We’ve made some improvements

Beginning in May 2023, we are launching a new navigation experience - making it easier than ever to navigate your cap table, create and issue new securities, and manage relations with your stakeholders.

We are testing this experience with a select list of companies. Companies in this test will now navigate Carta’s equity management platform from the left-hand side. We are using this test to iterate on any improvements that need to be made and hope to roll out to 100% of new and existing companies by Summer 2023.

The new menu can also be collapsed for an optimized viewing experience by clicking the menu icon to the right of the Filter text box once you’ve landed in the right spot.

Finding what you need just got easier

The new navigation will make it easier for you to find what you’re looking for and complete critical tasks, with menu categories that are more intuitive and organized according to the type of task that needs to be completed within Carta. 

Terminology that just makes sense

We have also updated some of the terminology that appears throughout the Carta platform to clarify specific tasks and workflows. The changes that we’ve made are outlined in the table below.

FAQs

Why is Carta making this change? 

Carta offers a wide range of products and services, and users sometimes get  lost as they look through menu items in an effort to find the workflow or platform page they need to access. We understand that time is money, and the less time you spend locating the resources you need frees up more time for you to spend growing and managing your company. The new left-side menu enables users to have an immediate comprehensive view of Carta’s functionality with clearer verbiage, menu filtering, and collapsible dropdowns. 

Can I revert back to the old navigation experience? 

No. Our research has shown that our new navigation menu is not only more intuitive for users, but also faster. Beginning in May 2023, Carta is fully migrating away from the top navigation menu. We plan to be rolled out to 100% of companies by July 2023.

How do I use the new navigation experience to find what I’m looking for? 

The new navigation experience includes a filter to assist you in finding what you’re looking for. The menu will responsively pare down as characters are entered in the text box.

Additionally, left-side navigation enables you to expand and collapse multiple dropdowns at the same time, allowing for a more comprehensive overview of Carta’s functionality at a glance.

Did Carta remove any features? 

No. While the new menu may look more compact than in our current experience, all of the features that you have come to rely on are included in the new navigation. The goal of this initiative is not to change the functionality of Carta’s cap table, but rather, to make that functionality easier for you to find.

Today we’re making design improvements to the RSU Modal to make it easier for holders to understand the value of their equity. 

What is changing? 

RSU holders now can see a summary view of their securities in the details tab, including an overview table with units breakdown. Also, double trigger RSUs are no longer stuck in a zeroed state, they can now see a breakdown of vesting information, including time-vested amounts.

Changes to the Details tab of the RSU Modal

RSU holders will see the following information on the RSU details page: 

1. Original quantity / Issued: Total amount of RSUs granted on the issue date
2. Released for settlement: The number of vested units that have been part of a settlement event
3. Delivered: The number of shares ultimately delivered to the holder as a result of converting the RSU, after any shares withheld by the issuer as payment for the holder's tax obligation
4. Withheld at settlement: The number of shares that have been withheld to cover taxes at settlement
5. Partially-vested amount: eligible for settlement when performance is hit, or the the total number of shares time vested, and available for settlement
6. Remainder: Resulting number of shares from original quantity, after subtracting settled and withhold amounts 

The bottom of the details tab will now include an employee education modal, which will be used to surface important education about their RSUs. 

Changes to the Vesting Schedules tab of the RSU Modal 

Now, holders can see the cumulative values for all vesting conditions applicable to their RSUs, which can be time or milestone based, with or without additional performance conditions.

We’ve updated the Vesting Schedules tab to account for the following scenarios (screenshots of each below):

1. Double trigger RSU (Based on time and an additional condition)
2. Double Trigger RSU (Based on milestones and an additional condition)
3. Single Trigger RSU (Based on time)
4. Single Trigger RSU (Based on milestones)
5. RSU has been terminated or expired

Double trigger RSU (Based on time and an additional condition) 

Double Trigger (Based on milestones and an additional condition) 

Single trigger (Based on time)

Single trigger (Based on milestones)

RSU has been terminated or expired

Visit the resource center for more details

Have additional questions? Check out support.carta.com to learn more.

What’s new? 

This release improves the workflow for matching employees with stakeholders on Carta. Employees with the same name and email as the stakeholder will automatically match, saving their employee ID and thereby linking the stakeholder with the employee record. The improved workflow guides you through reviewing all other employee matches. 

How does it work? 

For the reviewed matches, you can now ignore, to be reminded next time, or to choose a different stakeholder. These decisions will be saved and will not need to be rematched when running the employee matching workflow. You can now review all matches and update the decisions later. 

What do I need to do? 

To get started, you will need to connect your external data to Carta either through connecting your HRIS system, uploading a spreadsheet, or pasting the information into Carta directly.

With your external data connected, Carta will attempt to automatically match your employees. From there you review suggested matches, deciding to approve the suggestion, ignore it, remind me later, or manually choosing a different person.

If there are any employees from external data that don’t match at all to Carta stakeholders, you can choose to ignore them or manually choose a person to match.

The workflow is then completed and all matches can be reviewed.

How do I learn more?

For more information on Employee Matching, please read our support article.

What’s new?

