Wealthsimple Eyes Fundraise On $3.5 Billion Valuation

Representatives of Wealthsimple, a Canadian investing website whose motto is “Get rich slow,” are discussing a valuation of more than $3.5 billion in new fundraising talks, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources.

The Toronto Globe and Mail reported that a new investment of $700 million or more valuing the company at about $4 billion could be announced as soon as Monday (May 3) and would make the company among Canada’s most valuable privately held firms.

According to the Globe and Mail, investors in a new round likely would include Greylock Partners and Meritech Capital Partners along with new investors Dragoneer Investment Group, DST Global, ICONIQ Capital and Inovia Capital.

A valuation in the $3 billion range would be three times the roughly $1 billion valuation Wealthsimple management discussed in October, Bloomberg reported. A Wealthsimple spokesman declined to comment for Bloomberg’s report on the potential new valuation.

According to Bloomberg, current investors in Wealthsimple include Greylock, Meritech, TCV and Two Sigma Ventures.

Wealthsimple is based in Toronto and has offices in New York and London, according to the company’s website.

Describing the company’s business, Wealthsimple’s website stated: “We started by providing smart, simple investing, without the high fees and account minimums associated with traditional investment management. We invest your money in a globally diversified portfolio of low-cost index funds, and our cutting-edge technology helps you earn the best possible return, while optimizing your tax bill. This means we do things like automatic rebalancing, dividend reinvesting and tax loss harvesting — services that were only available to the ultra-rich until now or that most people found too time consuming and tedious to do on their own.”