Allen Lau

Allen Lau is a visionary serial entrepreneur, a leading figure in Canada’s technology ecosystem, and an expert on entrepreneurship, innovation, and diversity in the workforce.

Lau is the co-founder of Wattpad, the world’s leading social storytelling platform and a global multi-platform entertainment company for original stories. As Wattpad’s former CEO, Lau led an international team with a bold mission: to leverage technology to transform the entertainment industry while amplifying diverse voices worldwide. Under his leadership, Wattpad grew into a global community of nearly 100 million people who collectively uploaded over a billion stories. Thousands of these stories have been adapted into bestselling books, Emmy-nominated television series, and blockbuster films, including #1 Netflix hits.

Lau successfully raised USD $120 million from top-tier venture capital firms across Silicon Valley, New York, Canada, and Asia. In 2021, Wattpad was acquired by South Korean internet conglomerate Naver in a landmark deal valued at over USD $660 million. Today, Lau serves as Executive Advisor to WEBTOON and Wattpad, providing strategic counsel and drawing on his globally recognised expertise to shape the future of webnovels and next-generation storytelling formats.

In addition to his executive roles, Lau contributes to several prominent organisations. He is a board member of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), a globally respected cultural institution, and serves on the board of MaRS Discovery District, North America’s largest urban innovation hub supporting high-growth startups and scale-ups. A dedicated advocate for Canada’s innovation economy, Lau is a member of the Canadian Council of Innovators, which champions the interests of domestic technology companies at all levels of government. He is also the co-founder of Two Small Fish Ventures, an early-stage fund investing in internet companies with strong network effects, and sits on the board of OpenMind Research Institute, a nonprofit advancing AI research to better understand human minds.

Lau holds both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto, and in 2020, was inducted into the university’s Engineering Alumni Hall of Distinction. He has twice been named one of Toronto Life’s Top 50 Most Influential People.