Full-stack equity and shareholder management platform EquityList has secured $2.2 Mn in its seed funding round from AngelList India, Hustle Fund, Republic, Unpopular Ventures, Mana Ventures, Riverwalk Holdings and Super Capital.
The round also saw the participation of angel investors like Tanmay Bhatt, Ramakant Sharma (Livspace), Gajendra Jangid (Cars24), Sairee Chahal (Sheroes), Rangarjan Krishnan (Five Star Finance), Sajid Rehman (MyAsiaVC) and Faiz Mayalkarra (KubeVC), among others.
The startup plans to deploy the fresh funds for hiring and accelerate expansion plans.
Operational since 2020 within angel network AngelList India, EquityList allows companies to manage their shareholding and equity distribution. The startup offers captable management, stock options (ESOPs, SARs and RSU, among others), data rooms, valuation services and other related compliances. The startup was incorporated earlier this year to run independently from AngelList.
The platform claims to have more than 260 customers, including Blackbuck, Bizongo, Sugar Cosmetics, slice, Cars24, Shiprocket, smallcase, Ditto Insurance and more. It claims to currently manage equity for 10,000+ stakeholders and $950 Mn+ worth of stock options.
Commenting on the fundraise, Kashish Sharma, CEO of EquityList, said, “This year, we decided to double down on our product, considering the growing need for equity management and corporate governance. We started building for India and, over the months, expanded to working with customers across Southeast Asia and the US. As founders build global businesses, there are inherent challenges in navigating the complexities of cross-border equity management, which EquityList specialises in solving.”
EquityList claims to have customers across India, Singapore and the US.
Utsav Somani, partner at AngelList India, added, “We believe there is a multi-billion dollar opportunity here, along with EquityList’s mission of democratising technology to impact wealth creation significantly. EquityList is leading the way in advancing the maturity of the Indian startup ecosystem and is expanding its product offerings and presence worldwide.”
The platform allows companies to manage multiple entities across geographies, share split activities, ESOP buybacks and liquidity, and more shareholding-related activities.
Shiyan Koh, cofounder and general partner of Hustle Fund, said, “Equity ownership and the ability to participate meaningfully in the upside of a startup is something that we feel is important to a well-functioning startup and innovation ecosystem. EquityList is making that possible through their startup OS – issuing, managing and understanding equity will be easy for all stakeholders (founders, employees, investors, and board members).”
EquityList will directly compete with the likes of Qapita, Rulezero and trica by LetsVenture, among other equity management startups.
ESOPs as a means of compensation by startups are rising in popularity. For instance, in 2022, Indian startup employees made over $196 Mn through buybacks.
Some of the recent ESOP-related announcements include Zomato allocating 2.52 Cr shares in employee stock options, Policybazaar allocating an additional 5.44 Lakh options and Paytm allocating 17 Lakh additional stock options.
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