Vestd

An equity management platform for private companies in the UK, Vestd handles share schemes, the company's cap table, fundraising paperwork and the HMRC filings that come with giving staff a stake in the business. The company describes itself as the original and only FCA regulated equity management platform for small and medium-sized companies in the UK, and says it is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Share schemes and a live cap table

Vestd lets a company issue shares and options digitally. Its integration with Companies House works in both directions, so issues made on the platform are reflected in the company's filings, and the cap table, the record of who owns what, stays current without a reconciliation at the end of each quarter. Shareholders can sign and authorise documents online. The share schemes covered include Enterprise Management Incentives, CSOP and unapproved schemes, and growth shares, with granting, vesting and exercise managed in one place. The company also writes custom terms for individual team members, which it calls conditional equity.

Fundraising under SEIS and EIS

For companies raising money, Vestd sets out the steps of a Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme or Enterprise Investment Scheme round. It covers advance assurance, data rooms for investors, investment documents and valuation modelling. Because the new shares are recorded in the same cap table, the round and the company's register are meant to agree. The company describes a PISCES venue as a way for private companies to offer liquidity without waiting for an exit, and says Vestd is an approved PISCES venue that runs it without intermediaries.

Valuations, filings and HMRC correspondence

Many growing companies need a valuation for HMRC at least once a year, and Vestd arranges these so that the company does not have to ask its accountant for them. The platform also produces annual returns, handles HMRC notifications and tracks valuation triggers and Section 431 elections, which are easy to miss and costly to fix when they are. Updates and correspondence are kept in one place, which the company says removes long email threads from the process.

Who the platform is built for

Founders, finance teams, people teams and investors all work from the same equity record, each with the view they need. The company says thousands of founders rely on it and that a team of equity specialists is available to guide a company through setup. Calls to discuss a company's structure and goals are free, usually last around thirty minutes, and carry no obligation to use the platform afterwards. The company cites research that it says links shared ownership with faster growth and higher staff loyalty, and it presents equity as a way to keep the people who matter working towards the same goal.