Opagio vs Pulley: After the Pulley Shutdown

Note (updated 13 October 2026): Pulley has announced it will shut down on 8 December 2026 (Pulley, "FAQ: What is happening with Pulley's shutdown", 15 September 2026). This page now covers what the shutdown means for Pulley users. It no longer presents Pulley as an option for a new cap table.

Introduction

Founders who compared Opagio and Pulley were usually looking at two tools that do different jobs. Pulley is a cap table and 409A platform for US-incorporated startups. Opagio is an intangible asset platform: Opagio 12™, asset-level valuation, lending readiness and exit preparation.

The two were never in competition. They sit on different layers of the same company: a cap table platform records who owns what, and Opagio measures what those shares represent and why. Pulley's shutdown changes where Pulley customers keep their cap table. It does not change the layer Opagio works on.

This page sets out what Pulley has said about the shutdown, what Pulley users need to move, where they can go next, and how Opagio fits alongside whichever cap table platform they choose.

TL;DR: Pulley has announced it will shut down on 8 December 2026, with an assisted migration to Carta for customers who opt in by 30 November 2026. Pulley users need to move three sets of records: the cap table, the 409A history and the equity records. Opagio does not replace a cap table. It sits alongside Carta or any other cap table platform and covers intangible asset valuation, lending readiness, exit preparation and growth measurement across Opagio 12™.

What Pulley's Shutdown Means for Pulley Users

Pulley published the terms of its shutdown in an FAQ dated 15 September 2026. The table below summarises them. Every entry is taken from that page, seen on 13 October 2026.

Key dates and terms from Pulley's announcement

What to move, and what to keep

Whichever platform comes next, three sets of records need to survive the move:

• The cap table. Every share class, holder, issuance, transfer and repurchase, with the transaction history behind each.
• The 409A history. Each 409A report issued for the company, its valuation date, and the option grants priced from it. Because Pulley says Carta can accept an existing 409A when the customer provides a copy, keep your own copy of every report.
• The equity records. Option plans, grant agreements, vesting schedules, SAFEs, convertible notes, warrants and the board consents behind them.

Keep your own copies of all three before access ends, and reconcile the migrated cap table against them. Pulley says that differences after migration are most likely display or terminology differences, so a line-by-line check against your own records is the quickest way to confirm nothing has changed.

Where to go next

Pulley's assisted route is Carta. For how Carta and Opagio fit together, see Opagio vs Carta. Other cap table platforms include Eqvista (see Opagio vs Eqvista) and, for UK companies, SeedLegals and Ledgy. Choosing a provider other than Carta means arranging the migration yourself, because Pulley says it will not assist moves to other providers. The right choice depends on the company's jurisdiction, its equity structure and who will need to read the records.

About Pulley

Pulley is a US-headquartered cap table and equity administration platform. Its public materials describe:

• Cap table management, including token cap tables for crypto companies
• 409A valuations for US-incorporated startups granting employee options
• Equity plan administration and an employee equity experience
• Fundraise modelling, SAFEs and liquidity
• Equity managed services

Pulley has announced that the service ends on 8 December 2026, with existing customers routed to Carta.

About Opagio

Opagio is a UK-headquartered intangible asset platform organised around Opagio 12™, 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 drivers sits a comprehensive library of intangible asset types: the assets that drive much of the enterprise value of modern businesses but rarely appear on a conventional balance sheet.

Opagio offers one free product and one paid product:

• Opagio Growth Forecaster (free): top-down forecasting of intangibles and productivity measurement for a single company; the upgrade path is a full Opagio Intangibles account
• Opagio Intangibles (paid): the full discovery, valuation and management environment, with the Asset Valuator (Relief from Royalty, Multi-Period Excess Earnings, With and Without, Replacement Cost, Cost Approach, Greenfield and Market Approach), Growth Plan, Opagio Value Drivers Register™, Normalised P&L and Intelligence

Asset Valuator output is prepared with reference to IFRS 3 / IAS 38 (UK and global) and ASC 805 / ASC 350 (US).

Side-by-Side Comparison

The table below sets out the buyer view across the criteria that came up most often when founders scoped their stack, with Pulley's status as at 13 October 2026.

Side-by-side criteria

How the two layers fit together

Example — Where Opagio is the better fit: A B2B SaaS founder is 18 months out from a Series B and preparing the value-driver narrative the investor will want. The cap table is clean and sits on a cap table platform. But the investor's question, "what are you building, and why is the next round worth what you think it's worth", sits in the intangible base: customer capital (NRR, churn cohorts), technology, organisational capital, the team and the brand. Opagio tracks all of that continuously and produces the structured narrative the investor expects. The work Opagio does is upstream of the cap table.

