The investment advisory market has never been more competitive. The number of firms grows year after year, the competition for clients and professionals intensifies, and people seeking financial guidance are becoming increasingly demanding.
In this environment, growth alone is no longer enough. What distinguishes the best operations is the ability to expand the business while preserving the quality of service, proximity to customers, and consistency in the execution of the services offered.
It is this set of attributes that XP seeks to recognize every year with the G1 award, given to the best office in its network. The recognition takes into account indicators such as quality of service, fundraising, productivity, and client asset management, bringing together different aspects of each office's operation in a single ranking.
After joining the G20 last year, a group that brings together the top 20 offices among more than 400 XP partners, W1 Capital, the investment advisory arm of the W1 Inc ecosystem, won first place in the Brazil Advisor Awards 2026, an award ceremony held during Expert XP on Saturday, July 25th.
In addition to the historic G1 achievement, W1 was also recognized in several other categories during the awards ceremony. The company was chosen as the Best Office in the Southeast Region and came in 2nd place in the E20 – Expansion category.
Their professionals also received awards. Cíntia Rocha was among the Top 4 Up-and-Coming Advisors; Claudia Santaela among the Top 50 Advisors in Brazil; and Lucas Piovezan among the Top 100 Advisors in Brazil.
Gabriel Mangueira, CEO of W1 Inc, and Pedro Lobão, CCO of W1 Inc, on stage at the Brazil Advisor Awards 2026.
These achievements are yet another chapter in W1's accelerated expansion cycle, but their main significance lies in reaffirming a thesis that has guided the company since its founding: the best investment begins long before choosing a fund, a stock, or any other financial asset.
While much of the market begins the relationship with an investment portfolio, W1 takes the opposite approach. Before making any recommendations or decisions about where to invest, the focus is on Financial Planning, seeking to understand the client's financial life.
Income, assets, cash flow, family goals, long-term plans, and savings capacity are all considered before the first investment advice or suggestion. Therefore, the portfolio ceases to be the starting point and becomes the consequence of a broader plan.
“Our core business is financial planning,” says Gabriel Mangueira, CEO of W1. “Most clients enter our ecosystem through planning and only later arrive at investment advisory services.”
This statement helps explain a company that, in the last 12 months, has opened new offices, expanded its team of financial planners and advisors, strengthened its management structure, and deepened a service model that is very different from that adopted by most of the market.
Mangueira points out that W1 has expanded to 36 offices across the country, reinforcing its presence in regions that have gained prominence in the Brazilian economy in recent years.
Recife, Salvador, and Fortaleza have made the Northeast one of the company's main expansion fronts, now accounting for 15% of its units and 12% of its revenue.
In the Midwest and North of Brazil, cities like Cuiabá, Goiânia, Brasília, Cacoal, and Ji-Paraná have come to occupy a strategic position, driven mainly by the strength of agribusiness.
São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Campinas, and Ribeirão Preto remain the company's main business focus.
Geographic expansion was accompanied by an expansion of the team. This year alone, 60 consultants joined the company, practically doubling the number of professionals dedicated to the activity in just 12 months.
However, W1's growth did not alter the logic of its service. On the contrary: the expansion was planned to preserve a model based on the specialization of professionals and the division of responsibilities.
In practice, this means that the client does not depend on a single professional to solve all their needs. Financial planning is the responsibility of a specialist dedicated to organizing aspects of the client's financial life, such as cash flow, asset goals, and life objectives.
At the same time, the investment advisor transforms this planning into a resource allocation strategy. Instead of concentrating all functions in a single person, W1 opted to build a complementary role.
This model is complemented by an ecosystem of experts. There are consultants focused on small and medium-sized enterprises, professionals dedicated to succession planning, and specialists in retirement plans, insurance, and consortiums, to name just a few examples.
Whenever a new need arises, the client continues communicating within the same relationship structure, but now benefits from the technical expertise of the professional best suited to that need.
“One of our key differentiators is precisely offering 360-degree financial planning,” says Mangueira. “We look at the client’s financial life as a whole, not just their investment portfolio.”
This model completely changes the dynamics of advisory services. Investments cease to be an isolated product and become a tool within a much broader financial project.
"This logic also explains another striking characteristic of the company in our ecosystem: its close relationship with customers," says the CEO.
Conversations via WhatsApp, phone calls, virtual meetings, or in-person meetings with clients at any of the 36 offices are part of W1's daily routine. The CEO himself usually participates in meetings whenever requested.
The culture of proximity had already earned the company another important recognition from XP even before winning the G1 award. At a meeting held in Santiago, Chile, W1 was named the number one office in the so-called "service model," an evaluation based on indicators that measure the frequency of relationship and the level of interaction with clients.
Today, W1's operations bring together approximately 2,000 professionals across sales, management, and back-office areas. The company manages R$ 3.5 billion in assets, of which R$ 3.2 billion are held in custody at XP.
Throughout its history, W1 has served over 100,000 clients and maintains approximately 60,000 active clients, with nearly 20,000 in investment advisory services alone. This year alone, more than 8,000 new clients have joined its base.
Recently, its structure began to be prepared for a new cycle. The company strengthened areas such as technology, human resources, governance, and legal, hired executives from large companies, and initiated its first audit conducted by a Big Four firm.
The goal is to prepare the company for an initial public offering (IPO) in the coming years. The preference is for a listing on Nasdaq, although an IPO on the B3 (Brazilian stock exchange) also remains on the radar, depending on market conditions.
