A UK-based financial technology platform which works remotely has reported double-digit month-on-month growth for the past two years.
Vestd offers employees a share ownership model based on performance. Launched in 2014, the start-up has developed a platform that takes care of the paperwork associated with issuing and managing shares.
It has schemes for employees, NEDs, advisors and its products include Real Shares, EMI Options, Unapproved Options, Growth Shares and its new framework Agile Partnerships.
The firm said its 14-strong team, which occasionally meets up in person, is now set to grow.
“We meet up in London and Brighton most months, but everybody works autonomously in a location of their own choosing,” said a Vestd spokesperson.
“We provide employees with the flexibility to work where, when and how they like. What matters most is their contribution.”
The platform’s customers have access to digital equity management, the ability to issue shares and options instantly, a real time cap table, legal documents, an option scheme designer and shareholder dashboards.
It claims to be the UK’s first and only regulated share scheme and equity management platform for SMEs.
It has now launched a new framework, called Agile Partnerships, which ensure that those who are reward shares have contributed to the company’s success.
“We designed the Agile Partnership framework as a response to the many horror stories we hear from founders that have seen people walk away with a chunk of their business, before delivering what was promised,” said the spokesperson.
Under the framework, equity rewards will be based on agreed performance milestones, to ensure that everybody knows what they’re expected to contribute to the company.
Equity is then released in a way that is proportionate to what people actually contribute.
Ifty Nasir, co-founder and CEO of Vestd, explained: “Employee share schemes – if managed correctly and the right one is chosen – deliver huge benefits to the business in terms of improving productivity and recruiting and retaining skilled people. This makes them very attractive to start-ups and small companies who have limited budgets.”
“However, there is a risk that founding partners and early hires will walk away with significant equity, having not delivered business benefits to the company. Agile Partnerships(tm) are a watertight solution to this problem.”