Capdesk has joined Carta to build a global solution for equity management. Today marks a new chapter: for Capdesk, for Carta and for the entire equity ecosystem.
Companies are no longer built in a single location, and investment can come from all corners of the world. Founders, investors and employees deserve access to the same equity tools no matter where they are based. As part of Carta, Capdesk will make it possible to scale without borders.
Capdesk is perfectly positioned to develop as the UK and European arm of Carta, a Silicon Valley giant that has conquered the US. Together, we’ll offer best-in-class equity products and services to companies all over the world, starting in the UK and Europe, and moving to newer frontiers such as India and Singapore.
When Mikkel, Martin and I started Capdesk in 2015, we had a vision of democratising wealth through equity. We wanted to change finance for good, to ensure more people got their fair share, and so each company exit would breed more future founders. We also wanted to fix a system we saw as broken. Equity was a huge pain point in private companies, which meant it remained illiquid, underused and misunderstood.
We had grand ambitions and achieved some amazing things as a result. We built a platform that took the entire lifecycle of share schemes online, allowing our customers to pivot effortlessly to remote employee equity management during COVID-19. We launched a secondaries product and enabled some of the UK and Europe’s biggest scale-ups to complete record-breaking transactions. Today, the platform is trusted by 3500 companies and used in 138 countries, with 20 unicorns and counting handling their equity on Capdesk.
But we’re not done yet. Our journey is far from over, and joining Carta makes us stronger and better-equipped than ever. If you’re wondering how we reached this point, let me explain. It all started earlier this year when we set out to raise a Series B, entering conversations with financial institutions and European exchanges along the way. Then Carta entered the picture.
Right away, the match was clear. There were too many synergies and shared goals to overlook and once conversations began, things moved rapidly. I’ve found an intellectual sparring partner and an advocate in Henry Ward, Carta's CEO, and observed like-minded attitudes between Capdeskers and Cartans.
I’m thrilled that Mikkel, Martin and I will join Carta along with our fellow Capdeskers. My gratitude goes out to every last Capdesk employee – past and present – who worked to get us here. Thanks also to our incredible customers, who’ve helped shape the product in more ways than they know. We promise to make the next chapter the best one yet.
So, what’s coming up? Capdesk customers will continue to use the platform as usual, but with some new benefits. Over time, users will gain access to Carta products and services, including 409A valuations and compensation benchmarking tools. Investment into Capdesk’s product, design and engineering will increase, leading to faster product development. New markets, new capabilities and new services are on the horizon too.
To find out more about what this means for you and your business, contact customersuccess@capdesk.com.
I hope you’ll join us on this adventure.
