Incorporate your company digitally
Once you have chosen a company name you can incorporate on our platform, which is fully integrated with Companies House.
Set up your first scheme, cut operational risk and keep your equity setup working as you scale.
CFO / FDStay audit-ready at every stageBoard-ready equity governance and reporting, with deed / witness signatures and custom document templates.
HR / People leadTurn equity into retentionMake equity visible to employees and turn it into a real retention lever.
InvestorAccess private markets with confidenceSPVs, PISCES and private-markets access, with data rooms and deal track records.
A short walkthrough, end to end.
Migrate to VestdDigitise or move your existing scheme
EMI, growth shares, CSOP & more
ValuationsUK HMRC & US 409A valuations
Equity management & adminGovernance, admin & filings
Fundraising - InVestd RaiseApply for S/EIS & structure your round
PISCES / secondary marketsDeploy into regulated secondary trading
Fundraising, share schemes & incorporation
For scaleups & SMEsBuild and retain a winning team
For larger companiesStreamline equity management
Use Vestd to set up your startup with a flexible equity structure. Reward co-founders and team members in line with their contribution. Migrate your business to the US once people have earned their slice of the pie.
Once you have chosen a company name you can incorporate on our platform, which is fully integrated with Companies House.
Shares are real, legal and conditional from day one, so all co-founders will know what is expected of them.
The UK is globally recognised as the most flexible jurisdiction for (conditional) shareholders. You are protected from the get go.
Use the Slicing Pie framework to allocate equity proportionately via Vestd, in line with what people will bring to the table.
Incorporating as a limited company separates the individual from the business and provides limited liability protection. This means any debts owed are owed by the company and not the individual. It also provides a means for attracting investment as money or time can be exchanged for shares. The UK is home to a number of extremely tax advantaged investment schemes including SEIS and EIS, which makes investing in private companies limited by shares particularly attractive. The UK tax regime also means that operating a limited company can be a more tax efficient way to draw an income than as a sole trader or partnership.
At the time of incorporation the directors must determine the nominal value of each share, which the shareholder must pay the company. The initial capital in the company is simply the number of shares multiplied by the nominal value of each share. A high nominal value means founders must put a large amount of capital into the company. As time progresses and more shares are issued, they’ll have the same nominal value but may be issued at a premium to that, reflecting an increase in the overall value of the company.
There are 2 key factors that come into play when deciding when to start your business. Firstly, is it the right time for you, as an individual, and secondly, is it the right time for your product or service to be unleashed onto the market? Does it make sense in your personal life, do you have enough time and resources to take on the risk, are you driven by your business idea to get it off the ground? Do you have the skills, experience, network it would take to be successful, could you benefit from gaining more experience before taking the leap. Is it the right time for your product or service to be unleashed onto the market? How developed is your product or service, and what’s the competition and market like. How will your industry develop and change over the next few years? Are you entering a growing market, what’s the potential for growth and expansion? If you’ve thought through all the above, there’s no time like the present to get started.
Shares are diluted when a company issues new shares, reducing the ownership percentage of existing ones, or ‘diluting’ them. However, this needn’t be a bad thing. New shares are typically issued in return for investment or to give team members ‘skin in the game’. Both are likely to result in the value of the company increasing and surely owning a smaller percentage of a bigger pie has to be better than owning all of something far lesser.