Wealthsimple Brings Robo-Advice to the U.K.

Toronto-based Wealthsimple has officially launched in the U.K., nearly eight months after the Canadian robo-advisor began its international expansion.

Now residents in the U.K. can open an online account and begin investing in the platform’s personalized and diversified portfolios in just five minutes. Wealthsimple separates itself from similar digital investment companies by offering what they call a personal and human aspect to the automated process.

Some British residents had their first taste of Wealthsimple after an invitation-only beta version was released earlier this year.

“The response we’ve seen from our early testers in the UK has been pretty remarkable, and speaks to the demand for a product that simplifies investing and makes it accessible,” said Wealthsimple CEO Michael Katchen in a release.

Wealthsimple first expanded into the U.S. in late January, but the U.K. marks the leading digital investing service’s first foray across the pond.

“We’ve never been shy about our ambitions to be a global company that helps people around the world live their best financial lives, and we’re really excited to bring Wealthsimple to our first European market,” said Katchen.

The London-based U.K. team is being led by entrepreneur Toby Triebel. He co-founded the global online lending platform Spotcap, a fintech startup that he helped expand to five countries. Triebel first joined Wealthsimple last year and was at the helm of the online investing platform’s trial run in the U.K. that saw early access interest from more than 5,000 people.

Launched three years ago, Wealthsimple currently has 40,000 clients in North America and $1 billion USD in assets.