The LSE Directory / Retail brokers
Wealthsimple is a Toronto, Ontario-based financial technology company that started in 2014 as an automated, ETF-portfolio robo-advisor (Wealthsimple Invest) and has since expanded into a broader personal finance platform. Its current product set spans managed investing, commission-free self-directed stock and ETF trading through Wealthsimple Trade (launched March 2019), bitcoin and ethereum trading through Wealthsimple Crypto, tax preparation software (Wealthsimple Tax, built on the SimpleTax product it acquired in September 2019), a chequing account product (renamed from Wealthsimple Cash in June 2025), and Visa Infinite credit cards launched in June 2025. Within the retail brokerage category, Wealthsimple's differentiation is being a single consolidated app for investing, spending, saving and filing taxes, aimed primarily at younger, self-directed Canadian consumers rather than the branch-based wealth management model used by Canada's big banks. It positions its accounts through Wealthsimple Investments Inc., a member of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO), with cash balances in eligible accounts covered by the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF) within specified limits; some registered accounts route cash coverage through CDIC instead. In October 2022, the company became the first non-bank, non-credit-union institution to receive direct settlement access from the Bank of Canada. Wealthsimple was founded by Michael Katchen, who remains CEO, along with Brett Huneycutt and Rudy Adler, with a CA$1.9 million seed round in May 2014. It has since raised further rounds including a CA$750 million Series E in May 2021 at a CA$5 billion valuation (investors included Meritech Capital, Greylock Partners and DST Global, alongside individual backers Michael J. Fox and Ryan Reynolds), and a CA$750 million Series F round in October 2025 led by Dragoneer, GIC and CPP Investments at a CA$10 billion valuation. Power Corporation of Canada, through Power Financial, IGM Financial and Portage Ventures, holds a 52.4 percent stake. By the end of Q1 2026 (quarter ended March 31, 2026), Wealthsimple reported roughly CA$124.8 billion in assets under administration, up 71 percent year over year, across about 3.4 million clients, with the company stating one in five Canadians aged 18 to 40 uses at least one of its products. Wealthsimple crossed CA$100 billion in assets under administration in October 2025, roughly three years ahead of its own internal target, before growing to the CA$124.8 billion figure reported for Q1 2026. Its most recent RRSP season (deposit season ending around the Canadian tax filing deadline) saw RRSP deposits rise more than 45 percent year over year, which the company attributed in part to a matched-contribution promotion and to expanded cash deposit access through more than 5,500 Canada Post locations added in January 2026.
