Entrepreneurs start with an idea and a belief that their vision can have a massive impact. It doesn’t always work out that way. But when it does, the effect can be world-changing: A breakthrough startup can scramble industries, alter how we work and live, and shift talent flows around the world. It’s no wonder that we tend to follow the fortunes of these founders and those who choose to work for them so carefully.

With the LinkedIn Top Startups list, we wanted to provide professionals with a look at the young companies reaching that escape velocity. As always, we started with the data — the billions of actions generated by LinkedIn’s 575 million members — and looked at four pillars in particular: employee growth; jobseeker interest; member engagement with the company and its employees; and how well these startups pulled talent from our flagship LinkedIn Top Companies list. In other words, which startups are commanding the attention and working hours of top talent? To be eligible for Top Startups, companies must be 7 years old or younger, have at least 50 employees, be privately held and headquartered in Canada. (Check out which startups made the lists in the U.S., Australia and Germany, and stay tuned — we’ll be unveiling lists for more countries in the coming weeks. You can learn more about our methodology at the bottom of this article).

Will these companies continue with their explosive growth and world-changing work? That’s in the hands of the talent flocking to these startups. Maybe you’ll want to put your own hat into the ring. Check out who made the cut and join the conversation using #LinkedInTopStartups.

Here are this year’s top 25 startups in Canada.

Investing on autopilot: Robo-adviser Wealthsimple helps investors build well-rounded investment portfolios automatically and affordably, disrupting the traditional financial advice market long dominated by big banks. Since its 2014 launch, the company has grown to manage over $2 billion* for more than 75,000 clients in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. | Global headcount: 170 | Headquarters: Toronto | Meet the Narwhals: Wealthsimple was named one of the top 5 “narwhals,” a group of 40 Canadian tech companies that are most likely to become Unicorns, according to University of Toronto’s Impact Center.

Making blockchain accessible: Coinsquare simplifies buying and selling digital currencies like bitcoin and ethereum for Canadians by allowing them to use Canadian dollars directly. The startup also launched a wealth management business so individuals can ride the cryptocurrency wave via curated investment products, including two new securities indices — one focused solely on blockchain. | Global headcount: 140 | Headquarters: Toronto | Supercharged growth: Four-year-old Coinsquare is the fastest-growing company on this list, expanding its employee base by over 92% in the 12 months through June, according to LinkedIn data. The startup plans to expand its services to Europe later this year.

From the lab to the office: Element AI adapts cutting-edge artificial intelligence research to solve real-world business problems for companies, like improving e-commerce product recommendations or creating better hiring forecasts. The startup is going head-to-head with bigger (and better financed) players like Google and IBM but is hoping to win over clients with AI researchers from top universities. | Global headcount: 350 | Headquarters: Montreal | A brainy bunch: The 2-year-old startup has more than 70 Ph.D.s among its employees and boasts the largest privately-owned AI R&D lab in Canada.

Holistic healthcare: League is looking to upend the health benefits market, helping companies save money while simultaneously delighting employees — a goal that’s won them customers like Shopify, Unilever and Facebook. The digital platform allows employees to curate their healthcare options beyond traditional insurance, including reimbursement for everything from gym memberships to art therapy. | Global headcount: 175 | Headquarters: Toronto | A league of their own: The 4-year-old startup raised $62 million in July to help fund its U.S. expansion, as well as its 2019 launch in the U.K. and EU.

Parsing legalese: Kira Systems, founded in 2011, helps law firms and corporations like Deloitte analyze contracts more efficiently. Its machine-learning technology scans complex legal documents to highlight concepts or clauses, speeding up common tasks like merger-and-acquisition due diligence or lease agreements. The formerly bootstrapped startup raised its first funding this month: US$50 million from Insight Venture Partners. | Global headcount: 110 | Headquarters: Toronto | Time-saver: Law firm Fenwick & West said its M&A licensing team cut its document review time in half, on average, thanks to Kira’s technology.

Coding solutions: TribalScale, the nearly 3-year-old innovation firm, helps companies implement cutting-edge technology from idea to execution. It has built proprietary Alexa skills for both the PGA Tour and the CBC and partnered with RedTag.ca to build its first mobile app. | Global headcount: 200 | Headquarters: Toronto | On a roll: The self-funded startup has grown from five employees to over 200 in two-and-a-half years, and its revenue has followed suit: booming nearly 170% year-over-year in 2017.

High tech: Ample Organics is a seed-to-sale software company for the cannabis industry, helping producers track everything from yield weight to patient data while facilitating compliance with government regulations. The 4-year-old startup powers nearly 70% of Canada’s licensed medical growers and is now expanding internationally. | Global headcount: 90 | Headquarters: Toronto | Growing like a weed: Ample Organics expanded its employee count by 444% year-over-year as of July and intends to double in size before July 2019 to keep up with demand.

