Locomotive

What Locomotive does

Locomotive is a Montreal-based, privately-held digital-first design agency founded in 2008 by three co-founders: Frédéric Marchand (President), Jean-François Chaîné (VP Operations), and Mathieu Ducharme (Technical Director). The firm operates a horizontal, enterprise-focused go-to-market, delivering bespoke brand identity, web design, web development, e-commerce, motion design, and digital strategy services to mid-to-large organizations across automotive, EV/technology, hospitality, finance, real estate, architecture, and design sectors. Marquee clients include Scout Motors, Lightship, Populous, The Drake Hotel, Structured, Carlton Villa, Pangram Pangram Foundry, and Dulcedo. Engagements are custom, project-based, and quote-only, with multi-year contracts and direct enterprise sales cycles; pricing is not publicly disclosed.

The agency is structured around a stable team of approximately 30 specialists distributed across Design (9), Development (11), and Operations (10), with senior leads including a Creative Director, Co-Technical Director, Account Director, and Production Director. Its technical differentiation is anchored by Locomotive Scroll, an open-source JavaScript scroll library (v5.0, 9.4kB gzipped, built on Lenis with TypeScript support) that the agency actively maintains on GitHub and npm and deploys in its own showcase projects. The firm explicitly avoids front-end frameworks in favor of vanilla ES6, positioning craftsmanship and bespoke engineering as core to its offering.

Commercially, Locomotive is an independent partnership under Quebec law with no disclosed institutional investors, M&A activity, funding rounds, or secondary transactions. Revenue is generated entirely through professional services fees on custom engagements, supplemented by ancillary merchandise sales via a Shopify-powered storefront. The agency's primary marketing channel is its portfolio and award track record, headlined by six consecutive AWWWARDS Agency of the Year titles (2018-2023), 235 total industry awards, and additional recognition from the Webbys, Idéa, FWA, CSSDA, Boomerang, and Numix programs. Geographic reach is global despite a single Montreal headquarters at 1211 Jean-Talon Est, with active client work in North America, the UK, Germany, and the Caribbean.

Name

Locomotive

Legal name

Locomotive

Website

https://locomotive.ca

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Locomotive is a Montreal-based, founder-owned digital-first design agency delivering bespoke brand identity, web design, development, and e-commerce services to enterprise clients globally, supported by an open-source scroll library and a six-time AWWWARDS Agency of the Year track record.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Montréal

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Digital Agency Services: Custom digital-first design and development services including brand identity, web design, development, e-commerce, and digital strategy. Projects range from immersive websites to full brand transformations. Revenue generated through project-based professional services contracts.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Locomotive is a Montreal-based digital-first design agency that delivers bespoke brand identities, immersive websites, e-commerce platforms, and digital strategies for enterprise brands. The agency combines strategy, design, and code as a one-stop shop from initial consulting through deployment and ongoing maintenance. It also maintains the open-source Locomotive Scroll library, a lightweight scroll/animation tool built on Lenis.

Product overview

Locomotive is a Montreal-based digital-first design and web agency founded in 2008. Their primary product offering is Locomotive Scroll, an open-source scroll library available via npm and GitHub. Beyond their product, they provide comprehensive digital services including strategy, UX design, web design, web development, branding, identity design, motion design, video production, and e-commerce development. They maintain a merchandise store and document their annual company retreats. The agency has received numerous industry awards including Awwwards recognition and Webby Awards.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Locomotive Scroll: A lightweight scroll library for modern web experiences built on top of Lenis, featuring detection, animation, and smooth scrolling capabilities in 9.4kB.

Products and services

• Digital Strategy & Consulting Strategic digital consulting engagements covering brand strategy, digital presence planning, and roadmap definition for enterprise clients.
• Brand Identity Design Bespoke brand identity creation, including logo design, visual systems, and brand transformation work for enterprise brands.
• Web Design & Development Custom immersive and interactive website design and development, built using vanilla ES6 (no front-end frameworks) for enterprise clients.
• E-commerce Development Custom e-commerce platform design and development, including Shopify-based storefronts with editorial experiences for brand clients.
• Motion Design & Video Production Motion design and video production services supporting digital-first brand experiences and immersive web projects.
• Content Creation

Quantifiable outcome

• 125 projects completed from 2018-2023 with 93 Sites of the Day and 64 Developers Awards on AWWWARDS

Named customers8 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Chivalry CreativeminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Chivalry Creative produced the Dynasty microsite video celebrating Locomotive's six consecutive AWWWARDS Agency of the Year titles (2018-2023). The creative partnership resulted in a distinctive video celebrating team achievements.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Active Theory: Los Angeles-based digital experience studio known for immersive, award-winning web builds using WebGL and custom front-end stacks. Highly comparable to Locomotive in portfolio aesthetic, AWWWARDS-level recognition, and enterprise client mix.
• Ueno: San Francisco digital design and branding agency of similar boutique scale, repeatedly recognized on AWWWARDS and serving enterprise technology and consumer brand clients with bespoke digital-first work.
• Resn: New Zealand creative technology agency with a track record of pushing boundaries in interactive web — multiple AWWWARDS Site of the Day and Developer Award wins — competing for the same premium experimental brand engagements.
• Instrument: Portland-based digital design and brand experience studio serving enterprise clients with bespoke digital storytelling, design systems, and immersive websites; comparable in offering scope and target buyer.
• B-Reel: Stockholm-headquartered creative technology agency building interactive digital brand experiences for global brands — overlapping customer base and craft-and-code positioning with Locomotive.

Broad incumbents

• HUGE: Much larger global digital agency with overlapping digital product, brand, and web capabilities; broader portfolio (strategy, research, product) but competes for the same enterprise brand-transformation mandates.
• R/GA: Global experience design and advertising network offering end-to-end digital, brand, and product work; competes with Locomotive for enterprise digital brand mandates at much greater scale.
• Pentagram: World's largest independently owned design firm; competes in the premium brand-identity and digital experience space Locomotive serves, though with a partner-led model rather than agency-of-record delivery.

Regional players

• LG2: One of Canada's leading independent creative agencies (Montreal/Toronto). Competes head-to-head with Locomotive in Quebec for French- and English-language enterprise brand and digital work, with overlapping local talent pools.

Others

• Locomotive Scroll (vs. GSAP / Lenis): Animation and scroll libraries (GSAP, Lenis, ScrollTrigger, AOS, Rellax) sit in the same open-source ecosystem as Locomotive's Scroll v5.0; they are enabling-tools peers and potential substitutes for the proprietary detection-and-animation layer the firm sells via its product.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/locomotivemtl
• GitHubgithub.com/locomotivemtl
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/locomotive-mtl
• Instagraminstagram.com/locomotivemtl
• Facebookfacebook.com/locoMTL

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Locomotive