Qapita, a fintech firm located in Singapore that focuses on employee stock ownership plans (ESOP) and cap table management, has raised $15 million in a Series A round of funding.
The round was co-led by East Ventures (Growth Fund) and Vulcan Capital, with NYCA and other previous investors MassMutual Ventures and Endiya Partners also participating.
Alto Partners, Northstar Group, K3 Ventures, and Mission Holdings partners; Anjali Bansal (founder of Avaana Capital); and Sujeet Kumar (co-founder of Udaan) were among the existing angel investors.
The funds will be used to expand Qapita’s platform, which will provide solutions for private firms, startups, investors, shareholders, and workers. It also intends to use a digital marketplace to offer liquidity solutions for businesses, allowing transactions between investors and employee stakeholders.
A portion of the funds obtained will be used to expand Qapita’s client base in Singapore, Indonesia, and India.
Qapita received US $5 million in pre-Series A funding less than six months ago. It has previously received an initial investment of US $1.8 million in September 2020.
Ravi Ravulaparthi (CEO), Lakshman Gupta (COO), and Vamsee Mohan established Qapita in September 2019. (CTO). Its SaaS platform assists private enterprises and startups in recording and managing cap tables and employee stock ownership plans. The issuing of equity awards and shares will also be digitised.
In other words, it alleviates private firms’, investors’, shareholders’, and employees’ concerns about HR (ESOP), finance, and fundraising. These stakeholders will be allowed to conduct secondary trades through the firm’s marketplace.
More than $150 billion in equity, according to Qapita, will require liquidity solutions. In the next few years, the startup estimates that the value of private securities in this area would surpass $1-1.5 trillion (with 200-250 unicorns). So, in order for such an ecosystem to survive, scalable digital solutions would be necessary.
In Singapore and India, Qapita now employs 65 employees. In the near future, it aims to expand its talent pool in India, Indonesia, and Singapore.
CEO Ravulaparthi said, “We are in some of the fastest-growing private markets in the world. It is an incredible time to build an operating system and transaction rails for private company ownership in this region. This is about leveraging tech to enhance transparency, access, efficiency, and liquidity in private markets.”
