What’s New

When a user’s bank account does not have sufficient funds to pay for the exercise via ACH, Carta will warn the user when reviewing the exercise. The user will have the option to change the selected bank account, lower the amount of options to exercise, or proceed with the exercise.

Additional improvements to the review exercise page better highlight key details of the exercise, reducing the need for scrolling. The UI also now explicitly states that the total represents a cost to the user.

Users choosing to proceed are then given a final message that an underfunded exercise may be canceled.

Who this affects

This feature is available to employees who have set up their ACH bank account on Carta through Plaid. 

How it works

Carta is using Plaid Balance to confirm the available balance of the associated bank account prior to submitting the exercise request. No account balance information is stored on Carta. This feature does not block users from submitting exercise requests, rather warns them about the potential risk of a canceled exercise.

What happens if the selected bank account doesn’t have enough money for the exercise? 
We now warn users that their account doesn’t seem to have enough money to cover the exercise cost. We allow them to proceed anyway, as they could potentially add funds to the account before Carta attempts to pull the funds. If it turns out there are insufficient funds, we will cancel the exercise.

How does Carta know how much money is in my bank account?
By connecting a bank account through Plaid, we can use Plaid’s APIs to retrieve real-time balance information at the time of the exercise request. Checking the accounts available balance represents the predicted balance net of any pending transactions. This type of information is often used to protect against overdrafts and non-sufficient funds fees. For more information on Plaid Balance, see here.

What if I manually connected my bank account?
Users can always connect their bank accounts manually instead of using Plaid. For these users we cannot know their available balance and they will not receive any warnings about insufficient funds.

Timing

• 12/21/2022 - Released to 25% of users, with general availability by the end of January

How do I learn more or get help?

Visit Carta Support for more details on Exercising Using ACH and Setting Up Your Bank Account

What's new?

We are making updates to the equity reporting experience on January 9, 2023.

What's important about this change?

Next year, users will gain access to new reports on Carta. Some of these updates will include auditable equity plan balance and cap table reports. As part of these improvements, we will be limiting features like flexible columns and filters for Custom Reports starting January 9th.

What do I need to do?

We recommend that you download any reports that you may need to reference in the future. However, you can access the data you need using our extensive library of report templates after January 9th.

How do I learn more or get help?

Please reach out to our Support team using the In-App Help Center. Log in to Carta.

What's new?

Financial reporting can require flexibility. We’ve added new functionality to adapt to the reporting needs of your business with in-app custom assumption overrides.

What’s valuable about this change?

You won’t have to download a report from Carta and manipulate it in an external document. You can customize your reports right in the Carta web application, while remaining International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) 2 compliant. Here’s what you can customize*:

1. Expected term
2. Volatility
3. Fair market value
4. Interest rate
5. Fair value

What do I need to do?

You can access Financial Reporting directly from your Carta account. Simply go to the Compliance tab and select Financial Reporting. You can apply custom assumption overrides after you’ve run a report within the Fair Values tab of Financial Reporting.

How do I learn more or get help?

Contact our financial reporting support team. 

* These customization options can be applied to tranches of an award. Users will be able to change the assumption on a tranche-level basis for a single award.

What's new

Employees who have access to Carta Tax Advisory through their employer now have access to on-demand educational content in their Carta portfolio. As an employee, you have the ability to re-watch your company’s recorded webinar, as well as view chapters of key concepts about your equity. The video chapters cover topics such as exercising your option, selling your options and other important topics.

Who this affects

This feature is available to employees who have access to Carta Tax Advisory through their employer. Employees will be able to view their company's recorded webinar once it has been completed.

Where to find it

As an employee, navigate to the Learn section of the Tax Advice page in your Carta portfolio. If you have any additional questions, please schedule a session with an Equity Tax Advisor.

What's new?

Carta Liquidity now offers more optionality when paying transaction proceeds following a tender offer or other private secondary transaction. Issuers can now elect to have proceeds for one or more sellers be paid outside of the Carta Liquidity platform via a third-party (including the Issuer). Below are several use cases that Carta now supports:

• Proceeds paid through an Issuer’s payroll;
• Proceeds paid to a seller’s trust account for distribution to beneficiaries; or 
• Use of a third-party paying agent to distribute proceeds.

How does it work?

During the setup phase of a transaction, an Issuer can elect to have the transaction proceeds for one or more sellers paid off-platform. The Issuer will inform Carta which participants should receive their proceeds off-platform, and the transaction’s Offer to Purchase (OTP) will describe the method by which participants will receive their net sale proceeds. 

At settlement, Carta will deposit proceeds for participants not selected for off-platform payment into their Carta brokerage accounts. For a company repurchase (share buyback), no further action is taken by Carta for the balance of the proceeds as the Issuer will be responsible for the distribution through payroll or otherwise. In the case of a third-party tender offer, Carta will send the balance of the proceeds to the Issuer to handle the distribution to the remaining sellers.

At the close of the transaction, the total amount of money distributed by Carta or a third-party will be recorded in the Transaction Summary Report for the Issuer and the Trade Confirmation for each seller.

