Capdesk acquired by US rival

Capdesk, an equity management startup based in the UK, has been acquired by Silicon Valley-based Carta.

Founded in 2015 by Christian Gabriel, Mikkel Boje & Martin Damhus, Capdesk has over 3,500 clients in  Europe - including Gousto, VOI, Checkout.com,Plum Guide and Wagestream – who it manages equity ownership programmes for. This equates to more than £90bn of assets.

The company has previously raised £11.7m in funding from global investors including Fidelity International Strategic Ventures.

Silicon Valley-based Carta provides similar services to c.30,000 companies, 5000 funds and half a million employees in the US, and manages over £1.5trn in equity. It also manages cap tables compensation, valuations, portfolio investments as well as liquidity for clients for the likes of Canva, Tribe, and Pipe

Carta aims to solve the inherent illiquidity of private markets and its acquisition of Capdesk comes at a crunch time for many senior startup employees who - alongside seeing living standards squeezed may also be concerned about their exits given a slowdown in IPOs.

“We founded Capdesk with a vision of changing finance for good by leveraging the power of equity for the benefit of founders, investors and employees alike. I’m thrilled we’ve identified a shared vision in Carta. This deal will enable us to further strengthen our position across Europe,” said Christian Gabriel, Co-Founder & CEO, Capdesk.

The deal will see Capdesk customers gain immediate access to Carta products although Capdesk will operate as an independent business unit within Carta for the time being.

All three of Capdesk’s founders will stay on with the firm.

"We’re thrilled to be welcoming their vision, expertise and experience to the Carta fold and we’re grateful to have all three founders stay on as key leaders within the company,” said Henry Ward, co-founder and CEO of Carta.