Example — Where a cap table platform is the better fit: A US-incorporated seed-stage startup has closed a $2.5M priced round, hired six engineers, and needs to issue stock options. The immediate job is the cap table, vesting schedules, option grant agreements and a 409A so the strike price is defensible. That job belongs on a cap table platform. For this job, Opagio is not the answer; it sits one layer up.

When You Need a Cap Table Platform

A cap table platform is the right tool when:

• You are a US-incorporated startup granting stock options and need a 409A
• You have a growing cap table (10+ stakeholders) and want a system of record
• Your equity admin needs employee-facing tools (option grant acceptance, vesting visibility, equity portals)
• You are early enough in your build that the cap table and 409A are the most pressing job

For Pulley customers, the platform chosen now is the one that will hold the records after 8 December 2026. For UK companies, the equity admin market includes SeedLegals, Ledgy and Carta UK.

When You Need Opagio

Opagio is a good fit 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 scoping an IP-backed lending facility and need an IP Audit and Collateral Pack
• You are a PE or VC fund tracking the intangible value of investee companies across the portfolio
• Your business depends materially on customer capital, organisational capital, human capital, or data assets
• You need a CFO-grade view of intangible value that refreshes month-on-month, not annually

Note (jurisdiction): A 409A is a US-specific IRS construct. 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 a 409A and Opagio Touch (and Where They Don't)

The narrow overlap sits at the point of share valuation. A 409A, whether issued by Pulley in the past or by Carta or another provider from now on, is a share-level valuation. Opagio produces an asset-level intangible valuation that sits behind any share-price story. These are not the same valuation, and they answer different questions for different counterparties:

• A 409A is a share-level fair market value for IRS purposes, used to set the strike price of employee options. It is prepared by an appraiser and refreshed annually or on a material event.
• An Asset Valuator output is an asset-level intangible valuation, used to support fundraising narrative, IP-backed lending, exit preparation, and financial reporting prepared with reference to IFRS 3 / ASC 805.

The two outputs sit alongside each other on the same company without overlap. Moving the 409A history from Pulley to a new provider does not affect the Opagio side.

FAQ

Pulley is shutting down. What should I do?

Pulley has announced the service ends on 8 December 2026. To use the assisted migration to Carta, Pulley says customers must opt in by 30 November 2026. Whichever provider you choose, keep your own copies of the cap table, every 409A report and the equity records, and reconcile the migrated data against them. Confirm the current terms with Pulley or Carta before acting.

Is Opagio a Pulley competitor?

No. Pulley is a cap table, 409A and equity-admin platform, and Pulley has announced it will shut down on 8 December 2026. Opagio is an intangible asset platform: twelve value drivers, asset-level valuation, lending readiness and exit preparation. The two cover different layers of the same company.

Can Opagio replace my cap table after Pulley shuts down?

No. Opagio does not manage equity issuance, vesting schedules, option grants, employee portals or scenario waterfall modelling. For those, a dedicated cap table platform (Carta, Eqvista, or one of the UK alternatives such as SeedLegals or Ledgy) is the right tool. Opagio sits one layer up.

Does moving from Pulley to Carta affect Opagio?

No. Opagio sits one layer above the cap table and does not depend on which cap table platform you use. Whether you move to Carta or another provider, Opagio Intangibles runs the same way. Cap table data and 409A outputs inform context, but Opagio does not write back into the cap table.

Can Pulley value my intangible assets?

A 409A from Pulley is a share-level fair market value prepared by an appraiser. It is not an asset-level intangible valuation: it does not produce a Relief from Royalty figure for the brand, an MPEEM-derived value for customer relationships or a Cost Approach figure for organisational capital. For asset-level intangible valuation prepared with reference to IFRS 3 / IAS 38 / ASC 805, Opagio's Asset Valuator is built for the job.

How does pricing compare?

For Pulley customers, the relevant price now is the next platform's. Pulley says customers who migrate to Carta through the assisted route keep their current Pulley pricing for the first full year. Opagio publishes tiered pricing: a free Growth Forecaster and a paid Opagio Intangibles subscription, tiered by company stage. Because the two do different jobs, the question is rarely "either / or" on cost.

Where can I see Opagio in action?

Book a demo and we will walk through Opagio 12™, the Asset Valuator and the 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

Pulley built a cap table and 409A product for US-incorporated startups, and its customers now have a migration to complete before 8 December 2026. For most, that means Carta through Pulley's assisted route; others will choose a different provider and arrange the move themselves.

Opagio is the fit for the layer above the cap table: the twelve-driver intangible asset taxonomy that explains what those shares represent claims against. For founders building a fundraising narrative, CFOs running continuous intangible measurement, PE and VC funds tracking portfolio value creation, and businesses scoping IP-backed lending, Opagio answers 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.

Related reading

• Opagio vs Carta — Cap Table and Intangible Value Compared
• Opagio vs Eqvista — Valuation and Equity Platforms
• Carta alternative for valuation — when to add Opagio to your stack
• 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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