Why Bluesight, Inc. left Shareworks and joined Carta

Bluesight, Inc., a healthcare technology company for hospital and pharmacy operations, changed its equity structure after a growth investment in 2023. The company, based in Alexandria, Virginia, acquired three other medical intelligence companies over the next two years, leaving corporate controller Steven Renkes to wrestle with a cap table that included new shareholders and share types.

Eventually, Bluesight determined its prior solution, Shareworks, couldn’t accommodate its needs, so Renkes managed the cap table manually until early 2025, when Bluesight joined Carta. On Carta, Bluesight’s cap table is easy to access, understand, and scale as the company grows.

Carta’s cap table aligns with how investment firms structure equity

Renkes appreciates how Carta has the flexibility to accommodate its new equity structure. The platform is built so that companies can easily grant and manage multiple share types, model scenarios, and provide information to capital partners.

In this case, Renkes had to manage both time-based and performance-based awards across a complex structure of preferred shares that pay dividends, common shares that sometimes tie back to those preferred shares, and a separate carry pool with its own vesting rules.  

“We tried for months to retrofit our new equity structure into Shareworks. We filed several customer support tickets with them. We spent a lot of money with outside accountants, but it didn’t work,” says Renkes. 

Out of necessity, Renkes moved Bluesight’s equity management into spreadsheets, but the workaround was painful.  “It was still time-consuming and could be error-prone,” says Renkes, “but Bluesight has grown through acquisitions, so when we bought a company that used Carta, we knew it was the right solution for us."

Bluesight improved equity management with Carta

Once onboarded, Renkes and the team at Bluesight quickly gained clarity and efficiency. Employee equity management became easier, and Carta’s reporting capabilities have improved investor relations, allowing Renkes to pull data on demand. He feels optimistic about end-of-year readiness on Carta—something he couldn’t say about other solutions.  

That’s because Renkes considers Carta an intuitive, responsive solution to modern equity management demands.  

“Many traditional cap table software solutions grew out of accounting rules versus how you actually use your cap table,” Renkes says, “but private equity firms track equity in nuanced ways. Their needs are unique. Moving to Carta gives everyone the pieces they need.”