Source Code Capital Portfolio Company YiCan Closes Nearly $10 Million Series A, with Existing Investor Source Code Capital Increasing Stake

源码资本·March 25, 2021·0·2

The platform has served more than 1,500 enterprise clients across a wide range of industries, including enterprise services, artificial intelligence, e-commerce, healthcare, automotive and transportation, food & beverage and retail, education, and finance.

On March 25, YiCan, a one-stop equity incentive and management platform, announced the completion of its nearly $10 million Series A round. The round was led by Tencent, with existing investors Shunwei Capital and Source Code Capital following on. Source Code Capital was the sole investor in YiCan's angel round and has continued to double down through the Pre-A round.

Following this funding, YiCan will accelerate its market expansion, strengthen R&D innovation for its SaaS products, grow its team, and improve the standardization of its value-added services and customer service capabilities — all to deliver a better one-stop equity incentive and management experience.

Founded in December 2017, YiCan positions itself as a one-stop equity incentive and management platform, helping companies design equity incentive plans and manage equity assets, using equity to align people's value.

Currently, products on the market fall into two broad categories: one treats equity incentive as a "consulting-like" service, with no algorithms or big data — the system is merely a tool within the consulting engagement; the other treats equity incentive as pure SaaS, de-emphasizing or entirely dropping consulting services in favor of outsourced advisory arrangements.

YiCan's approach goes beyond building an equity incentive tool. It provides employee benefit solutions spanning the full lifecycle of equity. This not only helps employees understand the value of their equity and personal returns, but also addresses multiple business scenarios — such as designing composite incentive systems for newly hired executives, existing core talent, and middle management — so that employees are genuinely motivated, helping companies build more solid organizational structures that underpin sustainable growth.

Figure 1: Industry landscape of equity-related services

"The equity incentive system as YiCan defines it isn't limited to simple employee data tracking and sell functionality," said Yiran Huang, Founder & CEO of YiCan. "It focuses more on dynamically matching employee contributions and equity returns with company growth, helping enterprises implement internally a set of management rules that are legally compliant, scientifically sound, and genuinely motivating."

Meanwhile, in the second half of this year, YiCan will focus on helping client companies address equity liquidity needs from primary to secondary markets.

On the demand side, after three years of operation, some YiCan clients have grown to the point of pursuing IPOs or M&A opportunities. On the equity characteristics side, equity value is typically maximized at IPO or acquisition — if the incentive system cannot connect with these milestone moments, its motivational impact is severely limited. Therefore, bridging into secondary markets helps companies complete equity穿透审查 and incentive plan梳理 ahead of their listing requirements, not only satisfying compliance needs but also dramatically improving management efficiency. For employee shareholders, opening liquidity channels means equity value connects directly to returns, making the incentive effect far more tangible.

Figure 2: Ownership management network

YiCan has already established partnerships with multiple A-share brokerages, offshore brokerages, and trust companies, supporting equity management needs for listed companies across A-shares, Hong Kong, and US markets with accounts at different brokerages.

Figure 3: YiCan equity product/service system

Yiran Huang explained that YiCan currently offers a product/service system of "modular consulting services + intelligent business systems + digital full-lifecycle equity management." Compared to 2019, YiCan made several major updates in 2020:

First, building on its existing equity incentive design framework, YiCan expanded use cases to include innovative instruments such as phantom stock and economic benefit rights, allowing companies to incentivize employees through dividend or appreciation rights distributions without altering their equity structure;

Second, YiCan has integrated with enterprise service SaaS products including Lark, the online collaboration platform, and Beituo Capital, the financial advisory firm, further extending its service boundaries and product extensibility. Going forward, YiCan will continue opening its system so that when clients have relevant needs, YiCan can achieve rapid integration through open APIs;

Third, in the second half of 2020, YiCan began bridging into secondary markets through system integrations with brokerages. Concurrently, when designing incentive plans, YiCan now emphasizes modeling for early option exercise and stock repurchase, facilitating transactions in the primary market.

YiCan has become more complex in service depth, connected workflows, and scenarios, which has shifted its market positioning. Since mid-2020, YiCan has gradually moved from serving small and medium clients toward mid-to-large enterprises, co-creating innovative equity incentive services with clients.

To date, YiCan has served 1,500+ enterprise clients and 10,000+ registered users. Benchmark clients include Zhenkunhang, Baibu, PatSnap, Guoquan, Xiaoxiandun, WANGBAOBAO, CassTime, Cloud Whale, Meishubao, ZNLH, Fenbeitong, Shimo Docs, Immuno, and Deep Blue Aerospace, spanning enterprise services, AI, e-commerce, healthcare, automotive and transportation, food and retail, education, and finance. Huang noted that YiCan's renewal rate from 2019 to 2020 exceeded 80%, with net revenue retention above 100%.

"As the lead investor in YiCan's angel round, we're pleased to see that over the past three years, companies prioritizing equity incentives have gradually expanded from internet startups to new-economy companies and then to traditional enterprises," said Yangjie She of Source Code Capital. "YiCan has continuously iterated on its management system, service depth, and innovative offerings, and is now at the leading edge of the market. We look forward to the company serving more outstanding enterprises in the future."