TORONTO

Pinterest to open first Canadian office in Toronto

The Canadian Press Published Tuesday, September 25, 2018 2:44PM EDT

A pin signifies the Pinterest office in Japan on a map at the Pinterest office in San Francisco, Wednesday, April 1, 2015. Pinterest is opening its first office in Canada in Toronto at the start of October in an effort to expand its presence outside of the U.S. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Jeff Chiu

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SAN FRANCISCO -- Pinterest is opening its first office in Canada in Toronto at the start of October in an effort to expand its presence outside of the U.S.

The San Francisco-based technology company runs an online platform that allows users to create a digital board they can pin aspirational photos to.

It says it has 12 million Canadian users, who save 4.5 million photos on the platform daily.

Pinterest says it hopes the Toronto office will help spur the business's international growth and serve local advertisers.

The Toronto office will be run by country manager Erin Elofson, who previously led Facebook Canada's sales team and spent 11 years at Microsoft Canada.

Pinterest says Elofson will help the country localize its offerings, including an ad program, which it says advertisers will be able to use to target French-speaking Canadians by the end of the year.