The company that replaced every startup's messy cap table spreadsheet with an actual platform — then got caught treating that data too casually. Carta is genuinely essential infrastructure. Over 40,000 companies and 2 million stakeholders use it to manage $3 trillion in equity. But the CartaX scandal revealed the tension between being a neutral platform and monetizing the data on it. The trust repair will take years. The underlying product is still irreplaceable.
Founded
2012
HQ
San Francisco, CA
Total Raised
$1.1 billion
Founder
Henry Ward
Status
Private — valued at $7.4 billion (2022, likely lower now)
Website
carta.comTHE ORIGIN STORY
Henry Ward was a startup founder who was frustrated by how complicated it was to manage equity — cap tables, stock options, 409A valuations, and SEC compliance were all done in messy spreadsheets. He built Carta (originally eShares) to digitize equity management.
The idea: one platform where companies issue, track, and manage all their equity. Investors see their holdings.
Employees understand their options. Everything is accurate and auditable.
WHAT THEY ACTUALLY DO
SaaS subscription tiered by company stage. Startup plans from $3,000/year.
Growth and enterprise plans at $10,000-50,000+/year. Revenue also from fund administration services (charging VC firms to manage their portfolio), 409A valuations, and CartaX (secondary market transactions).
Total revenue estimated at $300M+ ARR.
THE PRODUCTS
Cap Table Management, 409A Valuations, Fund Administration (for VC firms), Equity Plan Administration, Scenario Modeling, Investor Relations Portal, Tax & Compliance tools.
HOW THEY GREW
Expanding from cap table management into full financial infrastructure for private companies. Carta wants to be the system of record for all private company equity — including fund administration for VCs, 409A valuations, tax compliance, and employee equity education.
Also pushing into public company transfer agent services.
THE HARD PART
Trust and data sensitivity. Carta holds the most sensitive financial data in the startup ecosystem — who owns what in thousands of private companies.
In 2024, they faced backlash when a former customer accused Carta of using their cap table data to solicit their investors for CartaX transactions. The scandal led to the shutdown of CartaX and serious reputational damage.
When your product is "trust us with your equity data," losing trust is existential.
WHO BACKED THEM
Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Tribe Capital, Menlo Ventures, Goldman Sachs
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