Questrade wants to let everyday accredited investors buy into companies like Uber before they go public

Questrade wants to let everyday accredited investors buy into companies like Uber before they go public

For decades, the most lucrative entry point in investing — buying a company before it ever hits a public exchange — was reserved for institutional funds, venture capitalists and Canada's wealthiest accredited investors. That access gap is about to narrow…and, maybe even, disappear.

Toronto-based Questrade is planning to launch a private markets platform this summer that will initially include pre-IPO opportunities and institutional-grade private credit, according to Bloomberg. Questrade has confirmed to Money.ca that the product will be open to accredited investors — and that the firm is deliberately lowering the barriers within that group.

"For decades, the most compelling investment opportunities — companies like Uber and Airbnb before they went public — were only accessible to institutional investors and the ultra-wealthy," said Chief Product Officer at Questrade Hwan Kim. "By the time these companies reached public markets, much of the value creation had already happened. That's always struck me as fundamentally unfair."

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What is private markets investing and why has it been off-limits to most Canadians?

Private markets include any investment in a company or fund that is not traded on a public stock exchange. That covers pre-IPO shares, private equity, venture capital and certain forms of private credit. Until now, accessing these products in Canada has required meeting the accredited investor threshold under National Instrument 45-106 — the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) framework governing exempt market securities.

To qualify as an accredited investor under CSA rules, an individual generally needs either a net income exceeding $200,000 in the past two calendar years or net financial assets above $1 million. This threshold effectively locked out most retail investors.

Accredited investors opt for private market investments because these opportunities offer higher potential returns than public equities, but they carry less regulatory disclosure, fewer investor protections and significantly lower liquidity. Capital can be locked in for years with no easy exit.

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