Opagio vs Carta: Cap Table & Intangible Value

Introduction

Founders and CFOs comparing Opagio and Carta are usually trying to answer one of two questions. Either: which one of these do I need? Or: do I need both? The two platforms do different jobs, and they can run alongside each other. Carta runs the cap table, the 409A, and the equity admin. Opagio measures the intangible value sitting behind the share price.

That framing is the opposite of competitive. Carta is a cap table management platform covering, per its public materials, 409A valuation, equity plan administration, scenario modelling, fund administration, and the Total Compensation product. None of that is Opagio's market. Opagio is the intangible asset platform that sits across all twelve value drivers of a business and produces the asset-level view of what is actually driving enterprise value.

This page lays out where each platform fits, what each does well, and the specific scenarios where running both is the right move.

TL;DR: Carta is an equity management platform: cap table, 409A valuations, equity plans, scenario modelling and fund administration (per Carta). Opagio is an intangible asset platform: twelve value drivers, valuation of individual intangible assets, IP-backed lending evidence and exit preparation. The two cover different layers of the same company and can run alongside each other.

About Carta

Carta is a cap table and equity management platform. Carta lists offices in 15 locations, including San Francisco and London (per Carta's About page). Carta describes its equity suite as covering planning and managing equity from raising funds to IPO, with a product suite covering the equity-admin lifecycle:

• Cap table management — issuance, transfers, conversions, classes, vesting schedules
• 409A valuations — per Carta, an independent appraisal of the fair market value of a private company's common stock, required for IRS Section 409A compliance when equity-based compensation is issued
• Equity plan administration — creating and amending equity plans, securities issuance and online exercising
• Scenario and waterfall modelling — pre/post-money cap table projections, exit waterfalls
• Fundraising tooling — SAFE and priced-round modelling, deal closings, investor management
• Total Compensation (sold separately) — salary and equity benchmarks
• Fund administration — Carta Fund ERP: fund admin, portfolio analytics and valuations for private equity and venture capital funds

Carta also has UK pages listing EMI, CSOP and 409A valuations, which it offers to its customers for share-plan purposes only. On pricing, Carta's plans page (accessed 17 Oct 2026) lists four packages. Launch is free (up to 25 stakeholders and $1M raised); Build, Grow and Scale show "Contact sales". 409A valuations are included with Grow and Scale.

For the founder or CFO whose immediate need is a cap table, a 409A valuation, and an option plan their employees can log into, Carta is built for that job.

About Opagio

Opagio is a UK-headquartered intangible asset platform organised around Opagio 12™ — a proprietary taxonomy of twelve value drivers: Brand & Reputation, Customer Capital, Technology & Innovation, Content & IP, Data & Intelligence, Switching Costs & Lock-In, Network Effects & Platforms, Human Capital, Organisational Capital, Culture & Ways of Working, Regulatory & Compliance, and Ecosystem & Partnerships. Within those twelve drivers sits a comprehensive library of intangible asset types — the assets that drive enterprise value but rarely appear on a conventional balance sheet.

Opagio is delivered as a SaaS platform with one free product and one paid product:

• Opagio Growth Forecaster (free) — accessible scoring of intangible exposure for a single company; the upgrade path is a full Opagio Intangibles account
• Opagio Intangibles (paid platform) — the full discovery, valuation, and management environment, with modules including the Asset Valuator (Relief from Royalty, Multi-Period Excess Earnings, With and Without, Cost (replacement cost or sum of cost), Market (comparable transactions) and Greenfield methods), Growth Plan, Value Drivers Register, Normalised P&L and Intelligence

Opagio's Asset Valuator output is structured for IFRS 3 / IAS 38 (UK and global) and ASC 805 / ASC 350 (US) alignment, with audit-trail evidence designed for review by a qualified valuer.

Side-by-Side Comparison

The table below sets out the buyer view of the two platforms across the criteria founders and CFOs weigh when scoping their stack.

Side-by-side criteria

How the two platforms fit together

Example — Where Opagio is the better fit: A B2B SaaS founder is preparing investor material for a Series B. The cap table is clean (Carta has handled that). But the investor's question is no longer "who owns what" — it is "what are you building, and why is the next round worth £40M". That answer sits in the intangible base: customer capital (NRR 124%, low churn cohorts), organisational capital (the data assets and proprietary processes), human capital (the engineering team), and the brand. Opagio's twelve-driver platform gives the founder a structured way to present all of that to the investor — in the same way the cap table is the structured way to present ownership. The two tools cover different layers of the same conversation.

Example — Where Carta is the better fit: A YC-backed seed-stage US-incorporated startup has just closed a $2.5M priced round, hired six engineers, and needs to issue stock options. The legal admin (vesting schedules, option grant agreements, a 409A valuation to set the strike price) is the most pressing job. Carta is built for this — the cap table, the option plan, the 409A, the employee portal. Opagio is not the answer for that workflow; it sits one layer up, around the question "what intangible assets is this team actually building". The founder may want both eventually, but the cap-table-and-options job comes first.

When You Need Carta

Carta fits when:

• You are a US-incorporated startup granting stock options and need a 409A valuation
• You have more than a handful of shareholders and need a system of record for the cap table
• Your equity plan needs employee-facing admin (portals, vesting schedules, grant acceptance)
• You run a VC or PE fund and want fund administration (Carta Fund ERP, per Carta)
• Your investors already use Carta
• You need scenario / waterfall modelling for the next round or an exit conversation

UK companies can also choose other cap table platforms, such as SeedLegals and Ledgy. Carta acquired Capdesk in August 2022 (Carta, accessed 17 Oct 2026).

