Nicolas Desmarais

Chairman & CEO, AppDirect
San Francisco, California,United States
Find Nicolas Desmarais's Email
Find Nicolas Desmarais's Phone

Who Is Nicolas Desmarais?

Total Experience17 years
CompanyAppDirect
CountryUnited States

Nicolas Desmarais is a prominent Canadian business leader and a key figure in the country's finance and technology sectors. As the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Sagard, a multi-strategy alternative asset management firm, he oversees a global portfolio spanning venture capital, private equity, and private credit. He is also the co-founder and Chairman of Wealthsimple, one of Canada's most successful fintech companies that has revolutionized online investing for consumers. Continuing his family's legacy, he serves as Senior Vice-President of Power Corporation of Canada, a major international management and holding company. His career, which began at Goldman Sachs, is marked by a strategic focus on building and scaling innovative companies, particularly within the financial technology space through ventures like Portag3 Ventures.

How Did Nicolas Desmarais's Career Path Shape Their Journey?

Nicolas Desmarais's work history includes a series of influential roles in various companies. Here is a detailed list of his professional journey:

AppDirect - Chairman & CEO(2009 to Present)
Bain & Company - Associate Consultant(2007 to 2009)

What Are Nicolas Desmarais's Key Achievements?

Founder, Chairman & CEO of Sagard

Established and leads Sagard, a global alternative asset management firm with over $20 billion in assets under management, investing in venture capital, private equity, private credit, and real estate.

Co-Founder & Chairman of Wealthsimple

Co-founded and chairs the board of Wealthsimple, a leading Canadian financial technology company that has democratized investing and grown to manage billions of dollars for millions of users.

Co-Founder of Portag3 Ventures

Co-founded Portag3 Ventures, a highly influential early-stage venture capital firm that invests in and supports the next generation of global financial technology companies.

Senior Leadership at Power Corporation of Canada

Holds the senior executive role of Senior Vice-President at Power Corporation, contributing to the strategy and oversight of a diversified group with interests in financial services, communications, and other business sectors.

What's Nicolas Desmarais's Educational Background?

Bachelor's degree, Economics and Political Science

Amherst College - Year 2003

Buying Intent Signals for Nicolas Desmarais

Highperformr Signals uncover buying intent and give you clear insights to target the right people at the right time — helping your sales, marketing, and GTM teams close more deals, faster.

Notable news
Hiring actively
Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance

Company Overview

AppDirect
Total employees850
HeadquartersSan Francisco
Founded2009

AppDirect is a B2B subscription commerce platform that empowers businesses to sell, distribute, and manage cloud-based products and services. Their technology platform helps companies, including telecom providers, managed service providers, and software advisors, to build and scale their own digital marketplaces. This enables them to offer a wide range of applications and services to their end customers, streamlining billing, provisioning, and management through a single, unified interface.

AppDirect Funding Information
Unknown - Total Funding Raised
$60M - Most recent funding amount
10 - Number of funding rounds
27 Sep, 2022 - Latest funding round
Lead Investors:
J.P. Morgan Asset Management
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ)
Foundry
Inovia Capital
Mithril Capital
StarVest Partners

Highperformr's free tools for company research

Find contact info

Get verified emails, phone numbers, and LinkedIn profile details

Find similar contacts

Discover contacts with similar roles, seniority, or companies

Perform deep contact research

Uncover insights like skills, work history, social links, and more

Discover, research and enrich contacts with Highperformr — Smarter, Faster

Explore contacts in-depth — from verified emails and phone numbers to LinkedIn activity, job changes, and more — all in one powerful view.

Highperformr AI helps you surface the right people and enrich your CRM with live, accurate contact insights so your teams can connect faster and close smarter.

  • Track signals like job change, promotion, and LinkedIn activity
  • Enrich contacts with verified email, phone, and social data instantly
  • Automate enrichment and updates with powerful workflows
  • Sync enriched contact info directly into your CRM and tools

Thousands of contacts — including decision-makers, influencers, and ICP matches — are just a search away.

Thousands of companies, including, are just a search away.