New Delhi, Feb 3 (UNI) Qapita, a Singapore-based provider of digital equity management SaaS solutions, on Wednesday announced that it has secured an undisclosed strategic investment from East Ventures.
Qapita helps private companies and start-ups manage capitalisation tables (cap tables) and employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs).
Qapita also aims to digitise issuance of equity awards and shares. The fresh round of funding will be used to further strengthen the team in Singapore, India and Indonesia, accelerate product development and build clientele.
Qapita was founded in 2019 by CEO Ravi Ravulaparthi, COO Lakshman Gupta, and CTO Vamsee Mohan, who recognised the inefficiencies in private market ownership and transactions, coupled with the need to digitally disrupt this sector. The founders hold decades of experience in investment banking, corporate finance and software engineering respectively, working across markets like India, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Hong Kong. The founders are alumni of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore, Indian School of Business (ISB) and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Chennai.
In September 2020, Qapita raised USD1.8 million, in a seed round led by the Singapore arm of Vulcan Capital and several high-profile early-stage investors including Koh Boon Hwee, K3 Ventures and partners of the NorthStar Group. Since then, Qapita has added senior talent to the team including former bankers, venture capitalists and equity management professionals.
Speaking on this fundraise, Ravi Ravulaparthi, CEO and Co-Founder of Qapita, said, “We are excited about this investment and partnership. East Ventures have a large, unparalleled footprint in the Indonesian startup ecosystem, and we look forward to working with them. The rapidly growing ecosystem in Indonesia will require digital management of equity, ESOP culture, employee liquidity programs and a thriving secondary private market. Qapita will contribute to this need with its software platform. We look forward to building more such partnerships with other VCs with portfolios across India and SE Asia.”
Lakshman Gupta, COO added, “We believe that there will be no paper-based shares and share certificates for startups in this region in the years to come. Digitisation is relentless and we think security issuance and securities themselves will become electronic. Qapita is also building digital share issuance capabilities on the platform and will work with partners in the company secretarial and legal sector.”
Commenting on the investment, Willson Cuaca, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of East Ventures said, “Qapita solves the classic cap tables management problem that are constantly faced by startup founders in the region. We believe the digital equity management SaaS solution provided by the company will soon be widely adopted. It will help slingshot the SEA digital ecosystem to the next level.”
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