Ledgy raises USD 10 million Series A to change the culture of equity and ownership

07.09.2021 10:55, Isabelle Mitchell

Ledgy, the equity management platform built for high-growth companies, has closed USD 10 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Sequoia Capital and marks the firm’s first partnership with a company in Switzerland. Also participating in the round are Xavier Niel, Harry Stebbings, Visionaries Club, and several leading SaaS founders, including UiPath’s Daniel Dines and Front’s Mathilde Collin. Existing investors Myke Näf, Paul Sevinç, btov Partners, Creathor Ventures, and VI Partners participated as well. Sequoia partner Luciana Lixandru is joining Ledgy’s board. Zurich-based Ledgy was one of the TOP 100 Swiss Startups from 2018 to 2020.

Ledgy is the first platform for company ownership that can be used, for the benefit of companies and funds, in any jurisdiction and from founding to IPO and beyond. When it’s done well, equity management unlocks significant value for founders, employees, and investors. But, much of the slog that goes into raising funds, rolling out options, and planning exits is time-consuming manual work tracking who owns what, with data painstakingly logged in Excel. 

As companies expand into new territories, establish offices in new markets, and bring new investors on board, the friction compounds for finance, operations, and legal teams have to factor in different share classes, option plans, currencies, and regulatory systems. Ledgy is building software to automate the administration of a number of vital business processes, from cap table management to setting up option plans, and modeling exit scenarios.

Commenting on Ledgy’s fundraising, CEO Yoko Spirig said: “Startups today face extraordinary competition on multiple fronts, particularly when it comes to fundraising and hiring. We solve the fundamental problems in equity ownership, to position businesses for hypergrowth. But enabling scale is only part of the picture. Startups cannot deliver sustainable, long-term growth and build important companies without treating their employees fairly. The companies using Ledgy give their teams meaningful ownership and real transparency, enhancing their ability to attract talent and boosting retention. This funding round allows us to further expand our reach across the globe and continue building a first-in-class product to serve our international customer base.”

“Our ecosystem in Europe is flourishing, with startup activity and VC funding at an all-time high, yet outside the US, there is a lack of infrastructure in equity management. Ledgy, the first platform to be geo- and jurisdiction agnostic, will play a key role in allowing European innovation to compete on a global level,” said Luciana Lixandru, Partner at Sequoia Capital. “We’re incredibly excited to partner with Yoko and the Ledgy team on their vision, not only to build a new category within business software but to fundamentally change the culture of company ownership.” 

Ledgy was founded in 2017 by ETH Zurich physics graduates Yoko Spirig (middle), Ben-Elias Brandt (left), and Timo Horstschäfer (right) to tackle the pains growing companies experience. Ledgy’s core belief is that the world’s biggest challenges will be solved by entrepreneurs and that democratizing company ownership can be the difference between short-term growth and truly enduring success. Previously, Ledgy had raised a EUR 1.2 million seed round led by Swiss investor btov Partners.

Today, some of Europe’s biggest scale-ups, including ‘unicorns’ wefox, Kry, Bitpanda, and Pleo, use Ledgy to close funding rounds, engage investors, and empower employees. In total, Ledgy is used by more than 1,500 businesses, which have collectively opened up ownership to many thousands of employees. Although Ledgy’s growth so far has centered on Europe, customers around the world, from Indonesia to Israel, already use Ledgy’s software.

Ledgy also offers VC and angel investors the ability to manage their portfolios of investments through a single hub and collaborate with companies on reporting and KPIs. Embedding into critical processes and sitting at the heart of founder and investor networks has allowed Ledgy to develop a true flywheel: almost all growth since its founding has been organic and inbound. Monthly recurring revenue has increased 10x in the last 12 months, and Ledgy saw 20% month-on-month growth through the first quarter of 2021. The company enjoys close to no-churn.

Ledgy plans to use the funding to continue expanding into new markets within Europe and beyond and build new features to support better workflow automation, solutions for public company administration, and enhanced fund and portfolio management capabilities. The company has hired its first Head of Talent and plans to more than double in size by the end of the calendar year. Ledgy is a great and diverse place to work, with a team including 17 nationalities and with a 47% gender balance.

Zurich-based Ledgy was one of the TOP 100 Swiss Startups from 2018 to 2020.