Just seven tech companies from La Belle Province made it onto Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 program, and none of those teams made it into the top 10. Still, there was much to celebrate all around Canada.

The Fast 50 rating system judges companies by their growth over the past four years.

The highest honour in Quebec went to Montreal’s PlusGrade, a fascinating revenue upgrade platform for the airline industry. The company also has an office in New York, and notched a respectable 1,312 per cent growth.

Deloitte is calling this year’s group “a class of companies that are more diverse and growing faster.” Over four times as many winners had greater than 40 per cent women hires than last year (32 per cent vs. just 8 per cent in 2015) and achieved strong average three-year revenue growth of 2,652 percent, more than double the same figure for 2015 winners.

“Technology Fast 50 winners are just the kind of companies we need in order to compete on a global basis and grow more prosperous as a nation,” said Anders McKenzie, Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Managing Partner and Leader for Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 program. “They push the boundaries of innovation and make investments to bring new products and services to market. These are bold companies that pursue growth aggressively and are rewarded with increased revenues.”

Technology Fast 50 companies are selected for “demonstrating innovation, leadership and rapid revenue growth.” Deloitte also celebrated winners of its Companies-to-Watch (CTW) category for early stage growth and its Leadership Award category.

The company that took top spot, Vancouver’s UrTheCast, achieved a mind-blowing 72,938 per cent growth from 2012 to 2015. a Vancouver-based technology company that serves the rapidly evolving geospatial and geoanalytics markets with a wide range of information-rich products and services.

Cooledge Lighting Inc. took second spot, another Vancouver-based company that specializes in delivering innovative lighting solutions, with a growth of 16,966 percent between 2012 and 2015.

In the third spot is Calgary-based Benevity Inc., a global leader in online workplace giving, matching, volunteering and integrated grant management solutions, achieving a growth rate of 5,869 percent.

Thirty-one companies on this year’s Technology Fast 50 program are first-time winners. The majority of the Technology Fast 50 winners are from Ontario (26), followed by British Columbia (12) and Quebec (7) with the remaining balance from the Prairie region. This year’s Leadership award winners include Aeryon Labs, Big Blue Bubble, Klick, Index Exchange and Real Matters. This prestigious category recognizes organizations for demonstrating innovation and leadership.

Deloitte’s annual survey of Technology Fast 50 company CEOs found that developing more inclusive leadership skills, hiring a more diverse employee base and establishing senior managers and managers as models for inclusion are the top three steps that winners believe their company should take.

“It’s encouraging that Fast 50 companies are not only investing in innovation and pursuing better business outcomes, but they also understand the value of leveraging diverse perspectives and experiences to propel their businesses forward,” said McKenzie.