scheme. It will accelerate the inevitable shift to an interconnected, digital economy.
Panic spread across all sectors when Canada initially went into lockdown, as nobody knew how their job would be impacted, if they even retained their job at all. Under the immense pressure of extended hibernation, a halt of discretionary spending, and indefinitely suspended travel, Canada’s (and the world’s) largest industries splintered before they finally shattered. Tourism and hospitality’s core functions have all but completely paused and entertainment is more ghost town than live action. Brick-and-mortar business owners were formerly concerned with seasonal sales cycles; now they’re clinging to dwindling revenue streams to jumpstart their companies — unfortunately, many will bust before their next Christmas season sale.
As bleak as this all understandably seems, there is some fleeting hope. Other industries have realized equal and opposite effects of this pandemic. In short: Tech is finally being embraced as something that can improve not just services, but our overall well-being. Industry leaders and consumers alike are understanding that tech isn’t some abstracted threat to awe at, but a tool that can integrate with the day-to-day machinations of our lives. Big tech, small tech, biotech, EdTech, FinTech, e-commerce, gaming, digital streaming, entertainment — all that stuff. Initially, many in these industries fretted over whether they’d access funding or capital throughout the pandemic — or if this newfound surge in tech demand would be sustainable — but eight months into social distancing and most tech companies have weathered this storm.
Of course, some of this can be attributed to the remote nature of tech itself, or how many tech companies were already designed to have work-from-home in place. The bigger picture here, however, lies in the understanding that tech-based solutions isn’t just a short-term lifeline, but something to propel organizations forward into an already digitizing economy where workers can do their jobs from any location, now largely populated by a Millennial generation that was already questioning things like daily commutes, stodgy offices, work-life balance, and other stale corporate policies. Formerly small companies have scaled in recent months, achieving milestones once thought as laughable. For example, Zoom’s user-base increased twentyfold, and their paid users number 15 times what they were months ago — all without a substantial marketing push. This phenomenon stretches beyond the scope of a webcam; all major tech sectors have experienced significant increases in demand.
Loads of investment are being funneled into tech at all stages of development. With deep-pocketed investors injecting hefty revenue streams into startups, as well as new accelerators and incubators popping up all over North America, it is clear that venture capitalists have a new and urgent understanding of how tech and juice growth potential. Governments are launching programs to facilitate growth and development for early stage companies with large chunks of funding. Medium-sized tech companies have been closing funding rounds at a blistering pace. Publicly traded tech giants have seen money pour into their market caps as Amazon and Google become part of a vital global digital infrastructure powering our world’s technology.
Nuvei — a Montreal-based FinTech company focusing on e-commerce, mobile banking, and contactless payments — recently went public after raising $358 million in December and posted a valuation of $2.4 billion. Initially, they planned to list shares at around $20, which was then pushed to $26 due to high demand. Today, just six days after their IPO, shares of NUVEI are trading at $40.66, bringing their current market cap to $5.13 billion.
This is the story of many other tech companies. Years of careful product development and customer service have been ignited by pandemic-induced demand for their solutions. Marketing and sales departments are operating at an all-time high as customers pour in from all over the country, and investors scramble to find the next shiny thing. And as other industries scramble and are forced into an adapt-or-die mentality, our daily lives are shifting and scaling by a 2020 tech gold rush that won’t be losing its luster any time soon.
