- Citi makes a strategic investment, joining the Series A round led by East Ventures (Growth Fund) and Vulcan Capital announced a few weeks earlier
- This non-exclusive partnership with Citi will help the company accelerate its platform for private stock
- The Company aims to secure other similar partnerships with other institutions to accelerate the development of its platform in SE Asia and India
SINGAPORE, Dec. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Singapore-based Qapita, which earlier announced its Series A round of USD 15 million co-led by East Ventures (Growth Fund) and Vulcan Capital added that it has secured a partnership with Citi. Citi has joined the Series A round, which will help the company accelerate its platform which includes the private company marketplace. Qapita plans to facilitate liquidity solutions via a digital marketplace enabling transactions for companies between investors and employee stakeholders.
Qapita expects the value of private securities in this region to exceed USD 1.0-1.5 trillion (with 200-250 unicorns) in the next few years and that scalable digital solutions will be critical for such an ecosystem to thrive. Qapita’s equity management software solves pain points relating to HR (ESOP), finance and fundraising for private companies, investors, shareholders and employees. Its marketplace will enable secondary transactions for these stakeholders. Qapita estimates that more than USD 150 billion of equity will need liquidity solutions.
This partnership will serve the growing market for private company secondary liquidity. Qapita has already built a CapTable and ESOP management platform and intends to launch a private company marketplace to offer one unified platform to its clients that will:
- Record, manage and report all aspects of equity ownership – ESOPs and CapTables
- Allow for custom, issuer friendly liquidity programs to be setup and run
- Build standardized and scalable rails for private market transactions
- Allowing transparency, accessibility and efficiency to investors seeking exposure to this asset class
Announcing the same, Ravi Ravulaparthi, CEO and Cofounder of Qapita, said, “Our quest is to build a unified platform that addresses all matters relating to equity for a private company. The private market in this part of the world is set to be US$1.0 – 1.5 trillion in value. This market needs an operating system and transaction rails to make it transparent, accessible and efficient. This partnership with Citi will help us accelerate this mission. We look forward to more such partnerships with ecosystem players.”
Deepak Mehra, Citi’s Asia Head of Strategic FinTech Investments & Digital Solutions, added, “This partnership highlights our focus on market structure innovation in the rapidly scaling private markets across the region. Qapita has a clear vision and an impressive team, and we are pleased to help accelerate their creation of a platform to foster liquidity in the market. The partnership also marks our continued commitment to invest in private markets globally in addition to FinTech and innovation across South-East Asia and India.”
About Qapita
Qapita Fintech Pte Ltd (Qapita) is a Singapore-headquartered (with offices in India) fintech and legal-tech start-up. Qapita started with digital equity management software for private companies, particularly start-ups. Its software platform is designed to enable capitalization table management, employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) management. Qapita is building more software products to provide solutions to companies as well as its investors, shareholders and employees. Qapita’s vision is to build a network of stakeholders in the private markets and digitally enable the private capital market transactions on its platform.
For more information on Qapita, click here: https://www.qapitacorp.com/
About Citi
Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.
Additional information may be found at https://www.citigroup.com | Twitter: @Citi | YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/citi | Blog: https://blog.citigroup.com/ | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/citi | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/citi
