Cap table management built for founders and finance teams
Cake Equity is a cap-table and equity management platform aimed at founders who would rather not manage SAFEs, options and rounds in a spreadsheet. We picked it because the platform handles the messy parts — share class versioning, employee equity grants with vesting schedules, board-ready capitalisation reports and 409A or independent valuations — across multiple jurisdictions, including Australia, the UK and the US. The trade-off is that Cake competes directly with Carta, Pulley and Ledgy, and the right pick depends heavily on where you incorporate and where your investors expect documentation.
You set up the company entity, add stakeholders (founders, investors, employees) and import or build the cap table. From there, Cake handles share issuances, SAFE and convertible-note conversions, secondary transactions and option grants with vesting curves. Employee equity flows have a portal so team members can see their grants, vesting progress, exercise windows and tax implications without bothering finance.
For governance, Cake generates board consents, share certificates, ESOP agreements and statutory filings (where supported). Independent valuation reports — 409A in the US, equivalent fair-value assessments in other markets — are bundled or available as add-ons. Round-modelling tools simulate dilution scenarios across SAFE and priced rounds, useful for term-sheet decisions.
Cake offers a free starter plan suitable for very small cap tables (founders pre-investment), with paid tiers escalating by stakeholder count and feature need. The growth tier sits around $99 per month and unlocks ESOPs, secondary transactions and reporting. Higher tiers add multi-entity support, advanced governance and bundled valuations. Independent valuation reports are typically priced separately as one-offs.
The honest cost watch: pricing scales with stakeholders and entities. A multi-jurisdiction startup running parent and subsidiary companies pays meaningfully more than a single-entity SaaS. Get a quote in writing before assuming the headline number applies.
| Tool | Strength | Starter price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cake Equity | Multi-jurisdiction support | Free / from $99/mo | AU, UK, US founders |
| Carta | US incumbent, deep VC network | From $0 / quoted | US-incorporated startups |
| Pulley | Modern UX, AI features | Free / from $99/mo | YC-style early stage |
| Ledgy | European stronghold | Quoted | EU-incorporated companies |
Verified deal
The free starter is enough to set up the entity and core cap table. Upgrade when you grant employee options or take in SAFEs and need clean automation.
See the Cake Equity offerEarly founders use Cake Equity to maintain cap table accuracy as they raise pre-seed, seed, and Series A rounds. The platform auto-calculates dilution and generates cap table exhibits for investor term sheets, eliminating manual reconciliation errors that derail due diligence.
Finance teams rely on Cake Equity to produce timestamped, immutable cap table records for M&A or IPO processes. The platform generates compliance reports and integrates with accounting systems, reducing the prep work required for external auditors.
HR teams use Cake Equity to automate offer letter generation, set vesting schedules, and let employees view their equity via self-service portal. This removes bottlenecks in hiring cycles and reduces support tickets about option details.
Quarterly access to product leadership.
Bonus credits redeemable on partner tooling.
We re-verify the offer every quarter so it never goes stale.
Hit the button on this page — opens the partner site in a new tab.
Check your investor or accelerator benefits portal for the Cake Equity partner code. Y Combinator, Sequoia, and most Tier 1 VCs have codes available.
Renewals stay at the same rate — verified by us, not the vendor.
| Feature | Cake Equity |
|---|---|
| Free trial | 14 days |
| Cheapest paid plan | $0/mo |
| Annual discount | Up to 25% |
| Refund window | 30 days |
| Setup time | < 1 hour |
| Best for | Founders |
“Free tier is perfect for first-time founders figuring out equity”
“Employee self-service portal removes finance bottleneck”
“Best cap table tool for Australian startups doing ESOP”
