Former JP Morgan Vice President Joe Conte joins the company as Head of Partnerships, rounding out the executive team
CHICAGO, April 14, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Vinyl Equity, a trusted transfer agent for public companies, today announced that it has raised $11.5 million in seed funding. The round was co-led by Index Ventures and Spark Capital with participation from Infinity Ventures, Cambrian Fintech, and other strategic angels. The company also announced that industry veteran Silvio "Joe" Conte has been named as Head of Partnerships, further strengthening the company's leadership team.
Funding comes as Vinyl leads the transformation of antiquated systems that have not kept pace with innovation in capital markets. Most transfer agents still rely on faxes, PDFs, and manual processes, which is frustrating, slow, and error-prone. Vinyl has built the first cloud-native, API-first transfer agent with automation, real-time visibility, and tools that actually work for modern companies
"Register management has been marred by inefficiencies for far too long, disproportionately impacting the people largely responsible for the company's success," said Rob Schoder, Co-founder and CEO of Vinyl Equity. "Vinyl streamlines these processes with real-time visibility and automation, empowering businesses to focus on growth and offering a seamless experience for all stakeholders."
"Vinyl Equity elevates the entire transfer agent industry that has been burdened by stagnation tied to legacy systems," said Sofia Dolfe, Partner at Index Ventures. "Transparency and efficiency are critical for shareholder registry, and it's clear Rob and the Vinyl team are committed to bringing much-needed automation to an antiquated system."
A Smarter, Seamless Approach
Vinyl is a purpose-built, cloud-native platform designed specifically for the financial services industry. It brings together modern infrastructure and AI-powered automation to streamline critical administrative tasks—everything from document handling and data verification to maintaining accurate shareholder records. By bridging the gaps between traditionally disconnected stakeholders and integrating directly with share plan administrators, Vinyl replaces outdated practices with a more efficient, digital-first experience.
"The time for Vinyl is now," said Poornaprajna Udupi, Chief Technology Officer at Vinyl Equity. "By integrating cloud-native fintech and AI, we've built a vertical platform that proactively ensures compliance and automates tasks across the partner ecosystem to replace outdated, manual processes. The Vinyl copilot presents timely actions, processes data in real-time, and performs reconciliations automatically, saving issuers time and money, eliminating compliance risks, and delivering a seamless, modern experience."
Vinyl offers solutions to longstanding industry challenges, empowering publicly traded companies and those preparing to IPO with streamlined operations, better information access, and enhanced compliance guardrails.
The digital platform is already improving the transfer agent experience for issuers, shareholders, and stakeholders. More than 70,000 shareholders and customers, including companies like Talkspace, are using the solution.
"Issuers, shareholders, and their stakeholders have long needed a solution to improve the inefficiencies of transfer agency," said Naz Sarkar, former CEO of Computershare Global Issuer Services. "Vinyl Equity's technology-driven platform simplifies equity management, digitizes previously manual workflows, and delivers real-time solutions that empower all stakeholders to be more efficient and cost-effective in today's markets."
First-of-its-Kind Offering Attracts Top Talent
Lending further credibility to Vinyl's approach and technology, Joe Conte joined the team as Head of Partnerships. Conte, well known on Wall Street, most recently served as Vice President within the ADR Department at JPMorgan. Before that, he was the head of corporate actions products as a Vice President at Equiniti Trust Company in the U.S. There, Conte oversaw the introduction of new products and services that enhanced EQ's corporate actions offerings. He also co-managed the capital markets and private M&A initiatives in the U.S.
Prior to joining EQ, Conte was the head of corporate actions as a Director at the New York Stock Exchange, where he oversaw all corporate actions and dividend announcements issued by the Exchange. In addition, Conte advised on best practices while keeping to the established rules of the Exchange, assisted issuers and their counsel on the early structuring of complex corporate actions, and helped management in pitching new business related to corporate actions and IPO/ECM activity.
At Vinyl, Conte will be responsible for managing Vinyl's partnership ecosystem, leveraging decades of experience building relationships with service providers through his work in corporate actions. He will also help guide the team through industry changes and how to position new product offerings within the scope of these changes.
To learn more about how Vinyl is modernizing transfer agents, please visit www.vinylequity.com.
About Vinyl Equity
Vinyl Equity is a next generation, SEC-registered transfer agent building critical, modern infrastructure and services for publicly traded companies in share registry, dividend plan management, proxy voting and compliance services. Vinyl serves clients across the Nasdaq, NYSE, and OTC Markets. To learn more, please visit https://www.vinylequity.com.
Media Contact
Amber Moore, Moore Communications, 1 5039439381, amber@moorecom2.com
SOURCE Vinyl Equity