After a highly successful initial public offering earlier this year helped Shopify secure $131 million in additional funding, the very people who helped make the company what it is today will be able to cash in.
As of tomorrow, it will have been 180 days since Shopify’s IPO, meaning the end of the company’s lock-up period, and that Shopify employees who didn’t sell their shares in the IPO will now have a chance (banks set lock-up periods to prevent markets from being flooded with too many shares).
While analysts like The Motley Fool claim that tomorrow is the perfect time to buy Shopify stock, it’s also a big day for employees who will see their personal wealth dramatically increase.
For those going through the process for the first time, Toronto-based FinTech company Wealthsimple has created a guide for to teach Shopify employees how to sell their shares. Of course, Wealthsimple is hoping that Shopify employees use its platform to broker the deal, but is also claiming it can make those employees $1.3 million more off the sale over time.
What’s certain is that with new Canadian tech millionaires set to be created, there is great potential for new investment in the Canadian startup ecosystem, through venture funding or brand-new companies. One can only wonder at how many future startups tomorrow’s events will fund.