Shareholder management platform Shaparency announces capital raise amid expansion
Shareholder management platform Shaparency which claims to democratise business access has secured another capital raise amid its rapid expansion.
While a number of companies switched to digital fairly seamlessly for the day-to-day business during the first lockdown, shareholder engagement was largely neglected.
Globally just 15 per cent of corporate boards use digital platforms in AGM season and last autumn the Financial Reporting Council found 80.7 per cent of FTSE 350 held closed meetings during the pandemic.
Entrepreneur Ben Nowlan launched Shaparency over concerns shareholders were being frozen out of processes during lockdown which prevented in-person meetings.
Using blockchain technology the platform claims to increase efficiency by allowing users to set up meetings with management and vote at AGMs.
Since its launch Shaparency has grown 200 per cent month-on-month and has launched in the US, UK and Australia.
Now City PM can reveal it has secured £300,000 of its £500,000 target from “high profile investors” in London, Hong Kong and Australia.
In the autumn Shaparency announced a partnership with Boardsi, a US firm that looks for advisory work for executives.
Shaparency still has some work to do getting board members on side though. Nowlan said the organisations who have already made the transition are full of “technology savvy and younger non-execs… hence the need to have a broader more diverse composition on boards.”
The pandemic has been an important accelerant for digital adoption and as talk of the democratisation of investment comes to the fore Shaparency could play an important role in the corporate landscape.
“Business leaders are beginning to understand the need for digitised operations to build reliable, secure and transparent company governance structures and our platform can provide this,” Nowlan said.