The Wealthsimple Venture fund is a closed-ended structure investing in venture capital and growth equity funds; there are two key differences between that strategy and Wealthsimple Private Equity Fund:

• Wealthsimple Private Equity Fund is an open-ended fund, meaning there will be ongoing purchase and redemption windows, not a fixed fundraising window and expected fund life
• Wealthsimple Private Equity Fund will invest primarily in more traditional private equity structures, by purchasing stakes in existing funds and investing alongside new funds. Compared to venture investing (which focuses on start-ups), private equity tends to target more mature businesses with relatively stable cash flow. That's why we view the two private asset classes as complementary: they allow investors to gain exposure to various stages of business with different risk profiles.

Wealthsimple Private Credit Fund is an open-ended investment vehicle holding bank-syndicated loans and loans originated by Sagard, the fund’s manager.

The key difference between private credit and private equity is the exact financial instrument each is holding; private credit is a way of investing in a company’s debt, which offers a yield and slightly more protection in case of a bad outcome.

Private equity investors may invest in the same company as a debt investor, but they represent a junior claim and get “what’s left over” after the business has paid off its debt. Since this could be a much wider range of outcomes than debt, which is typically paid back at face value, equity is often viewed as a riskier strategy. It typically doesn’t offer a yield, so it may be more appropriate for growth-oriented investors.

Yes, there is a minimum investment of $10,000 required to invest in Wealthsimple’s Private Equity fund. You must also have at least $50,000 in liquid assets with or outside of Wealthsimple to qualify.

Private investments have a delayed return on their monthly valuation updates and distributions.

Wealthsimple purchases private credit and private equity funds on behalf of clients once a month around the 15th of every month (the monthly deadline). However, cash settles into the fund on the 1st of the following month and your performance starts on that following month.
Note: In private equity accounts, the trade settles in advance of the beginning of the month but your investment in the fund starts on the 1st day of the subscription month.

There is a delay in re-evaluation the price of the fund (this is expected with private investments) and the performance of any given month is reflected in your account near the end of the following month (to give time for the fund to be marked to market).

Example: If you add money to your private equity account on June 10th, we’ll purchase the private equity fund around June 14th. The cash would settle into the fund on June 18th. Your first month of performance would be July and the July performance would be reflected in your account around the end of August.

Example in the event you miss the monthly deadline: If you add the money to your private equity account on June 16th, we’ll invest your funds temporarily in a High interest savings portfolio to generate some interest until around July 10th. We’ll sell the fund to raise cash and purchase the private equity fund around July 17th. The cash would settle into the fund on July 19th. Your first month of performance would be August and the August performance would be reflected in your account around the end of September.