There was a time when joining a startup meant gambling with your financial future. Companies offered stock options as part of their compensation packages, but employees had no guarantee that those shares would ever turn into real money. They could spend years watching valuations climb into the millions, while their own equity remained little more than a promise on paper. Without an acquisition or IPO, they had few opportunities to cash in.
But now, some of the fastest-growing companies are beginning to change that arrangement. In September, AI voice technology company ElevenLabs completed a $300 million employee share sale at a $22 billion valuation, double its valuation just seven months earlier. The transaction let employees sell a portion of their equity to investors without waiting for the company to go public. Earlier in the year, AI sales automation startup Clay announced its second employee tender offer in less than a few months, allowing staff to sell up to $55 million in shares at a $5 billion valuation.
As startups give employees opportunities to cash in before an IPO, managing ownership becomes more complicated. Each transaction raises new questions about valuations, shareholder rights, and ownership records, placing greater demands on the platforms that track them. At the same time, the equity management industry is also going through a period of change.
In September, cap table management provider Pulley announced plans to shut down by the end of 2026. Its closure comes as the global equity management and cap table software market continues to expand, projected to reach $4 billion in the next few years.
In the past, cap tables were seen as an administrative task. Founders needed to know how much of their company they owned, investors wanted to understand their stakes, and employees needed visibility into their stock options. As long as the records were accurate, most people had little reason to think about the technology behind them.
But as Pulley customers weigh their next move, the search for a replacement raises questions about what startups should expect from the platforms managing their equity. altshare, another company operating in the equity management space, takes an approach that goes beyond tracking who owns what. The company says it aims to provide a single source of truth for equity data, using automation to help businesses manage ownership information as they grow.
The growing complexity of startup ownership has also changed what companies need from equity management platforms. Providers like altshare have expanded beyond traditional cap table management to cover employee stock options, valuations, and financing scenarios, which means addressing different financial needs that rely on the same ownership data. A founder preparing for another funding round needs to understand how new investment could dilute existing shareholders, while an employee considering selling shares needs clarity on what they own, how much has vested, and what those holdings might be worth. Both illustrate how equity management has become relevant to financial decisions beyond the cap table.
Other providers, such as Slice, take a different route by focusing on the regulatory complexities of managing equity across international markets. Its platform helps companies navigate country-specific securities laws, labor regulations, and tax and withholding requirements, addressing challenges that arise when startups expand and cross borders.
For startups, Pulley’s closure is more than finding another place to store their cap tables. It raises the question of how much they should expect from the companies responsible for managing ownership information that might become more valuable, but also more complicated as their businesses grow.