Carta have both their original cap table management business, and a ~5 year old secondary liquidity business (CartaX). They pitch their liquidity business as opt-in.
However, they have been using private cap table data to approach company investors about secondary sales, without company approval.
From Linear CEO, who's 70+ year old family member was approached to sell their shares:
- https://twitter.com/karrisaarinen/status/1743398553500971331
- https://twitter.com/karrisaarinen/status/1743824345334714587
Carta CEO's initial response, blaming the customer:
- https://twitter.com/henrysward/status/1743794996732735679
Carta claims it was a one-time incident, but:
Paul Graham sounded the alarm in 2021
- https://twitter.com/MarwanRefaat/status/1357820073918910464
Mitchell Hashimoto says it happened to them in 2019
- https://twitter.com/mitchellh/status/1744123473751155154
Carta's ESOP template does not include transfer restrictions, something very standard in agreements but clearly in CartaX's favor.
- https://twitter.com/tiffdukecull/status/1743428292164853846
Edit: A good summary of Carta's conflict of interest.
- https://twitter.com/haridigresses/status/1744135421192208520