Silicon Valley-based Carta acquires London-based competitor Capdesk

California-based equity management unicorn Carta has acquired London-based rival Capdesk for an undisclosed sum.

Capdesk’s platform allows businesses to monitor their capitalization tables, which shows the division and dilution of capital within a company.

The software also allows employers to convert equity, options and warrants into employee benefits. Similarly, Carta can be used to manage cap, offset and rating tables.

Following the acquisition, Capdesk users will gain access to Carta’s products. Carta will use Capdesk to expand its presence in Europe as part of its compliance efforts with the UK’s HMRC and Companies House.

This is Carta’s second acquisition of a British company since July acquired London-based venture capital investment platform Vauban.

Henry Ward, Co-Founder and CEO of Carta, said: “We have been following Capdesk’s impressive journey for years. Before Capdesk, employers had to manage capital manually with legal counsel in each country.

“With Capdesk, employers can simply opt in and trust one provider to manage the detailed requirements of multiple jurisdictions.”

Used by companies such as Gousto, Checkout.com and Wagestream, Capdesk says it manages over £90bn of assets.

According to Carta, it looks after the capital of over 30,000 businesses, 5,000 funds and 500,000 staff managing over £1.5 trillion. Its clients include Canva, Tribe and Pipe.

“We founded Capdesk with a vision to change finance forever by harnessing the power of equity to benefit founders, investors and employees. I am thrilled that we have identified a shared vision at Carta. This deal will allow us to further strengthen our position across Europe,” said Christian Gabriel, Co-Founder and CEO of Capdesk.

The London-based company was in talks for a potential Series B before entering acquisition talks with Carta. To date, Capdesk has raised £11.7 million in funding. Initially, Capdesk will continue to operate independently.