Wattpad | Wattpad HQ (2024)

2006

After five years of big ideas and false starts, Wattpad is born! Allen Lau’s dream of making reading accessible on mobile becomes a reality thanks to a partnership with his longtime friend and colleague, Ivan Yuen. Wattpad launches with public-domain books like Pride and Prejudice to draw in readers. Fun fact: Wattpad managed to snag a whopping $2 from Google AdSense that year. You have to start somewhere, right?

2011

With the launch of the App Store in 2008, Wattpad is now available on iPhone, Android, and on the Blackberry. In 2010, the Wattpad team doubles in size (to six full-time employees and four co-op students). By 2011, Wattpad has attracted 1 million registered users and over $4.1 million in funding.

2014

Things grow. Quickly. In 2012, Wattpad raises USD$17.3 million in its series B funding round. Two years later, the team moves into their new St. Lawrence Market office. Wattpad is named the Top Canadian Startup and Employer of the Year by Techvibes, and Allen and Ivan are awarded Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year. All the while, user growth is exploding—Wattpad surpasses 1 billion minutes on platform per month. After becomes a viral hit, earning the title of being the most-read book on Wattpad. It’s published by Simon & Schuster and becomes a New York Times bestseller.

2017

Wattpad continues to change the world of social storytelling. The platform marks its 400-millionth upload. With a goal of becoming the future of entertainment, Wattpad has now launched Wattpad Brand Partnerships, Wattpad WEBTOON Studios, and the Wattpad Stars program. Wattpad is awarded Fast Company’s Top Ten Most Innovative Companies in Social Media, CIX Innovator of the Year, and Startup Canada’s Entrepreneur of the Year.

2019

Wattpad makes strides towards our goal of empowering writers to realize their career aspirations on and off the platform. The launch of Paid Stories (re-imagined as Wattpad Originals in 2023) enables readers to monetarily support writers, right on Wattpad. Wattpad launches Wattpad Books, our own publishing imprint, with the aim of publishing fan-loved and data-driven stories from the platform. Wattpad WEBTOON Studios co-produces its first feature-length film After, based on the viral Wattpad hit. It quickly becomes one of the top indie films of the year. The company also announces its planned expansion with the opening of its new headquarters in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Today

Wattpad is the world’s most-loved social storytelling platform, where new voices write and share, and readers connect with the serialized stories they love. What was once a handful of readers is now a vibrant community of millions who spend a collective 26 billion minutes on Wattpad every month. Wattpad WEBTOON Studios continues to partner with the entertainment industry to co-produce Wattpad stories for print, film, television, and digital platforms. And while our home will always be Toronto, we now have satellite offices all over the world, along with a HQ in beautiful Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Today, nine out of 10 readers agree that storytelling technologies will shape the future of reading. That’s according to new survey data from Wattpad and Wakefield Research, which reveals an evolving reading culture and fiction landscape across generations.

Wattpad has unveiled the winners of the 2023 Watty Awards, recognizing nearly 100 winners across nine languages.