(a) Issuer Transaction Summary Report

(b) Trade Confirmation

(c) Statement Cycle Report

Distribute tender offer sale proceeds off-platform through payroll or other means for more payment flexibility

The off-platform payment settlement feature will:

• Increase an Issuer’s flexibility in determining how transaction proceeds will be paid to sellers for secondary transactions; 
• Reduce tax withholding and reporting complexity when Issuers choose to leverage their payroll system to distribute proceeds and withhold taxes; and
• Make it easier for employee sellers that receive proceeds through payroll to contribute those additional funds to their 401k’s or other automated savings plans.

Reach out to Carta to get the process started

Do you want to run a tender offer or other private secondary transaction with a fully-integrated cap table experience? Reach out to Carta Liquidity’s Corporate Coverage team at company_coverage@cartacapitalmarkets.com to figure out the best path towards liquidity. 

Note: 
1. Brokerage accounts and other brokerage services are offered through Carta Capital Markets, LLC. Carta Capital Markets, LLC is a member of FINRA/SIPC.

What’s new? 

Public company administrators can now run a Dilution Report to help them calculate their company’s diluted earnings per share (EPS). The Dilution Report will contain the simple and weighted average of common stock outstanding (WASO), the number of incremental shares, the average trading price for common shares, and supporting information for all calculations. This feature will simplify diluted EPS calculations and help public companies meet their diluted EPS reporting requirement for their quarterly income statements.  

How does it work?

To calculate diluted EPS, an Issuer will need the WASO and shares outstanding (new common shares issued at conversion - repurchased shares) for the reporting period in question. The Issuer will calculate its own net income, preferred dividends, and after-tax cost of interest. 

Note: * denotes fields not provided by Carta

After logging into their Carta accounts, public company administrators can navigate to the Financial Reporting section of their profile to generate a new Dilution Report for a desired reporting period. Dilution reports are only available for periods that begin on or after an Issuer’s IPO date.

After the report is generated, the administrator can download an Excel file which includes calculated values for simple and weighted average of common shares outstanding, the number of incremental shares, the average trading price for common shares, and supporting information. The file also includes an “Errors” tab to flag any data issues that should be resolved to produce an accurate report.

Simplify diluted earnings per share calculations to meet quarterly reporting requirements for public companies

With the Dilution Report, public company administrators can:

• Save time and reduce the work required to calculate WASO and shares outstanding to meet public company reporting requirements;
• Customize the diluted EPS reporting period as needed;
• Use Carta’s calculations to verify their own calculations as a sanity check; and
• Understand if there are any data discrepancies that need to be addressed. 

Start using the Dilution Report now!

Do you need additional help in using the Dilution Report? Refer to this support article for more information. For further assistance, reach out to Carta’s Financial Reporting team at 718@carta.com. 

What’s New

We have made UI improvements to our Wire Instructions for online wire exercises. The new UI better highlights the amount, timeline, and considerations for completing the transfer. The updates include:

• User and exercise specific details such as grant, company, option holder, date, and amount.
• Clearer instructions for the bank on how to handle intermediary fees with specific SWIFT payment instructions. 
• Approval and reminder emails now show the last day for Carta to receive funds, so the exercise can be complete.

Who this affects

All international users who are exercising options via online wire. 

How it works

The updated Wire Instructions will be available in the same places as before (Tasks view, PDF, Exercise Progress view). You can see the new templates here:

Tasks view

PDF

Exercise Progress view

Email communication

Both Approval and Reminder emails show the date for Carta to receive funds.

Timing

• Available on all online wire exercises starting 11/30/2022

Additional Resources

Support Article: Exercising Via Online Wire

What's new?

Sellers participating in a private market secondary transaction, such as a tender offer, on the CartaX ATS can now view their estimated tax withholdings* during the Order Entry phase. Equipped with estimated tax information, sellers who are US-based employees will be able to make a more informed decision when determining sell preferences and better anticipate their net proceeds.

How does it work?

Issuers sponsoring a tender offer or another structured transaction will provide Carta with their employees’ city, state, and/or federal jurisdictional tax rates. Carta will use the applicable tax rates to calculate their individual estimated tax withholding. 

As sellers select which of their eligible stock holdings to sell during the Order Entry period, the Proceeds Calculator on the right hand side of the screen will automatically update and calculate what their estimated net proceeds may be after fees and taxes*. 

Sellers can then click on “View tax details” (hyperlink within the red box above) to view a breakdown of the estimated tax withholdings by security type and tax jurisdiction.

Enable your employees to understand their estimated tax obligations earlier in a tender offer when placing their sell orders.

The Tax Withholding Estimates during Order Entry will: 

• Enable sellers to see how their security elections during the Order Entry period may impact their estimated tax withholdings, and ultimately, expected net proceeds; and
• Save Issuers time by helping to reduce the amount of questions received from sellers about their potential tax withholding obligations. 

