Investing used to require either a broker who charged too much or a level of financial literacy that most people never got around to building. Wealthsimple was founded in Toronto in 2014 with a straightforward premise: make investing as simple as opening a bank account. Its robo-advisory platform builds diversified portfolios based on a short questionnaire, charges low fees, and handles rebalancing automatically. It's the kind of product that doesn't try to make you feel clever — it tries to make complexity disappear. The company has since expanded into stock trading, crypto, tax filing, and a cash account, evolving from a single-product robo-advisor into a broader financial platform. Though originally Canadian, Wealthsimple has operated in the UK market and represents a model that European wealth tech companies have closely followed: democratise access to investment products that were previously the preserve of high-net-worth clients. In a continent where savings rates are high but investment participation remains low, the Wealthsimple playbook has obvious relevance.