Equity services platform YiCan announced it has raised several million dollars in an angel round from Source Code Capital.

源码资本·December 26, 2018·0·0

Recently, one-stop equity services provider YiCan announced the completion of a multi-million-dollar angel round, with exclusive investment from Source Code Capital.

YiCan, a one-stop equity services provider, recently announced the completion of a multi-million-dollar angel round led exclusively by Source Code Capital.

Founded in December 2017, YiCan is a primary-market equity services firm that pioneered an entirely new category in the equity industry. From start-up through pre-IPO, and across every stage of equity services, it offers standardized, one-stop solutions that combine upfront consulting with SaaS-based delivery.

As a board member of the company, She Yangjie of Source Code Capital said that equity incentives are a critical tool for motivating employees, and as corporate management becomes increasingly standardized, they will inevitably become an essential enterprise service. YiCan enters the market through equity structure design, incentive plans, and equity management, supported by professional consulting services, to manage the full lifecycle of a company's equity needs with quality and efficiency. The team's combined background in internet products, law, entrepreneurship training, and financial advisory also positions them to serve companies comprehensively, and we believe YiCan will become a leader in corporate equity services.

YiCan's founder and CEO, Huang Yiran, holds an LL.B. from China University of Political Science and Law and an LL.M. from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. She previously served as a lead attorney at King & Wood Mallesons and head of legal at Xiaofanzhuo (FanZhuo Capital), and has spent years in the venture capital industry as a well-known capital markets lawyer.

Huang Yiran, Founder & CEO of YiCan

Mining Industry Data, Focusing on Communicating Equity Value to Win Industry Recognition

The equity industry evolved from the legal profession, accumulating massive amounts of data—mostly in unstructured forms such as transaction contracts and court judgments. Traditional equity lawyers encounter this data daily, but may not recognize its value, or may lack the capability to process and analyze it even if they do.

The industry is also plagued by inconsistent service quality, high prices, and limited effectiveness.

At a time when the equity industry was struggling to advance, YiCan demonstrated a different market-validated approach: deeply mining industry data to communicate equity value. YiCan's team of lawyers with "red circle" firm backgrounds can draw on industry data covering business model, geography, development stage, and team composition to deliver professional services grounded in startup practice, shaping ideal equity structures from multiple dimensions.

In early December 2018, YiCan exclusively released its "2018 Equity Industry Report," based on long-accumulated industry data and in-depth analysis of equity big data, providing highly valuable industry intelligence to startups and earning widespread praise from entrepreneurs.

Long-term accumulation of industry data and content will create substantial commercial value—representing a major opportunity for YiCan.

Emphasizing Technology-Driven Solutions, Independently Developing the inX Equity Management System

With a deep understanding of industry pain points and user needs, YiCan developed the inX equity management system based on industry data and AI technology, dedicated to providing one-stop equity solutions for startups.

The inX system incorporates equity design concepts from hundreds of startups, structuring equity processes to enable project implementation and dramatically reducing service costs.

First, the inX system directly addresses founders' equity pain points. To better empower B2B clients, YiCan has moved all standardizable equity services from offline to online, with structured designs for specific scenarios to meet diverse client needs.

Second, the inX system integrates industry data with visualization technology, featuring low barriers to use so users at all levels can understand equity concepts. Previously, managers pored over dense Excel spreadsheets, expending enormous time and effort; now, they can monitor each employee's equity assets in real time, significantly improving the precision of identifying equity issues, reducing labor costs, and enabling data-driven decision-making.

The completeness of the inX system's underlying architecture creates a closed loop of data, technology, product, and service, enabling rapid project implementation and genuinely helping YiCan improve efficiency and capacity.

Empowering Lawyers to Drive Industry-Wide Upgrading

Equity is an interdisciplinary field spanning not only legal provisions but also human resources and tax matters. Traditional equity services require resources from lawyers, tax agencies, strategy consultancies, and HR firms. Yet with complex service processes and fragmented services and data across providers, information asymmetry persists when startups try to find equity service providers matching their needs.

YiCan's consulting team brings combined experience in law, entrepreneurship training, and financial advisory, integrating startup needs with expertise in legal, HR, and tax matters to provide full-chain, one-stop equity solutions.

Going forward, YiCan will explore more scenarios for technology-enabled equity services, building innovative multi-scenario standardized models. The inX system will launch various productized service offerings to further improve human efficiency and reduce client costs. Next year, YiCan will invest resources to integrate upstream and downstream industry chains, starting with lawyers, to provide clients with more diverse equity solutions.

To date, YiCan has served nearly 200 enterprise clients, 72% of which are at Series A or beyond. Notable clients across various stages include Yijiupi, Nongfenqi, Hai Feng Education, Zhenkunhang, Baibu, Huishoubao, Haikeyingzhou, Baozhunniu, Shimo Docs, Zhijia, YuanDing, and Mozhou.