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NW rising tech hot spot

If you follow the money, the Northwest hottest startup is now 140 miles north of Seattle.

In August, HootSuite raised an eye popping $165 from venture capitalists who backed Facebook and Twitter. That 20 times more than the average Northwest startup raised last year and more that most Silicon Valley companies ever see.

HootSuite is in a thriving category. It cheap jerseys from china makes tools that companies around the world are using to manage their presence on social networks. Open triumphGolfers give bad reviews of Chambers Bay course, USGA says it’s just fineCool Seattle places off the tourist pathNine time major winner Gary Player calls Chambers cheap jerseys Bay a ‘tragedy’Commuters: Seattle area traffic stinks, but we’d rather drive alone

But there may be another reason investors showed up at its Canada chic offices this past summer, bearing truckloads of cash.

In tech circles, Canada is a hot new destination, despite the troubles of its beloved BlackBerry. Generous tax benefits and flexible immigration rules have long been a draw, but a bigger attraction now is Canada relatively abundant supply of engineers, available for a fraction of the salaries that engineers demand in Silicon Valley. companies setting up satellite offices cheap jerseys north of the border, but for now it an enviable situation.

In British Columbia, tech is growing faster than the region traditional forestry, mining and energy industries, and now employs more people more than 80,000 at 8,900 companies, including at least 350 active startups.

The concentration of tech companies in Vancouver still trails the ecosystem in Toronto, and startups in both regions have traditionally had less capital available to fuel their growth, according to a Startup Genome report on the world tech hubs.

But that may be changing. Venture capitalists from Seattle, Silicon Valley and New York are prowling Vancouver funky Gastown neighborhood and other hot spots, looking to get in on the action.

good stuff to be had, and it usually at a bit of a discount because the competition for it isn quite as high, said Kristina Bergman, a principal at Ignition venture capital in Bellevue. But it moving into the second tier of tech cities alongside hubs such as Seattle; New York; Austin, Texas; and Canada tech strongholds in Montreal, Toronto and Waterloo, Ontario.

look at HootSuite doing well and you can forecast 10 years down the road, there are going to be impressive startups in related spaces, she said. almost an inevitability in high tech. There will be wholesale jerseys china smart, talented people who will spin out from successful companies in a particular area and start related types of businesses. to Vancouver in August to look for new companies to back.

Meanwhile, a wave of big American tech companies has arrived.

Wong grew up in Vancouver and left to pursue his fortune in Silicon Valley. Now he opening a satellite office in his hometown.

also going to have people who are extremely excited and grateful to be employed as well, he said during a break at the Grow conference, over the roar of seaplanes flying in and out of downtown harbor. best part about Canada is that the job market for the youth demographic is something that just starting to improve. Most every major California tech company set up a satellite engineering office in the Seattle area to take advantage of the region software talent, without leaving the Pacific time zone.

Now that Seattle has nearly tapped out and salaries are approaching those offered in Silicon Valley, companies are looking farther up the road. a talent game and those with the best talent will win, right? said Ian Heine, head of the technology practice in Vancouver for the Price waterhouseCoopers accounting firm. tech companies trying to lure top engineers from around the world. But that less of an issue now that Congress is leaning toward allowing more foreign tech workers as part of immigration reform it considering. Highlighting its concerns about the limited visa supply, Microsoft in 2007 opened a development center in suburban Vancouver, largely to accommodate workers it was recruiting overseas.

That facility remains, but has evolved from an immigrant stopover into a general development center.

Canada and its provinces also dangle all sorts of tax benefits, including a federal tax credit that can work out to about 40 per dollar of salaries in research and development fields.

But those incentives ebb and flow, depending on the political mood. Vancouver provides evidence that they may not be the best way to build a lasting industry.

Special tax credits and relatively low wages helped build the region film industry. Later they were extended to video game companies, turning Vancouver into one of the world leading cities for game development.

Then the tide turned and thousands of those jobs evaporated in the past five years. The recession hit as the industry entered a low cycle. But Vancouver was particularly hard hit because other provinces were offering more lucrative subsidies that lured away major studios.

Quebec decided they don want to be putting out the money, so now they moving somewhere else, he said. seems like a nonsustainable model.Articles Connexes：