Common Wealth secures $12-million Series A to help deliver workplace retirement plans

Toronto-based FinTech startup Common Wealth, which provides workplace retirement plans to small and mid-sized employers (SMEs), has closed $12 million CAD in Series A financing.

The equity round saw participation from the Broadbent Group, Good & Well, AgeTech Capital, Deokali Capital, Eventi Capital Partners, and Flow Capital. Common Wealth’s other investors include ex-Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan CEO Jim Keohane and co-founder and former CIO of Burgundy Asset Management Richard Rooney.

Common Wealth aims to become “Canadians’ most trusted retirement plan for life.” Through its software platform, the startup aims to make it easy and affordable for employers of all sizes to offer competitive retirement benefits. 

“We’re opening up the retirement market for [SMEs] and their employees—people who’ve been left behind by a legacy industry built for big employers and wealthy people.”

Alex Mazer, Common Wealth

Common Wealth plans to use its Series A capital to expand distribution, invest in product development—including AI—and grow its team.

“We’re opening up the retirement market for [SMEs] and their employees—people who’ve been left behind by a legacy industry built for big employers and wealthy people,” Common Wealth co-founder and CEO Alex Mazer said in a release on Monday. “And we’re building the platform to help Canadians with one of their biggest financial concerns: turning their savings into income they can count on.”

While Common Wealth has been working to expand access to retirement security since 2015, its business model has evolved over time. Until 2020, the startup was a bootstrapped financial services business that helped pension and membership-based organizations design retirement plans. For the past three years, Common Wealth has focused on serving SMEs through its tech platform.

Since the start of 2024, Common Wealth claims it has tripled its employer base, grown its membership by 3.5 times, and quadrupled its total assets under administration. Today, the company serves more than 1,500 organizations across Canada. In this time, Common Wealth said it has also grown its advisor network to 400 and launched a savings program for personal support workers with help from the Government of Canada.

This funding builds on the $15 million in venture debt that Common Wealth secured from Flow Capital in mid-2025.

Mazer said he still sees “huge, untapped opportunity” for Common Wealth in the Canadian retirement market. 

“We are winning eight out of 10 deals and we want to accelerate that success to serve more people,” Mazer told BetaKit over email. “Small businesses need better retirement plans so they can attract and retain talent. Middle-class Canadians badly need help saving and turning those savings into retirement income. We’re proud to have an outstanding group of Canadian investors who see the same need and market opportunity that we do.”

More than nine million Canadian employees may lack access to a workplace retirement plan, largely because domestic SMEs are much less likely to offer one than their US peers, according to research from Mazer published by Toronto’s CD Howe Institute last month. Less than one in five SMEs with between five and 500 employees in Canada offer a workplace retirement plan, compared to half in the US.

Mazer said the vast majority of Canada’s group retirement market is controlled by large insurance companies, and argued there has been a lack of competition and innovation to date.

“We compete and win based on digital experience, value for money, ease of use, and personalized service,” Mazer said. “We are different because we provide a true ‘retirement plan for life’ that can support the member as they move from job to job and into retirement. Unlike our competitors, we have a singular focus on retirement solutions.”

Relative to countries like the US, UK, and Australia, Mazer said Canadian retirement policy also lacks mechanisms to expand plan coverage. This is why Common Wealth is advocating for a new federal tax credit to encourage smaller employers to offer such plans.

UPDATE (04/15/26): This story has been updated to include additional information and commentary from Common Wealth co-founder and CEO Alex Mazer.

Feature image courtesy Common Wealth.