Equity management platform Qapita raises US$26.5 million in Series B round led by Charles Schwab Corporation
The funds will go towards US expansion, building new fund administration product
[SINGAPORE] Fintech company Qapita has raised US$26.5 million in a Series B funding round led by US financial institution Charles Schwab Corporation.
Its existing investors, Citi and MassMutual Ventures – the venture capital arm of American insurer MassMutual – also participated in the round. Singapore-based Qapita helps private companies manage their cap tables and stock records, among others, through its equity management platform.
Charles Schwab’s entry as a strategic investor also relates to a product collaboration, Qapita said on Wednesday (Oct 8).
The two will build Schwab Private Issuer Equity Services, a platform powered by Qapita that aims to help private US-based companies with cap table and employee stock option management, as well as public listing transitions.
Ravi Ravulaparthi, co-founder and chief executive officer of Qapita, added that the product collaboration and latest fundraising round will help the company enter the US.
“The opportunity to actually target some of the larger companies in the US – it makes sense to partner a large US institution,” he told The Business Times.
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
The expansion will build on Qapita’s experiences in South-east Asia and India, its existing markets, where it has created a platform that can be reconfigured to meet local market needs. This allows the company to tailor its platform for the US market as well, where the bulk of startup activity is based.
Qapita already has about seven employees in the US, with co-founder and chief operating officer Lakshman Gupta relocating there to build out the team.
Aside from entering the US, Qapita will also use the capital raised to launch a fund administration product across the markets in which it operates, targeting venture capital fund managers and other private market funds.
The product will help them manage portfolios, ownership and reporting requirements of investors, as well as secondaries and liquidity facilities.
“These are like software systems that (help) private markets to function efficiently – that’s what we’re building for,” said Ravulaparthi.
Over the next 12 months, the company will focus on the fund administration product and US expansion. As Qapita scales up its American operations, Ravulaparthi hopes to keep its top ranking on G2, a business software review website.
“We already have customers in the US, but this collaboration and funding proceeds will allow us to expand more assertively,” he added.
Copyright SPH Media. All rights reserved.
