Startup stakeholder management platform Cake Equity raises $3 million seed round

Gold Coast-based equity management platform Cake Equity has raised US$2.2 million ($A3m) in seed capital.

The round was co-led by California investor Jason Calacanis through Launch and its angel platform, TheSyndicate, as well as Australian VC Rampersand. Calacanis is a Cake customer.

Airtasker co-founder Jonathan Lui and Practice Ignition founder Guy Pearson also chipped in.

Cake plans to use the cash for its global expansion plans, with hopes to launch in more than 20 countries over the next 18 months. It recently entered the Singapore market and is in Australia, the US, U.K. and India. 

The platform simplifies the way that startups and scale-ups manage employee options, raise capital, and manage shareholders. More than 2,000 companies and 50,000 shareholders use the platform including Who Gives a Crap.

Co-founders Jason Atkins and Kim Hansen launched their startup in 2018.

Atkins sees Cake as a way to help founders and the startup ecosystem.

“We want to be the catalyst for more startups to get funded, so that they can change the world, while making sure that their teams share in that success,” he said.

“This round of funding will help us continue to deliver on our vision of creating more equity owners through cap tables that are easy to use, everywhere.”

Calacanis said: “We are excited to back the Cake team as they build the next generation of equity management tools.” 

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