When You Need Opagio

Opagio is the right answer when:

• You are preparing investor material for a fundraising round and the conversation has shifted from "who owns what" to "what are you building and why is it worth this much"
• You are 12-36 months out from a potential exit and want to start building the intangible-value narrative the acquirer's diligence team will probe
• You are a PE or VC fund tracking the intangible value of investee companies across the portfolio
• You are scoping an IP-backed lending facility — the IP Audit and Collateral Pack are lender-neutral and tied to the same underlying methodology as the rest of Opagio Intangibles; each lender decides what evidence it accepts
• Your business depends materially on customer capital, organisational capital, human capital, or data assets — the assets that drive enterprise value but don't appear on the cap table
• You want financial data and value drivers updated monthly, with a dated history of each asset valuation

Note (jurisdiction): A 409A is a US valuation of a private company's common stock, tied to the US Internal Revenue Code (per Carta). Opagio's Asset Valuator covers IFRS 3 / IAS 38 (UK and global) and ASC 805 / ASC 350 (US). The two outputs are not interchangeable — a 409A is a share-level valuation for IRS purposes; an Asset Valuator output is an asset-level intangible valuation for financial reporting, fundraising, lending, and exit purposes.

Where the Two Platforms Touch (and Where They Don't)

The narrow overlap between the two platforms sits at the point of share valuation — Carta produces a 409A, and Opagio produces an asset-level intangible valuation that sits behind any share-price story. These are not the same valuation:

• A 409A is a share-level fair market value of a private company's common stock, used to set the strike price of employee options (per Carta, an independent appraisal required for IRS Section 409A compliance when equity-based compensation is issued).
• An Asset Valuator output is an asset-level intangible valuation, used to support fundraising narrative, IP-backed lending, exit preparation, and IFRS 3 / ASC 805-aligned financial reporting. It values the individual intangibles (customer relationships, technology, brand, organisational capital) that drive enterprise value, not the share itself.

The two outputs can sit alongside each other on the same company: the 409A sets the per-share strike price; the Asset Valuator output explains what intangible assets are creating that per-share value. For an audit-sensitive or transaction-driven moment (acquisition close, IP-backed loan application, secondary share sale), both outputs may be on the table at the same time, serving different counterparties.

For everything outside that narrow overlap, the two platforms operate on different layers of the same company. Carta is the equity layer. Opagio is the intangible-asset layer.

FAQ

Is Opagio a Carta competitor?

Answer

No. Carta is the cap table and equity-admin platform — ownership, 409A, option plans, equity portals, scenario waterfall, fund admin. Opagio is the intangible asset platform — twelve value drivers, asset-level valuation, IP-backed lending evidence, exit preparation. The two cover different layers of the same company and can run alongside each other.

Do I need Opagio if I already have Carta?

Answer

It depends on the question you're trying to answer. If your immediate need is a clean cap table, a 409A valuation for option grants, and an employee equity portal, Carta covers that job. If your conversation has moved beyond "who owns what" to "what are we building, and why is it worth what we think it is" — fundraising narrative, exit preparation, ongoing growth measurement, IP-backed lending — Opagio addresses that job. The two are complementary, not substitutes.

Can Opagio replace my cap table?

Answer

No. Opagio does not manage equity issuance, vesting schedules, option grants, employee portals, or scenario waterfall modelling. For all of those jobs, a dedicated cap table platform, such as Carta, SeedLegals or Ledgy, is the right tool. Opagio sits one layer up, around the question of what intangible assets the equity actually represents claims against.

Which platform should I buy first?

Answer

For a seed-stage US-incorporated startup with employee options, the equity-admin job is likely to be the more pressing one. For a UK growth-stage business preparing investor material, an IP-backed lending application or an exit, the intangible-value evidence may be needed first. The question is "which first" rather than "which only".

Can PE and VC funds use both platforms?

Answer

Yes. Carta Fund ERP covers fund administration, portfolio analytics and valuations (per Carta, accessed 17 Oct 2026). Opagio's portfolio workspace for fund organisations holds marks per company, quarterly fund reports and a cross-company comparison of the intangible assets inside each investment.

How does pricing compare?

Answer

Both platforms offer a free entry tier. Carta's plans page (accessed 17 Oct 2026) lists Launch as free (up to 25 stakeholders and $1M raised), with "Contact sales" for Build, Grow and Scale. Opagio's prices are on the Opagio pricing page. Because the two platforms do different jobs, the question is rarely "either / or" on cost.

Where can I see Opagio in action?

Answer

Book a demo and we will walk through the Opagio 12™ taxonomy, the Asset Valuator module, and the platform's portfolio views with a worked example relevant to your use case. The demo is run by a member of the Opagio team and typically takes 30-40 minutes.

Closing

Carta is a cap table platform, and for the equity-administration job — ownership, 409A valuations, option plans, employee portals, scenario waterfall, fund admin — it is built for that work.

Opagio is the platform-shaped fit for the layer above the cap table: the twelve-driver intangible asset taxonomy that explains what those shares actually represent claims against. For founders building fundraising narrative, CFOs who want monthly visibility of value drivers, PE/VC funds tracking portfolio value creation, and businesses scoping IP-backed lending, Opagio is the structured answer to the question "what are we building, and why is it worth what we think it is".

The best way to know whether Opagio fits is to see it against a real scenario. Book a demo and bring a real context — a fundraising round, an exit window, a portfolio review, or a lending application. The team will walk you through the platform against your actual context.

Related reading

• Opagio vs Pulley — After the Pulley Shutdown
• Opagio vs BizEquity — UK SME Business Valuation Compared
• Intangible asset glossary — Customer Relationships
• Intangible asset glossary — Relief from Royalty
• Intangible asset glossary — Multi-Period Excess Earnings
• IP-backed lending in the UK — eligibility, lenders, and the application process

Related Glossary Terms

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