The people
What they build
Open roles via the TechTO Job Board
Working at Purpose Investments
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On the TechTO stage
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About
Seif built Claymore Investments into one of Canada's first ETF firms and sold it to BlackRock, then started Purpose in December 2012 to do it again with more control. His argument on the TechTO stage in October 2018 was that Canadian fintech had the innovation backwards: everyone was building slick products and buying customers at ruinous cost, while nobody was fixing the reason banks work, which is cheap trusted funding. Purpose's response was to build the funding model first with a pension-plan partner, then an open banking API layer on top, then decide deliberately what to own and what to partner on — buying Thinking Capital because it wanted the lending margin, and plugging in Wealthsimple for wealth because, in his words, Purpose was not going to do it better.
Backers
OMERS is Purpose's long-term capital partner; Seif describes choosing them because they had no timetable for an exit.
Quick answers
What is Purpose Investments?
A Toronto asset manager founded in 2012 by Som Seif, offering ETFs and managed funds to Canadian investors. It is part of Purpose Unlimited, a broader financial services group.
How does Purpose think about building versus partnering?
Seif's rule on the TechTO stage: own what you can earn a real margin on and do better than anyone else, partner on everything that is already commoditised or better solved elsewhere. Purpose bought Thinking Capital to own lending and plugged in Wealthsimple rather than compete on wealth.
What did Seif say about acquisitions?
That they fail on culture, not technology integration. He called the six months after the Thinking Capital deal grueling and argued a leader needs an open mind about what the acquired company does well and stubbornness about the culture they want to keep.