Lunch hour reimagined: Ritual, co-founded by former Google Shopping lead Ray Reddy in 2014, wants to change how coworkers grab lunch. The “social ordering app” creates office teams where people can piggyback on lunch or coffee orders, which are then picked up in person. More than 44,500 workplace teams in the U.S. and Canada, including Goldman Sachs and Spotify, use the app. The perk for restaurants: much lower fees than typical delivery apps. | Global headcount: 175 | Headquarters: Toronto | New funding: The startup raised an additional $90 million in June led by Georgian Partners.

Rapid responses: Loopio, founded in 2014, makes responding to Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and security questionnaires seamless. Teams can work collaboratively in real time and build out customized libraries, making it easier to pre-populate new RFPs and save hours. Loopio counts Thomson Reuters, IBM and Citrix as customers. | Global headcount: 70 | Headquarters: Toronto | Scaling up: Originally bootstrapped, Loopio recently raised $11 million in funding to help scale its engineering, product and design teams, and plans to hire over 60 new employees by next July.

Water in the desert: The idea for Flow was sparked after a trip to Burning Man. Serial entrepreneur Nicholas Reichenbach noticed vast quantities of discarded plastic water bottles and saw a better way: paperboard-based bottles. Inside each is water sourced from Reichenbach’s family-owned spring in Ontario. Flow, founded in 2014, has grown its employee count by 46% over the past year, according to LinkedIn Premium Insights. | Global headcount: 50 | Headquarters: Toronto | Doorstep delivery: The B Corp-certified company delivers water milkman-style via electric vehicle to customers in Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa and Montreal.

Demystifying retirement: Planswell uses a questionnaire and its patent-pending tech to create free financial plans — and it has built more than 77,000 for users. The startup, which launched nationally (excluding Quebec and the territories) in January, aims to use $13.8 million in seed funding to expand its reach and double its workforce. | Global headcount: 50 | Headquarters: Toronto | Say it loud: At the end of Planswell’s weekly town hall, a new hire is asked to shout out a battle cry for the team to yell in unison.

Growth spurt: StackAdapt, a native advertising platform powered by machine learning, is one of Toronto’s fastest-growing startups — the adtech firm doubled in size last year. Scaling culture isn’t easy: As the team grows, StackAdapt “lives and breathes” by its employee feedback collected anonymously every quarter. Global headcount: 90 | Headquarters: Toronto | Tackling bias: Last year StackAdapt released Unbiasify, software that hides names and photos of candidates on recruitment platforms. The open-source project aims to reduce the influence of unconscious bias in tech hiring.

Wearable future: Thalmic Labs gained global attention for its Myo armband, which allows users to control everything from computers to prosthetic limbs with a flick of the wrist. In 2016, the startup scored one of Canada’s biggest funding rounds ever ($158 million). What’s next? Thalmic is gearing up to debut its new project, “a closely guarded secret for years.” | Global headcount: 400 | Headquarters: Kitchener, Ontario | Canadian-made: Many of the startup’s employees work in its 65,000-square-foot manufacturing facility; its products will be made “entirely within Canada's borders,” Thalmic tells LinkedIn.

Making math fun: Prodigy offers a free, fantasy-inspired math game for grades one through eight that has grown from 3,000 users to 30 million over the past seven years. The game — which includes a Pokémon-style battle between questions — is tailored to students’ strengths and weaknesses, adjusting as children progress with a concept. And it offers real-time reporting to teachers and parents, so they can jump in when kids need a helping hand. | Global headcount: 170 | Headquarters: Burlington, Ontario | Level up: Headcount has grown by 183% over the past two years, according to LinkedIn Premium Insights, with the lion’s share of openings in game design and development. | Read more: How a Pokémon-style math game hooked kids — and parents.

Phoning it in: Canadians call in sick 10 days each year, on average, but the majority can’t get a same-day doctor’s appointment. That’s what Dialogue is hoping to address through its telemedicine platform for corporate employees. While Canada has been slow to adopt telemedicine, the 2-year-old startup said it has signed up more than 200 employers, and it just raised $12 million in a round led by White Star Capital. | Global headcount: 225 | Headquarters: Montreal | Calling all doctors: The company’s employee count has grown 268% since January 2017. That includes its more than 150 medical professionals.

Art-inspired beer: Collective Arts Brewing wants its beer to be considered works of art, on the inside and out. The brewer enlists a rotating roster of artists to design its cans, switching up designs every three months and letting designers retain ownership of their work. | Global headcount: 100 | Headquarters: Hamilton, Ontario | Musical cans: Collective Arts’ can designs are not limited to visual art. The 5-year-old company has paired up with musicians to share their work, which imbibers can access by scanning a code with their phones.

The app maker behind the curtain: It’s possible you haven’t heard of Rangle, but you are probably familiar with the heavy-hitting roster of companies it has worked with. The 5-year-old startup has helped firms like Uniqlo, Priceline.com, and Match.com with their web and mobile app development. | Global headcount: 240 | Headquarters: Toronto | Bridge building: Rangle sponsors a free 11-week coding program for women in tech who are looking to develop hard and soft skills that will help them rise through the ranks.

