Digital equity management platform Cake to transform shareholder management, raises $1m

Digital equity management platform Cake aims to capitalise on the global trend of companies staying private longer following a successful $1million capital raise.

Since its inception in mid-2017, Cake has built software and supporting services that streamline the management of unlisted equity. Instead of spreadsheets, forms and emails, Cake’s integrated platform converges the accounting, legal, ASIC compliance and investor relations for unlisted companies.

The SaaS platform is currently servicing over 100 companies and 6,000 investors, providing services such as the settlement of capital raises, employee shares schemes, share registry, and investor relations.

To support this growth, Cake’s CEO Jason Atkins has raised $1million following a Seed Round with Industria Capital, adding to its roster of experienced investors to its capital table.

According to Jason, the successful Seed Round was due to the organic growth it had achieved over the past two years and provides access to a collective of industry leaders.

“We are lucky in that key figures within the Australian investment scene immediately grasp how Cake fits within the capital raising eco-system and the problems it is solving,” Mr Atkins said.

“We partnered with Industria Capital to engage professional and high net wealth individuals and family offices – who inherently understand the need to simplify arrangements in this space. This support complements the 30 partnerships we’ve established with national brands including Wholesale Investors, CRIISP, Lawpath and fast-growing national, award-winning accounting firm Carbon Group as a partner – who’s founder – Jamie Davison – liked the concept so much he joined us as CFO.”

The capital markets industry in Australian is dominated by large incumbents such as ASX, Computershare and Link. New entrants have emerged in Australia and overseas such as Automic and Carta in the US who recently completed a US$300m Series E raise led by Andreessen Horowitz.

Cake is using these firms as inspiration, with the aim of creating a more innovative set of solutions for Australian companies that allows small and medium companies to issue and transfer equity much more easily – therefore speeding up transactions and increasing funding opportunities for SME’s.

What can take weeks to complete, the Cake platform can complete in minutes, with the added benefit of improving SME funding opportunities – helping to support Cake is economic growth and highlighting the positive impact innovation has on the wider economy.

For Jason Atkins, it is critical that the platform is seen as a vital tool during a time when businesses look to save time and cost and work virtually – while also positioning the firm to take advantage of the huge opportunity in Australia to converge the private markets.

“With so much turbulence for businesses right now, it is quite natural that companies are utilising the private markets to shore up their balance sheets,” said Mr Atkins.

“As businesses look for every advantage in the economic climate, Cake’s fast and simple platform is perfectly placed for SME’s looking to raise funds and use employee share schemes to engage and retain their teams. Implementing employee share schemes is a logical way to engage and retain staff to ensure companies have their team in place for the recovery.”