Carta, Inc.
Leadership History
2 leaders · 2012 to present
Henry Ward is the CEO of Carta, in the role since 2012.
| Name | Role | From | To | Years in role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Henry Ward | Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder | 2012 | Present | 14 |
| Manu Kumar | Co-Founder | 2012 | Present | 14 |
Carta is the system of record for who owns what in private companies and funds. Founders use it to issue options and model funding rounds, employees use it to see and exercise their equity, and VC, PE, and private credit managers use it to run fund accounting and LP reporting. That position between companies and investors is what lets Carta sell valuations, fund administration, and legal services. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Carta sells annual software subscriptions plus service fees on both sides of the private market. Companies pay for cap table management, equity plan administration, and 409A valuations, with prices rising as stakeholder counts and funding stages grow. Investment firms pay for Fund ERP products: fund administration (software plus dedicated fund accountants), fund tax and K-1s, portfolio valuations, CRM, forecasting, and loan operations for private credit. Since May 2026, Carta Law adds outcome-based legal and compliance work such as NDAs, KYC, investor onboarding, and LP transfers. Sacra estimates that in 2023 cap tables and 409A valuations made up about 67% of ARR, fund administration about 27%, and private equity products about 5%. Carta shut its secondary trading business in January 2024, so brokerage is no longer part of the model.
Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder
2012 – Present
14 years (current)
Co-founded eShares in 2012 and has served as CEO since; led the 2017 rebrand, the 2021 Series G at $7.4B, the 2024 exit from secondary trading, and the 2025-2026 expansion into private credit and legal services.
Co-Founder
2012 – Present
14 years (current)
Kumar provided the absolute critical early venture funding and incubation through his firm K9 Ventures, pivoting the company (then eShares) from a simple digital certificate issuer into a full cap table manager.
As Co-Founder, he recognized that the entire Silicon Valley ecosystem was running on broken, manual Excel spreadsheets, heavily guiding Henry Ward's early product strategy before stepping back.
Carta's revenue is tied to private market activity: fewer startup formations, fewer new venture funds, and startup shutdowns slow new customer growth. Customers have long criticized its pricing and support, which gave rivals like Pulley, Ledgy, and Cake Equity an opening. Trust is a structural issue because Carta holds confidential ownership data, as the January 2024 secondary-trading controversy showed. Its move into PE, private credit, and legal services puts it against established fund administrators and law firms, and it must integrate a steady stream of acquisitions (Vauban, Capdesk, Tactyc, Sirvatus, Accelex, ListAlpha, Avantia).
Henry Ward, Carta's co-founder, has been CEO since the company was founded as eShares in 2012.
Henry Ward envisioned transforming private company stock into a digitized, liquid, and democratized asset class, replacing paper stock certificates, static Excel spreadsheets, and expensive legal hourly billing with automated cloud software.
Manu Kumar is a prominent Silicon Valley investor and founder of seed venture firm K9 Ventures. Kumar co-founded Carta with Henry Ward, served as initial Chairman of the Board, and provided the foundational seed funding and startup network to launch eShares.
In 2017, Henry Ward spearheaded the rebranding of eShares to Carta, reflecting the company's evolution from a simple equity issuance tool into a comprehensive ownership network for private assets and venture capital.
In January 2024, Henry Ward demonstrated decisive leadership by shutting down Carta's secondary market trading business within 48 hours of customer data privacy concerns, prioritizing long-term customer trust over a non-core revenue stream.
Henry Ward's long-term goal is to build the foundational ownership infrastructure for the global private economy, making private equity ownership as transparent, programmable, and liquid as public stock markets.
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