 Reach out to Carta to get the process started

Do you want to run a tender offer or other private secondary transaction with a fully-integrated cap table experience? Reach out to Carta Liquidity’s Corporate Coverage team at company_coverage@cartacapitalmarkets.com to figure out the best path towards liquidity. 

*Note - The estimated tax withholdings is for illustrative purposes only. The withholding amount shown is only an estimate. The actual amount withheld from a seller’s proceeds may differ significantly from the amount shown. Tax withholding is not a final calculation of taxes due. A seller may have a greater or lesser tax obligation than the amount withheld by the Issuer, and the seller is responsible for determining whether and when any additional tax payments are required. 

Disclaimer: Carta, through its wholly owned broker-dealer subsidiary, Carta Capital Markets, LLC, offers a streamlined experience for executing pre-negotiated stock transfers, tender offers, and other secondary liquidity transactions. Carta Capital Markets, LLC is a member of FINRA/SIPC.

What's new?

Public company administrators can now utilize the brand new Communication Center to send secure communications to stakeholders in the company’s equity plan managed on Carta. This feature allows public companies to create and send timely communications to equity plan members in bulk. Recipients can be selected by relationship type and other filters to further customize the message’s distribution list. In addition, the Communication Center dashboard allows company administrators to view sent and drafted messages, and see which stakeholders have viewed a communication. 

Examples of communications include, but are not limited to: instructions on how stakeholders can manage their equity at Carta, employee stock purchase plan (ESPP) offerings, upcoming trading windows, and updated disclosures.

How does this work?

Permissioned company administrators may access the Communication Center. Before sending any messages, company administrators should check that the company’s Stakeholder Ledger is up-to-date to ensure messages are sent to the correct individuals. At minimum, an individual’s Relationship, Contact Email, and Officer Code (if applicable) should be updated.

Once these steps are completed, company administrators can proceed to the Communication Center dashboard (found under the Employee tab of the main navigation toolbar).

Here, company administrators with Company Editor or Legal Administrator roles can compose, review, and send secure messages with or without PDF attachments. They can also filter for previously sent and drafted messages. 

When choosing who to send a communication to, the Company Editor or Legal Administrator may send bulk messages by Relationship Type (e.g., Employee, Ex-Employee, Advisor), and then also filter recipient lists by Officer Code, Trading Restrictions, the employee stock purchasing plan (ESPP) an individual is a member of and associated status, or the outstanding security type(s) held by each stakeholder. 

Company administrators will have the opportunity to review the communication, save it as a draft, remove individuals as needed, and reconfirm the recipients before sending the message. 

After sending the message, stakeholders will receive an email notification that they received the secure message. They must log in to their Carta accounts to view the message, and messages on the Carta platform may not be forwarded to an external email account. 

Company administrators who can view the Communication Center dashboard can monitor which stakeholders have viewed the communication.  

Send secure messages and archive them safely in a centralized location with Carta’s Communication Center. 

The Communication Center allows public company administrators to: 

• Craft and send secure communications with or without PDF attachments in bulk to stakeholders within their public equity plans; 
• Easily create recipient lists by relationship type and other optional filters, removing the need to maintain multiple distribution lists manually;
• Quickly filter recipient lists of sent communications by who has or has not viewed the communication; and
• Review and archive communications to remain compliant with recordkeeping and reporting laws; 

Start using the Communication Center now!

Need help with the Communication Center? Refer to this support article for detailed instructions on how to manage, view, and send out your next secure message. 

What’s new? 

Carta improved how public company administrators can manage and designate equity plan stakeholders as Rule 144 Affiliates. Designating stakeholders as Affiliates ensures that their trade orders get reviewed before execution through a separate SEC Rule 144 due diligence workflow and that those trades are properly captured for Form 144 inclusion. Company administrators can also now easily access and review a filtered list of Rule 144 Affiliates from their Company Summary page. 

The management of Rule 144 Affiliate status has been separated from the Officer Code workflow to simplify this process and to ensure trading blackout periods for stakeholders with certain Officer Code(s) will not be impacted by one’s Rule 144 Affiliate status.

How does it work?

Company administrators can update Rule 144 Affiliate status by clicking on “Manage Employees” on the Company Summary page. 

From there, administrators can click on each stakeholder’s record and view their current Rule 144 Affiliate status. Administrators can also track the Effective Date of when a stakeholder was first marked as an Affiliate without leveraging Officer Codes.

To designate an individual as a Rule 144 Affiliate, administrators can check the box within the Update Stakeholder flow:

Easily manage, review, and designate public equity plan stakeholders as Rule 144 Affiliates to ensure trading compliance via an improved workflow.

With the improved Rule 144 Affiliate workflow, company administrators can:

• Easily manage, review, and designate equity plan stakeholders as Rule 144 Affiliates;
• Be assured that Affiliate trades go through the proper reviews and are included on Form 144; and
• Set blackout trading periods for certain Officer Code(s) without an impact to a stakeholder’s Rule 144 Affiliate status.

Start using the improved Rule 144 Affiliate status workflow now!

Do you want to update Rule 144 Affiliate status for individual stakeholders or in bulk? Refer to this support article for more information.