WE.VESTR takes the frustration out of managing shareholders for founders

Former CEO at Barqo used to spend 70 percent of his time managing shareholdings alone, wants to solve this problem with new SaaS-company.

It is probably one of the greatest frustrations for any startup founder: all the paperwork and time spent managing milestones, shareholders and funding. WE.VESTR wants to solve that problem with its platform for equity management. The goal is to save the founder’s time and money, which they can invest in growing in their startups instead. The platform, which launches today, will also simplify the process of issuing shares to founders, investors and employees.

WE.VESTR was founded in 2020 by Maarten Graven (CCO, past founder of Flamyngo, CityShare and First Check) and Floris van Hoogenhuyze (CEO, former head of Barqo) and has a team of 12 employees. The company wants to ensure that founders spend less time on paperwork around cap tables and can focus on their business instead. The platform for equity management is backed by Venturerock, which was founded by Marc Wesselink.

WE.VESTR wants to make it easier for founders and investors to manage information on share distributions, legal documents and KPIs. It also enables companies to implement new compensation schemes without involving a notary.

This makes it easier to issue shares to remunerate people for their investments in time, finance and intellectual property. WE.VESTR is an initiative launched by Floris van Hoogenhuyze (former CEO of Barqo), Maarten Graven (past founder of Flamyngo, CityShare and First Check) and investor Venturerock.

Managing equity takes up too much of a founder’s precious time

Floris van Hoogenhuyze was previously CEO of Barqo, a start-up that grew to become the market leader in private boat rentals.

At Barqo, I was constantly faced with the challenge of growing the business while also managing shareholders and trying to attract new investors. All the paperwork and back-and-forth that I had to deal with wound up costing me around 70 percent of my time during the first three years.

Maarten Graven recognised how inefficient this can be. That’s why we teamed up to develop WE.VESTR, so that founders can focus more of their time on their core business.

Floris van Hoogenhuyze

WE.VESTR wants to make equity management easier for entrepreneurs and investors.

We see that there’s often a lack of clarity on share distributions, KPIs and compensation. This can lead to misalignment between founders and investors. Over the last 18 months, we’ve built a platform that solves all that. All information about the cap table, finances and objectives of a company is updated in one central place.

Van Hoogenhuyze

Start-ups are becoming more attractive as employers 

WE.VESTR also developed a special ‘Startup Co-op’, a digital register to make the shareholder management of startups more flexible.

This makes it easier and more transparent to reward an employee or stakeholder with shares. Thanks to this register, founders don’t need to visit a notary nor do they have to worry about compliance. By making it easier to reward employees with shares, startups also become more attractive as employers.

says Van Hoogenhuyze

Marc Wesselink, a co-founder of Startupbootcamp, is investing in WE.VESTR through Venturerock:

At Venturerock, we’ve developed a new method for growing companies. We follow a 72-step plan for scaling up start-ups; at the same time, we fund them until they reach the break-even point. WE.VESTR makes it easier to manage shareholdings and to grow start-ups.

When I was working at Startupbootcamp and coached startups, I often faced this problem. That’s why I support WE.VESTR in their mission. This is exactly what the European ecosystem needs to achieve growth right now.