The people
What they build
Open roles via the TechTO Job Board
Working at Simple Ventures
Browse open roles across the community on the TechTO Job Board — Canada’s most connected tech network. Simple Ventures’s roles show up here whenever they post.
Open roles on the TechTO Job Board ↗Or their own careers page: simpleventures.ca/careers ↗Jobs live on jobs.techto.org — the only structured source. We link to it rather than scraping career sites, so the board is always the source of truth.
About
The studio's premise is that the gap in Canadian tech is not ideas but company formation: things that already work elsewhere never get built here, and the operators who could build them end up leaving. Simple Ventures identifies those gaps, then pairs each one with an entrepreneur and capital and launches the company in Canada. Rachel Zimmer — who bootstrapped and sold the B2B freelancer marketplace 5Crowd, then launched Entrepreneur First in North America — is co-founder and chief executive; Mike Katchen, co-founder and chief executive of Wealthsimple, is chair; Rob Palumbo is chief operating officer. BetaKit reported in September 2025 that the studio had raised $15M CAD toward an $18–20M final close, backed by Shopify president Harley Finkelstein, Knix founder Joanna Griffiths, Ada co-founder Mike Murchison and investors Joe Canavan and Sam Duboc, alongside institutional LPs including TD Innovation Partners, Sun Life and Sobeys. Three companies were out — Alma Care, Harvest and Zero Collective — with two more in stealth. Zimmer's framing of the target: "It's a Canadian mission but a very un-Canadian level of ambition."
Backers
$15M CAD raised as of September 2025 from Canadian tech operators — Shopify president Harley Finkelstein, Knix founder Joanna Griffiths, Ada co-founder Mike Murchison, Joe Canavan and Sam Duboc — plus institutional LPs including TD Innovation Partners, Sun Life and Sobeys, targeting an $18–20M final close.
More from TechTO ×3
Quick answers
What is Simple Ventures?
A Toronto venture studio that looks for products and services unavailable in Canada, then partners with an operator and investors to launch a Canadian company filling that gap. It is a company builder, not a fund that backs founders who come to it.
Who runs it?
Rachel Zimmer is co-founder and chief executive; Mike Katchen, co-founder and chief executive of Wealthsimple, is chair; Rob Palumbo is chief operating officer.
Who backs it?
$15M CAD as of September 2025, from operators including Harley Finkelstein, Joanna Griffiths and Mike Murchison, plus TD Innovation Partners, Sun Life and Sobeys, against an $18–20M target.
What has it launched?
Alma Care, Harvest and Zero Collective were out as of September 2025, with two further companies in stealth. The stated target is 25 Canadian-headquartered businesses by 2030.
Who from Simple Ventures is in this directory?
Rachel Zimmer, its co-founder and chief executive, and Mike Katchen, its chair, who is better known here as the co-founder of Wealthsimple.