How Uplight uses equity management to fuel complex growth with Carta

Uplight, a clean energy software provider headquartered in Boulder, CO, helps utility companies across North America reduce strain on energy grids. Founded in 2019, the company has undergone complex structural changes, including the acquisition of seven companies and a pending investment by Octopus Energy Group. 

Accounting Director Stephen Pedersen relies on Carta’s cap table to keep Uplight’s data reliable, accessible, and audit-ready across deals and transactions. On Carta, he can track changes in real time, surface insights, and collaborate effectively with leadership, supporting Uplight’s ambitious growth strategy.

Carta helps Uplight meet investor and auditor demands

Uplight issues equity through multiple award types, including stock options, restricted stock units (RSU), and profits interests. Managing these awards requires ongoing support for employee, investor, and administrative requests. As the company has grown, so has the volume of awards and frequency of requests from investors.

“We get requests from investors fairly frequently where they say, ’Can I see your cap table as of this date?’ If you’re tracking that information manually, it can take time to build historical views,” Pedersen says. “On Carta, it’s a few clicks.”

Accessible data supports Uplight’s 409A valuation process, too. The company partners with a Big Four accounting firm, and Pedersen points the firm directly to Carta, where equity plan documents, individual employee awards, and certificate transaction reports are available all in one place.

“It may seem easy in practice, but I’ve seen companies assemble valuation information manually, and Carta definitely makes it much smoother for us,” says Pedersen.

Uplight streamlines reporting with centralized, traceable data

Carta’s reporting tools pull data directly from Uplight’s cap table, enabling Pedersen to prepare expense reports, disclosures, and scenario modeling quickly and accurately. 

Real-time, centralized cap table data lets Uplight sidestep the typical risks of manual reporting, such as outdated information, errors, and gaps. 

Calculations are traceable, making it easy for Pedersen to validate information and answer questions. He also appreciates Carta’s straightforward resources when he uses advanced features. 

“One time, I was trying to understand more about a disclosure and how it was calculated, and I just searched and found a financial reporting handbook that walks through how Carta derives all the different calculations,” Pedersen says. “It’s very easy to navigate the platform and figure things out on my own.”

As a result, Pedersen can serve Uplight’s leadership more effectively, because Carta empowers him to surface deeper insights and present them in context.

"The way Carta is organized, outlined, and managed makes it very user-friendly," Pedersen says.

Carta supports Uplight’s deals with real-time accounting 

Carta’s data integrity and analytical precision facilitated a recent stock-based acquisition for Uplight. The deal involved multiple iterations of the purchase price before closing, and each revision changed the number of stock units Uplight would issue. Pedersen was responsible for the purchase-price accounting, so having an audit trail in Carta saved him time and energy.

“It’s very easy to track changes in real time with Carta. Seeing change histories, including embedded board approvals, makes the entire process clear to everyone involved,” Pedersen says.

With Uplight continuing to grow, Pedersen expects Carta to remain central to its decision-making.

“As we shape Uplight’s future, we’re likely to rely on Carta even more to provide meaningful insights and functionality to drive deals forward,” says Pedersen.