European investor consortium led by btov Partners invests in equity software for private companies
Software for investment and valuation overviews (cap table) helps founders to manage equity capital and employee participation plans
Financing round of 1 million euros for expansion in Europe
The vision: a strong European start-up ecosystem in which all transactions are processed digitally
St. Gallen /Zurich / Bad Homburg 3 December 2018 – Ledgy AG, Zurich (Switzerland), provider of equity software for private companies, has collected 1 million euros in a successful seed round. The company secured funding from a strong alliance of European investors: In addition to btov Partners (St. Gallen, Switzerland),Creathor Ventures (Bad Homburg, Germany) and VI Partners (Zug, Switzerland) are involved. Daniel Gutenberg and Luis Cabiedes, leading business angels in Switzerland and Spain, as well as Paul Sevinç and Myke Naef, founders of Doodle, take part in the round. Just a few months after its launch in Switzerland, around 200 companies are already using the software. Ledgy intends to use the collected capital to launch its product next in Germany, France and Great Britain.
The European market for equity software is fragmented. While US companies have been using online platforms to manage their cap tables and employee shareholdings for sometime now, start-ups in Europe are still busy with spreadsheets. Ledgy digitizesthe equity management and thus ensures clarity for all parties involved.Founders also often find it difficult to use employee shareholdings effectivelyor to model more complex financing rounds with liquidation preferences. Ledgy wants to change that.
Ben Brandt, CEO of Ledgy, explains: "Ledgy sets a new standard for managing the equity of companies in Europe. In particular, employee participation is critical to an emerging start-up ecosystem. In comparison, companies in Europe give their employees ten times less shares than in the USA – which is also due to a lack of tools."
Ledgy's medium-term goal is to become the leading online platform for the digital processing of equity transactions in private companies and to offer an unbureaucratic and inexpensive secondary market for private companies. Ledgy will provide liquidity for early investors and employees. This will enable founders to keep their companies private for longer.
btov Partners has not only invested in Ledgy, but also relies on its software for its own capital management. Florian Schweitzer, CEO of btov: "We really appreciate the Ledgy team. They have the potential not only to create the new standard for cap-table management in start-ups, but also to decisively improve business for us investors. We look forward to actively participating in Ledgy's future not only as investors, but also as customers."
Cédric Köhler, Managing Partner of Creathor Ventures adds: "We find Ledgy particularly exciting because their approach represents a good starting point for the automation of investments and company participation. In the medium term, we trust Ledgy to become a provider of smart contracts in the market for corporate transactions."
About Ledgy AG
Ledgy (Zurich, Switzerland) has developed software for employee participation plans and cap tables. With their SaaS platform Ledgy helps founders to manage their company's equity. For example, the software simplifies the overview of vesting plans, phantom programs and numbered shares.Thanks to round and exit modeling, founders gain valuable insights for negotiations. Ledgy was founded in 2017 as a European competitor of US toolssuch as Carta by Yoko Spirig, Ben Brandt and Timo Horstschaefer. The platform was launched for the first time three months after the foundation and has by now convinced around 200 companies.
About btov Partners
btov Partners, founded in 2000, is a European venture capital firm with offices in Berlin, Luxembourg, Munich and St. Gallen. The investment focus is on digital and industrial technology companies. btov manages institutional funds, partner funds, and offers private investors and family offices access to direct investments. The company manages assets of EUR375 million through its three divisions and examines over 3,000 investment opportunities annually. The most reowned investments include Blacklane, DeepL, Facebook, Flaconi, Foodspring, ORCAM, Raisin, SumUp, Volocopter and XING. More information at www.btov.vc.