ESOP And Captable Management Startup Qapita Raises $5 Mn

Hyderabad-based Qapita, which offers an ESOP and cap table management SaaS platform, has raised $5 Mn in its pre-Series A round led by MassMutual Ventures. 

Hyderabad-based venture capital firm Endiya Partners and reputed India-based angel investors including Anjali Bansal (founder of Avaana Capital), Sujeet Kumar (cofounder of Udaan) also participated in this round. 

Qapita’s products help private companies and startups record and manage capitalisation tables (cap tables) and employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). The company also aims to digitise the issuance of equity awards and shares. The funds will be used to add engineering talent, accelerate product development and build clientele in India, Indonesia and Singapore.

Founded in 2019 by Ravi Ravulaparthi (CEO), Lakshman Gupta (COO) and Vamsee Mohan (CTO), Qapita claims to have identified an opportunity to use systems and software to aid equity and ESOP management in private capital markets across the region. Over the last year, the company has built its team to include senior talent from industries like investment banking, venture capital and ESOP management. From six people in September 2020, today Qapita employs over 30 people across various geographies in this region. 

To date, the company has raised close to $1.8 Mn in funding from 9 investors and counts Vulcan Capital, Alto Partners Multi Family Office, Rippledot Capital’s Atin Kukreja amongst its backers. 

“Over the last six months, more than a hundred startups have agreed to onboard with Qapita and manage their equity ownership on our software platform. New features will help us address the pain points of not only startups and investors but that of all stakeholders in the ecosystem. We are looking to partner with various service providers including law, accounting & company secretarial firms and we will grow together by collaborating,” said Gupta, COO and cofounder of Qapita. 

Qapita competes with companies such as AngelList, which in June last year launched a cap table management product for India — EquityList — which also helps startups create stock option programs and issue grants, and LetsVenture’s MyStartupEquity.

Besides these, there are a host of other platforms such as Razorpay’s Opfin, which provide payroll management solutions to companies. 

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