Toronto Startup Ten Key Labs Secures $10.5 Million, Unveils AI Equity Management Tool

Toronto-based software startup, Ten Key Labs, has secured $10.5 million in seed funding and unveiled a new equity management platform named Mantle. The company, established in 2022 by CEO Amar Varma and his former colleagues from Xtreme Labs and Autonomic, aims to simplify and automate equity management for other startup founders.

A Solution for Simplifying Equity Management

Varma, a seasoned tech entrepreneur and investor, highlighted a significant gap in the market for streamlining startup financial and business workflows. The new platform, Mantle, is designed to assist founders in managing capitalization tables, issuing equity, exploring fundraising options, planning, forecasting, and managing document signing and data rooms.

During his career, Varma expressed dissatisfaction with the existing equity management tools, prompting the development of Mantle. The goal is to offer a reliable, automated, user-friendly tool that helps founders concentrate on more significant matters, without the need to handle administrative tasks.

Funding and Broad Availability of Mantle

The seed funding round included contributions from Eniac, Craft Ventures, Vaynerfund, Sierra Ventures, Leaders Fund, former Shopify CFO Russ Jones, and other significant players in the tech industry. With this financial backing, Ten Key Labs has already completed Mantle’s beta testing, and the platform is now widely available.

A Veteran in Startup Scene

Varma’s impressive career includes co-founding of several successful startups, including Xtreme Venture Partners, Xtreme Labs, Hatch Labs, and Autonomic. He has also been involved in various legal battles over the years, including a high-profile case involving the sale of Xtreme Labs, where he was ordered to pay nearly $30 million in damages.

A New Player in the Equity Management Market

Varma now aims to tackle an issue he is intimately familiar with, by introducing Mantle to the competitive equity management software market. This market is currently dominated by big players like Shareworks, Carta, and AngelList.

Brian Murray, partner and COO at Craft Ventures and investor in Ten Key Labs, believes Mantle fills a significant gap in the market. By automating day-to-day administrative financial tasks, Mantle can save founders valuable time, allowing them to focus on strategic decision-making and the bigger picture.