Tech giants are setting up shop in Toronto

Tech giants are setting up shop in Toronto

The coolest new offices from the hottest American tech transplants

Photograph courtesy of Okta

Okta

The company: A cloud-based identification software that allows scatterbrained multi-taskers to securely log into all of their platforms with just one password.
The place: A 7,500-square-foot office in an old textiles building at Queen and John.
The staff: 60 people.
The perks: The office has Ping-Pong tables, beer on tap and video games. Employees can work from home every Thursday and feast on comped catered lunches three days a week.

Slack

The company: A web-based platform where colleagues can talk and brainstorm.
The place: A three-storey, 22,000-square-foot complex in a former knitting factory at Queen and John.
The staff: 20 people, with plans to hire 125 more employees this year.
The perks: Staff get weekly massage therapy, subsidized monthly gym memberships and up to $2,500 per year to spend on professional development. Every afternoon, a gong sounds to ­signal that it’s time for a coffee break.

Amazon

The company: The global marketplace for everything from dog toys to dystopian YA novels.
The place: Five glittering storeys of waterfront office space at 120 Bremner. The decor is quintessentially Canadian, with a massive wooden moose sculpture and hallways lined with vintage Toronto maps.
The staff: 600 people.
The perks: All of the glass walls are writable.

Thomson Reuters

The company: The mammoth information and media conglomerate chaired by Toronto billionaire David Thomson.
The place: A 50,000-square-foot technology centre in the South Core devoted to cognitive computing and cloud development.
The staff: 100 people, with plans to hire 400 more in the next year.
The perks: The airy, open-concept space has floor-to-ceiling lakefront views, a staff lounge, a fully stocked games room and a lifetime supply of Diet Coke.

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