Sprout

Sprout, operating under the legal name Roots Technologies, was founded in March 2019 by Andy Lee and Tony Sun. The duo bootstrapped the company for the first 17 months before securing external financing. Their mission is to address the service and knowledge gaps in how companies, particularly outside the US, manage stakeholder and equity information.

The founders bring a wealth of relevant experience to the venture. Andy Lee, the CEO, has a background as a tech banker, venture investor, and has held executive roles at high-growth tech companies like Uber and Kabam. Co-founder Tony Sun is a product and engineering leader with a Ph.D. in Computer Science, specializing in leading multicultural teams and scaling consumer-facing apps to millions of users. Their combined experience in startups and corporate management, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, directly informs Sprout's focus on stakeholder management.

Sprout provides a comprehensive platform designed to help organizations manage equity, employee stock option plans (ESOPs), fundraising, and stakeholders in real-time. The business model is centered on being a SaaS provider that helps clients move beyond spreadsheets to a single source of truth for ownership, thereby creating governance and delivering insights. The platform offers features like cap table management, issuance of digital stock certificates, and scenario modeling tools for fundraising and dilution analysis. Clients can customize and manage grants, exits, and exercises at scale with workflow automation tools.

In addition to its core equity management solution, Sprout has expanded its services to the digital asset space with the launch of a token management platform called Folium. This product enables organizations to track and manage token ownership, vesting, warrants, and off-chain commitments for cryptocurrencies and NFTs across various blockchains. This expansion caters to the growing need for digital asset management tools and aims to provide transparency and support for proof of ownership. The company serves a global client base across multiple industries including fintech, e-commerce, insurance, and logistics, with an initial focus on the Asia-Pacific market.

Keywords: equity management, stakeholder management, cap table software, ESOP administration, token management, digital asset tracking, stock plan services, fundraising tools, ownership tracking, venture capital, private equity, startup governance, share management, employee stock options, Folium, Roots Technologies, Andy Lee, Tony Sun, equity compensation, securities management