The Share Class Manager page will be updated this coming Monday, February 6th to make it easier to navigate, and provide a consistent experience when you are updating AOI terms.

We no longer display a "Link AOI" button at the top of the page. The new flow is designed to be simple and intuitive, with the "Manage Share Class" button giving you access to update existing share classes, add new share classes, and link Articles of Incorporation.

What do I need to do?

Navigate to Capitalization > Manage share classes. Under Manage share classes, there will be three options:

• Create new share class
• Edit existing share classes
• Add historical AOIs

Where can I learn more?

Visit the Share Class Manager support article or contact us via the In-App Help Center.

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 have redesigned the way you review and accept your 409A valuation on Carta. This new design presents you first with a quick summary of the analysis along with a note from your analyst letting you know the next steps in finalizing your fair market value (FMV). Once you have reviewed the report, if you have any questions you can contact our team of valuation experts through the support module in the valuation review portal. Lastly, receive board approval from within or outside of Carta to finalize the current FMV on your account. 

How it Works

Once you receive an email notifying you that your valuation is ready for review, you can follow the link within that email to access the 409A ledger where you are able to review and download your valuation. Alternatively, you can navigate to the page within Carta at Compliance > 409A Valuation.

Review your valuation

From the 409A Ledger, once you select ‘Review 409A report’ you will be directed to the valuation review portal. Here you will find an overview of the analysis performed and the concluded FMV along with a note from your valuation analyst informing you of next steps and noting any details within the report that warrant extra attention. Once you have reviewed the analyst’s note and valuation summary, you can download the full report or access the support module from the valuation review portal to access support articles or get in touch with our team of valuation experts. 

Get board approval

Now that you have reviewed the valuation, the next step is to send it to your board for review. You can do so using the board consent feature within your Carta account to easily track acceptance from each board member within the Carta platform. Once all board members have submitted their board approval through the platform, your valuation will automatically be accepted on Carta. If you got approval outside of Carta, that’s great too, simply select ‘My board has approved’ to accept the valuation to finalize the current FMV in your account. Once finalized, the new FMV will be visible to your option holders on Carta.

We've updated the Total Comp permissions system with two new role types:

• Area lead: Users with this role can edit employees and view bands for their assigned area(s) and level(s)
• Recruiter: Users with this role can view bands for their assigned area(s) and level(s)

To add a teammate as an area lead or recruiter, go to the Settings > Permissions and roles page click on "Add User" and follow the instructions in the modal.

You will be asked to provide the teammate's email address, assign a role, select which areas that you want the teammate to have access to, and then select the highest level within those selected areas that they can view/edit. You can also change the role and permissions for an existing user by clicking on the action button (three dots) in the user table and selecting Edit user.

Soon, companies will have access to the updated Capitalization > By Share Class view. This page comes with improved performance for large Cap Tables, allowing you to view and interact with your Cap Table up to 5x faster.

To access this view, you can navigate to Capitalization > By Share Class.

What’s next?

We will continue to improve the experience, adding a new summary visualization to the top of the page, and improving the navigability between the By Share Class and the By Stakeholder Cap Tables.

Resources

Support Article: Capitalization Table - By Share Class

What’s new?

Previously, our capital call request tool only allowed General Partners (GPs) to request capital from all investors in the fund regardless of their close date. Starting today, GPs can use the redesigned tool to: 

• Make pro-rata capital calls from their existing investor base
• Call capital from subsequent close investors 

Additionally, GPs will be able to view a list of all their newly closed investors, as well as any investors whose commitments have increased or decreased since the last capital call. The capital call amounts to be called from these investors will be auto-calculated by the tool for the GP to review. 

How it works

1. There are two ways you can request a capital call. You can navigate to the Firm Management Page or through the capital calls tab in the fund page. 

2. Select the type of capital call you would like to request:

   1. Pro Rata capital calls is an improved version of our capital call tool. Input a capital call dollar or percentage amount, followed by call details, and go through the final review step before initiating your capital call.
   2. Subsequent Close capital calls will list out investors who are new and those with changed commitments since the last capital call. You will have an optional text box for additional notes, capital call details, and a final review before initiating your capital call.

Who this affects

This is available for all fund administration customers who are on the Carta General Ledger.

What’s next?

We’ll be expanding the tool’s functionality to handle more complex scenarios, such as calling additional capital from both new and existing investors in the fund. We also plan to embed the PDF notices at the review step to give GPs the option to start the capital call without further approvals.

We've enhanced the leveling framework with new and updated job areas and specializations. This improvement is an important step toward expanding the scope of the Bands feature to include benchmarks for these new job areas and specializations. 

NOTE: These updates do not impact your employee's target salary or equity, as they are simply improvements to the labeling system to more accurately reflect trends in job functions.

The following job areas and specializations have been added and updated. Job areas marked with an asterisk (*) are currently only available for leveling purposes and do not yet support bands. At this time, all specializations still do not differentiate bands/benchmarks from their top-level job area, however, we will soon be launching specialized bands starting with Engineering, IT, Marketing, and HR. You will be notified as soon as bands are available for these new areas and specializations.