In bloom: Tulip is a mobile app that helps retail workers assist customers on the shop floor; they can look up products, manage customer information and organize things like home delivery on a mobile or tablet device. Founded in 2013, Tulip has been embraced by retailers including Saks Fifth Avenue, Kate Spade, Coach and Bonobos. | Global headcount: 180 | Headquarters: Toronto | On the scent: U.S. venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers certainly sees a future for tech-savvy retail assistants, investing US$40 million into Tulip in August 2017. | Read more: How retail startups are turning the “retailpocalypse” tide.

Sitting pretty: Started by Brandon Truaxe in 2013, Deciem owns and operates more than 10 beauty brands and has a portfolio of 50-plus products. Deciem distinguishes itself by offering luxury beauty products at affordable price points (under $10). In 2017, beauty-industry behemoth Estée Lauder invested in the startup. | Global headcount: 180* | Headquarters: Toronto | The new normal: Most staffers are not beauty-industry veterans. “Most of us are doing what we have never done before and have become experts by doing,” the company says. Truaxe, the self-described “screwed up!” founder, has received his fair share of publicity — not all of it as glowing as well-maintained skin.

On the menu: Founded in November 2010 by Alex Barrotti, TouchBistro is an iPad point-of-sale system for the restaurant industry. Used in more than 100 countries, the platform allows waiters to manage reservations, display menus, take orders and instantly submit them — with all the data populating sales reports. | Global headcount: 310 | Headquarters: Toronto | Wanting a seat at the table: Earlier this year, TouchBistro received $72 million in Series D financing led by OMERS Ventures and JPMorgan Chase.

An ideas company: Behaviour is making its mark on the marketing agency landscape. Established in 2012, the company understands how consumers behave across digital, social, retail, sponsorship and event channels and provides branding strategies, ideas and marketing programs for some of the country’s most respected brands. | Global headcount: 55 | Headquarters: Toronto | Big wins: They may be small but have already sealed some mighty deals with clients like Molson Coors, TELUS, RBC and Visa.

Converting shoppers into buyers: GroupBy prides itself on removing the technological burden from online retailers. The company, whose clientele includes Urban Outfitters, CVS, Lancôme and more, provides solutions for search, navigation, merchandising, SEO and search as you type. | Global headcount: 95 | Headquarters: Toronto | Worldly aspirations: GroupBy recently announced plans to double its staff in Toronto and Austin, Texas, as well as open new offices in Europe by early next year.

Home care tech: AlayaCare’s software aims to improve health outcomes for patients by improving the workflow for home-care workers, from record keeping to virtual appointments. The company has raised $21 million, revenue jumped 105% from 2016 to 2017, and in June it made an acquisition, expanding the business into Ontario. So, what’s next? AlayaCare plans to expand into Australia and the U.S. | Global headcount: 95 | Headquarters: Montreal | Staffing up: The 4-year-old AlayaCare expects to fill 48 new job openings by July 2019.

Providing security: TrackTik’s cloud-based software is designed to meet the needs of the world’s security professionals. But this is more clock punching than crime fighting: The platform provides real-time guard management and incident reporting, as well as scheduling, tracking and payroll functions. | Global headcount: 105 | Headquarters: Montreal | All eyes on growth: Established in 2013, the company last year enjoyed a $7 million financial infusion from La Caisse and iNovia Capital. They plan to use the funding to expand into Europe and South America, and to introduce new technologies like A.I.

From drawing board to download: Connected partners with companies to launch software-powered products like wearables, smart cars and voice interfaces. The 4-year-old startup manages products from viability (Can it be built?) to desirability (Do users want this?) to feasibility (How will it be built?) and, finally, execution for projects like Timex smartwatches. | Global headcount: 150 | Headquarters: Toronto | The best and brightest: Two of Connected’s engineers were named to the Developer 30 under 30 list this year, standing out among more than 500 nominations.

Share the full list and your thoughts on this year's Top Startups list using #LinkedInTopStartups.

Methodology

LinkedIn measures startups based on four pillars: employment growth, engagement, job interest and attraction of top talent. Employment growth is measured as percentage headcount increase over one year, which must be a minimum of 15%. Engagement looks at non-employee views and follows of the company’s LinkedIn page, as well as how many non-employees are viewing employees at that startup. Job interest counts rate at which people are viewing and applying to jobs at the company, including both paid and unpaid postings. Attraction of top talent measures how many employees the startup has recruited away from LinkedIn Top Companies, as a percentage of the startup’s total workforce. Data is normalized across all eligible startups. The methodology time frame is July 1, 2017, through June 30, 2018.

To be eligible, companies must be independent and privately held, have 50 or more employees, be 7 years old or younger and be headquartered in the country on whose list they appear. We exclude all staffing firms, think tanks, nonprofits, accelerators and government-owned entities.

Reported by: Katie Carroll, Jaimy Lee, Laura Lorenzetti, Carmel Melouney, Scott Olster and Capucine Yeomans. Photo credits: The companies.

*All currency is CAD unless otherwise noted. Deciem's headcount is from LinkedIn Premium Insights, while remaining headcounts are provided by the companies. All headcount totals are rounded.

Correction: TrackTik's headcount is 105, not 70 as previously reported.