Cap Table

The cap table (capitalization table) is a structured overview of all shareholders of a company and their respective ownership stakes. It shows who holds which shares, options and convertible instruments and how the equity is distributed in percentage terms. The cap table is thus the central document for answering the question: who owns the company?

With every financing round, the cap table changes because new shares are issued and existing stakes are diluted. A clean, continuously maintained cap table is essential to correctly calculate dilution effects, the impact of the liquidation preference and the distribution of proceeds in the exit. An ESOP option pool is also reflected here.

Before every Series A and before a sale, we examine the cap table in detail. A flawed or opaque table is a frequent stumbling block in due diligence during startup financing.