US fintech Carta snaps up UK counterpart Capdesk
San Francisco-based equity management tech firm Carta has acquired UK counterpart Capdesk for an undisclosed sum.
Carta acquires Capdesk
Through the acquisition, Capdesk’s customers in the UK and Europe will have access to Carta’s products including its equity management, compensation and liquidity offerings, as well as Carta’s 409A valuation service, which will allow firms to issue equity to US employees.
Together, Carta and Capdesk also have plans to expand into new markets such as India and Singapore.
Headquartered in London and founded in 2015, Capdesk manages over £90 billion in assets.
“Capdesk customers will continue to use the platform as usual, but with some new benefits,” says Christian Gabriel, CEO and co-founder of Capdesk.
He adds that users will gain access to Carta products and services over time, including compensation benchmarking tools.
The acquisition will allow Carta to expand in the UK and Europe through Capdesk’s “multi-jurisdictional” equity platform.
“Before Capdesk, employers had to manage equity schemes manually with legal counsel in each country,” Carta says. “With Capdesk, employers can simply onboard and trust the company to manage all the detailed requirements of multiple jurisdictions.”
Founded in 2012, Carta claims to have over 30,000 companies as clients and manages over $2 trillion in equity for nearly two million people across the world.
