Wealthsimple has been named the 2026 CIX Innovator of the Year.
The Toronto-based financial technology upstart “exemplifies the bold innovation and execution that the CIX Innovator of the Year award celebrates,” according to Lisa Zarzeczny, chief executive officer of Elevate, a non-profit that unites innovators to catalyze transformation in the Canadian tech ecosystem through year-round programs and events such as the annual Elevate Festival and CIX Summit.
“Their commitment to using technology to democratize access to sophisticated financial tools is exactly the kind of innovation Canada needs more of,” Zarzeczny stated.
“We’re thrilled to honour their achievements and hear from Mike at CIX Summit about how they’re continuing to push boundaries in an industry ripe for disruption,” she said.
Wealthsimple cofounder and CEO Mike Katchen will accept the award and take the stage at CIX Summit on March 25 at the Design Exchange in Toronto.
Katchen’s Wealthsimple gained 650,000 clients and doubled assets to more $100B in 2025, which he has described as a “remarkable year.”
Client growth has come steadily as Wealthsimple continues to frequently add new features to its platform.
“This year we took some of the biggest steps in our history toward serving you more completely and launched the most products we ever have in a calendar year, many in direct response to your feedback,” Katchen stated in December. “We added features like bank draft delivery, mobile cheque deposit, USD savings accounts, and international money transfers so you could finally use Wealthsimple as your main financial partner.”
A big part of Wealthsimple’s successful year was raising nearly $1B at a $10B valuation, (by far the year’s largest fintech investment round) which allows the company “to continue scaling from a position of strength,” according to the CEO.
“The business is growing, and we continue to be profitable,” Katchen noted.
In 2026, he said, “we plan to expand our spending and investing services further” in order to “scale financial advice” and deliver to everyday Canadians “investment opportunities once reserved for the wealthy.”
Previous winners include Clio (2025), Cohere (2024), Trulioo (2021), Lightspeed (2019), and Shopify (2015).
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