SourceWhale chooses Ledgy to manage its UK and US share plans

SourceWhale, a London-based AI recruitment platform founded in 2019, has chosen Ledgy as its equity management platform. Built for recruitment agencies, SourceWhale brings CRM and ATS, sourcing, outreach, calls and meetings into one connected workflow, from finding candidates to making placements.

With around 150 employees and an equity plan available to all, SourceWhale runs an EMI scheme for its UK team alongside a US sub-plan. SourceWhale chose Ledgy to bring everything together in one place and provide its finance team with greater control as it grows.

Why SourceWhale chose Ledgy

Before migrating to Ledgy, SourceWhale managed its equity through Carta. As its requirements evolved, the team began exploring alternative platforms that could support its UK and US share plans in one place.

SourceWhale chose Ledgy to bring its UK and US equity onto one platform, making it easier to view the data from multiple perspectives and navigate the platform. Ledgy gives the finance team a single source of truth for its cap table, pools, plans, grants, and legal documents, while supporting the UK and US compliance requirements that come with its international equity programme.

A smooth onboarding experience 

SourceWhale worked closely with Ledgy’s Implementation Specialist, Louis, to prepare its equity programme for go-live. This included reviewing historical cap table records, updating document templates and connecting DocuSign. Ledgy also helped configure signing workflows and test documents for new grants and exercises, ahead of inviting employees onto the platform. 

Hugh Sturgis, Global Financial Controller at SourceWhale, praised the support throughout the process. 

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Managing UK and US equity on one platform

SourceWhale's share plans have grown alongside the business. Today, the company manages multiple plans across the UK and US, with different arrangements for employees and other stakeholders.

Alongside managing these plans sit UK and US compliance obligations: annual EMI valuations, 409A valuations, ERS returns, HMRC deadlines, and managing the 90-day post-termination exercise window to keep options EMI-qualifying. When Carta took over Capdesk and the latest UI shift in Spring 2026, they found that the platform had shifted to a US Corporate angle that was unhelpful to a UK startup.   

Original transactions can be updated in Ledgy with change tracking and permission controls, so corrections remain clear and can be reviewed as part of the audit trail. 

Keeping equity and HR data aligned through HiBob

SourceWhale uses HiBob as its HR system. Ledgy's native HiBob integration pulls joiners, leavers, address changes and name changes into a daily sync that an administrator reviews before releasing anything into Ledgy, so no record changes are made without an administrator approving it. Current addresses then flow straight into grant agreements and exercise documents, reducing manual data entry when grants are issued.

Leaver workflows built around EMI rules

In Ledgy, the finance team configures leaver workflows once and applies them at offboarding: terminate unvested equity, open a 90-day exercise window for vested options, and settle by bank transfer. 

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Supporting IFRS 2 reporting and annual valuations

SourceWhale reports share-based payments under IFRS 2 and will use Ledgy for its year-end expense schedules. Ledgy produces tranche-level reports covering opening and closing balances, every vesting event, and the calculation inputs and assumptions behind each figure. Historical fair values from prior years will be imported so comparatives stay consistent for auditors. 

Looking ahead

Ledgy's implementation team is migrating SourceWhale's full equity history, including share classes, transactions, pools, plans, grants, terminations and exercises, with reconciliation reports so the finance team can check every figure against its existing records before go-live.

Next, SourceWhale will rebuild its grant, exercise, and settlement document templates in Ledgy and connect them to DocuSign for signing. 

The teams also plan to simplify legacy records by replacing paper share certificates with central digital certificates managed within Ledgy. With these changes in place, SourceWhale will have a clearer view of its equity programme as it continues to grow across the UK and US.