Shopify and Wealthsimple Can Hold Their Own Against Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley has nothing on us. Well, almost.
Sure, over there, venture capitalists come knocking with hundreds of millions to risk. Sure, in Palo Alto, tech talent is everywhere you look, by the thousands. But a glimmer of hope is showing, a crack in the system. Companies born here are making the tech world jealous.
Two of them shine brighter than the rest: Shopify and Wealthsimple. We owe them to visionary founders who, I gather, must have resisted the pull of the United States. Out of love for home, perhaps.
Two gems, one playing field: retail
Both companies are at the cutting edge of technology, and both speak to the general public. Shopify wants to revolutionize online shopping. Wealthsimple wants to revolutionize investing for everyday people.
| Shopify | Wealthsimple | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded in | Ottawa, 2006 | Toronto, 2014 |
| Founders | Tobi Lütke | Michael Katchen, Rudy Adler, Brett Huneycutt |
| Headquarters today | “Digital by default” since 2020, legal head office in Ottawa | Toronto |
| Mission | Online commerce | Investing for the general public |
| Size | US$3.7B in revenue in Q3 2026 (+32%) | Over 4M clients, $169B in assets |
| Value | Listed on the Nasdaq and the TSX | Valued at CA$13.8B (Oct. 2026) |
| AI assistant | Sidekick | Penny (planned for 2027) |
Their secret weapon: letting our AI agents talk to them
How do they do it? Through the tools they give their customers: CLIs, APIs, MCPs. These are entry points that let our AI agents talk directly to their product. And agentic AI, as everyone can feel, is the future.
A quick glossary
| Tool | In plain terms |
|---|---|
| API | A service’s programmable front door. Two pieces of software exchange information. |
| CLI | The command line. You type an instruction and the software runs it. An AI agent uses it just as well as a developer does. |
| MCP | The standard that lets an agent like Claude or ChatGPT plug into an outside tool and use it. |
Shopify: already on the rails
- AI Toolkit (April 2026, free and open source): Claude Code, Cursor or Codex can manage a store for you, whether it’s the products, the metafields or the theme.
- Stores visible in AI: every Shopify store has its own MCP endpoint. With the Universal Commerce Protocol, developed with Google, products show up in ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini and Google AI Mode.
- Concrete results: in Q3 2026, orders coming from AI grew 3.3 times, and those shoppers convert 64% more often.
A small caveat for us in Quebec: shopping directly in ChatGPT and other AIs is mostly open to U.S. merchants for now. The international rollout is on its way. Local merchants who prepare their product listings now will be ready the day it opens.
Wealthsimple: laying down the rails
- Penny, its AI assistant. You give it a goal, for example “max out my RRSP by March,” and it takes care of the steps. Every transaction waits for your confirmation.
- Connecting accounts to ChatGPT and Claude, announced for early 2027.
- Wealthsimple Pro for active traders: positions, watchlists and Level 2 market data in one place.
Two agents, two sets of rails
Agent 1 shops for everything the family needs this week. Agent 2 plans your investments for the year and for retirement.
The technology is here, and it’s mature. What’s left is to put it on the rails: e-commerce rails on one side, traditional finance rails on the other. Shopify has laid its own. Wealthsimple is laying its own in 2027.
Why here, in Canada?
I keep asking myself: why do online commerce and investing do so well in tech in Canada? My hypotheses:
- A more stable banking system
- A smaller market, more predictable consumers
- Less ferocious competition
- Local talent
- The long-term vision of founders who work in a society less driven by big business and venture capital
In short, we have every reason to be proud of these two Canadian gems. They already have people talking, and they make people jealous all over the world. Especially in Silicon Valley.
Sources: newsroom.wealthsimple.com, moneysense.ca, fintech.ca, Shopify Q3 2026 results, shopify.com/editions
By Vincent LavoieV pour Design, AI-powered web agency in Rosemère, on Montreal's North Shore. Seventeen years in the trade, more than 500 projects delivered.
