If you ask Kris Shah how Baylis Medical grew from his basement to having three facilities and over 450 employees in Mississauga, he admits luck had something to do with it.

"Luck helps," said Shah, who also attributed the company's success as a developer and manufacturer in medical technology to focusing on markets outside of Canada.

"You can't manufacture luck, we're not that good," he said.

But basement to globe business success stories like Baylis could become more rare in Mississauga. A recent study from the Canadian Urban Institute found that the city is trailing most major urban centres in the country in creating startups and growing companies.

The study, which was presented at Mississauga council June 26, found that the city is underperforming when it comes to rates of startups — firms with under $1 million in capital — and ranks second-lowest among major centres in the country after Edmonton. Mississauga also has the third-lowest rate of scaling companies, which are businesses with over $10 million in capital. Mississauga ranks ahead of only Calgary and Edmonton.

To help address the relatively low rates, the study recommended the city's economic development Office identify small businesses with high growth potential, as well as companies nearing an initial public offering (IPO) and streamline them for additional support. The study also suggested that the city develop plans to strengthen innovation spaces for scale-ups in Mississauga.

Shah said the city has been very supportive of Baylis, and the culture of entrepreneurship in the area is stronger than it was when he started the company.

But with a workforce that has many transit users, transportation in the region is an ongoing issue for Baylis. Shah said the company has "no choice" but to run its own shuttle program that transports workers to and from Kipling station several times a day.

The city is considering an increase to MiWay in 2020, as part of an expected 4.9 per cent, or $27.8 million, increase in Mississauga's overall budget.

Mississauga's 2017 employment survey found that 178,112 people were employed locally by 17,657 small businesses that are not based at home. That accounts for more than 44 per cent of the Mississauga's employed labour force.