Yardi Canada Ltd. Celebrates 25 Years

Growth, philanthropy and diversity

By Leah Etling on Feb 6, 2024 in Global

Yardi Canada Ltd. marked its 25-year anniversary in 2023 with a series of client events that celebrated the company’s growth, philanthropic efforts, and diverse staff in Canada.

“It was wonderful to spend time with our valued clients in a social setting for the first time since the pandemic,” said Peter Altobelli, Vice President, and General Manager of Yardi Canada Ltd. “During our gathering, we had the pleasure of unveiling the forthcoming generation of Yardi products, which includes the highly anticipated Yardi Voyager 8 and Virtuoso. Additionally, we took this opportunity to provide an insightful update on the progress of our philanthropic endeavors in Canada.

Altobelli has helmed Yardi Canada since the beginning and simultaneously celebrated his own silver jubilee anniversary at the company. In 1998, he could not have predicted where Yardi Canada would be today.

“When we opened our Mississauga (Toronto) office in August 1998, we established a presence in Canada. The first set of employees were hired in October of that year. I could not have foreseen the remarkable journey from our humble beginnings to our current status as a market leader. It is truly beyond what I had ever dreamed possible,” Altobelli said.

An expanded presence

Today, Yardi Canada has approximately 500 staff members in three regional offices: Saskatoon, Vancouver, and Toronto. The Saskatoon and Vancouver offices were established as part of Yardi’s corporate acquisitions – of Point2 Technologies Inc. in 2010 (Saskatoon) and a division of EnerNOC in 2016 (Vancouver). Toronto-based Planimetron was also acquired in 2022.

Each of our offices has dedicated teams that concentrate on different aspects of Yardi’s global real estate product and support functions. These are just a few examples of the diverse roles and responsibilities within our organization. We have much more to offer.

·Vancouver: Provides support for Yardi Pulse, Canadian residential and commercial clients along with product development for Yardi’s Home IQ

·Saskatoon: Focuses on product development for Yardi’s Home IQ, Matrix platform, Pulse and Machine Learning/AI initiatives as well as customer service for Yardi Breeze Premier and assistance with the management of our Cloud Services infrastructure.

·Toronto: Offers product support and sales for Canadian Breeze Premier and Voyager residential, condo/strata, social housing, commercial, senior living, and investment management clients.

Yardi holds the majority of market share for both residential and commercial real estate software in Canada. Over the years, Yardi Canada has expanded its presence beyond being a preeminent tech supplier, becoming a true partner to many Canadian real estate organizations. Today, Yardi Canada continues to develop solutions that are utilized by Yardi clients worldwide.

“We are now recognized as the leading expert. Our teams have the knowledge and experience to anticipate trends in the Canadian market,” Altobelli said. That includes the recently launched Canadian National Multifamily report, introduced in 2022. “It has become a prevalent report that the industry uses to understand the current state of the multifamily market, and to gain insights into each regional market across the country,” Altobelli said. (For additional information, download the report here.)

Philanthropic contributions

Caring for the communities in which our offices are located has been a part of Yardi’s corporate mission from the beginning, and that’s true for Yardi Canada as well. Dozens of non-profit organizations receive support through donations each year, and employees regularly gather for team volunteer outings.

Canadian support is prioritized for organizations that combat hunger and homelessness, with an emphasis on building long-term relationships. “Our end goal is to make a difference in someone’s life,” Altobelli said. “We are dedicated to aiding families and individuals emerge from their unique challenges, fostering their ability to thrive and make their individual and valuable impact on society.”

The environment is another area of philanthropic emphasis. In 2022, Yardi contributed to and closed the most significant conservation project in Canadian history—the Boreal Wildlands in northern Ontario. With Yardi’s help, the Nature Conservancy of Canada acquired the 145,000-hectare/350,000-acre property to protect it from future development.

In 2023, Yardi introduced a significant scholarship program for colleges and universities across North America, including Toronto Metro University, which will select two students for Yardi Scholar awards each year for the next four years.

Diverse corporate culture

Toronto is known as one of the most multicultural and multiracial cities in the world, and that diversity is reflected in Yardi Canada. The inclusivity of the three offices, and the collaboration that results with people of multitudinous backgrounds coming together to accomplish common goals, is one of his major points of pride in 25 years of Yardi Canada.

“As we maintain our leadership position in Canada, our employees are focused on growing and making another 25-year run at innovation in real estate technology,” Altobelli said.