Vinyl Equity, a transfer agent for public companies, announced today that it has raised $11.5 million in seed funding. Index Ventures and Spark Capital co-led the round, which also included Infinity Ventures, Cambrian Fintech, and other strategic angels.
The company also revealed that industry veteran Silvio “Joe” Conte was named Head of Partnerships, enhancing the company’s leadership team.
The funding comes as Vinyl transforms antiquated systems that have not kept pace with innovation in capital markets. Most transfer agents still rely on faxes, PDFs, and manual processes, which are often slow and error-prone. Vinyl has created the first cloud-native and API-first transfer agent with automation, real-time visibility, and tools that work for modern companies.
Vinyl is a cloud-native platform explicitly designed for the financial services industry. And it brings together modern infrastructure and AI-powered automation to streamline critical administrative tasks, everything from document handling and data verification to maintaining accurate shareholder records. By connecting the gaps between traditionally disconnected stakeholders and integrating directly with share plan administrators, Vinyl replaces outdated practices with a digital-first experience.
Vinyl provides solutions to longstanding industry challenges, empowering publicly traded companies and those preparing to IPO with streamlined operations, better information access, and enhanced compliance guardrails.
The digital platform improves the transfer agent experience for issuers, shareholders, and stakeholders. Over 70,000 shareholders and customers use the solution, including companies like Talkspace.
Bringing more credibility to Vinyl’s approach and technology, Joe Conte joined the team as Head of Partnerships. Conte, well known on Wall Street, most recently served as Vice President within the ADR Department at JPMorgan. Before that, he was the head of corporate actions products as a Vice President at Equiniti Trust Company in the U.S. Conte also oversaw the introduction of new products and services that enhanced EQ’s corporate actions offerings. He also co-managed the capital markets and private M&A initiatives in the U.S.
Before joining EQ, Conte was the head of corporate actions as a Director at the New York Stock Exchange, overseeing all corporate actions and dividend announcements issued by the Exchange.
Conte has advised on best practices while adhering to the Exchange’s established rules, assisted issuers and their counsel on the early structuring of complex corporate actions, and helped management pitch new business related to corporate actions and IPO/ECM activity.
At Vinyl, Conte will manage the partnership ecosystem, utilizing decades of experience building relationships with service providers through his work in corporate actions. And he will also help guide the team through industry changes and how to position new product offerings within the scope of these changes.
KEY QUOTES:
“Register management has been marred by inefficiencies for far too long, disproportionately impacting the people largely responsible for the company’s success. Vinyl streamlines these processes with real-time visibility and automation, empowering businesses to focus on growth and offering a seamless experience for all stakeholders.”
– Rob Schoder, Co-founder and CEO of Vinyl Equity
“Vinyl Equity elevates the entire transfer agent industry that has been burdened by stagnation tied to legacy systems. Transparency and efficiency are critical for shareholder registry, and it’s clear Rob and the Vinyl team are committed to bringing much-needed automation to an antiquated system.”
– Sofia Dolfe, Partner at Index Ventures
“The time for Vinyl is now. By integrating cloud-native fintech and AI, we’ve built a vertical platform that proactively ensures compliance and automates tasks across the partner ecosystem to replace outdated, manual processes. The Vinyl copilot presents timely actions, processes data in real-time, and performs reconciliations automatically, saving issuers time and money, eliminating compliance risks, and delivering a seamless, modern experience.”
– Poornaprajna Udupi, Chief Technology Officer at Vinyl Equity
“Issuers, shareholders, and their stakeholders have long needed a solution to improve the inefficiencies of transfer agency. Vinyl Equity’s technology-driven platform simplifies equity management, digitizes previously manual workflows, and delivers real-time solutions that empower all stakeholders to be more efficient and cost-effective in today’s markets.”
– Naz Sarkar, former CEO of Computershare Global Issuer Services
