In Carta, you can easily create personalized documents and send them to your grantholders to sign.
The agreement templates are referred to as Dynamic Documents. Dynamic documents are reusable templates which Carta fills in with personalised data for each participant. They contain placeholders similar to <<Carta:Grantholder:Name>>.
These placeholders are the "dynamic" parts of the document which are later substituted with the participant's information that had been previously input in the platform. For example, you can use the same Grant Agreement for several employees and Carta will output a personalised version for each one including their name, vesting dates, exercise price, etc.
Dynamic documents must be created as DOCX files (Microsoft Word). Depending on the type of document you need, different placeholders will be required.
This support article will cover the standard placeholders used in Grant Agreements in three sections:
- Required placeholders
- Signature placeholders
- Optional placeholders
- Placeholders used for tabular vesting
- Placeholders used in the Power of Attorney (PoA)
Required placeholders
These are placeholders that are required in Grant Agreements. Without inputting them in the document, Carta will not let you proceed uploading them onto the platform.
Please note that there are some required signature placeholders depending on the parties you choose to be involved in the execution of the document. These required placeholders will be flagged in the Signature placeholders section of this support article.
Placeholder | What it populates |
<<Carta:Shares>> | The number of options granted to the grantholder |
<<Carta:ExercisePrice>> | The exercise price of the underlying shares. |
<<Carta:ExercisePriceCurrency>> | The currency of the exercise price. |
<<Carta:VestingSchedule>> | Explains how the options will vest |
<<Carta:Grantholder:Name>> | The grantholders' name |
<<Carta:IssuerSignatory1:Name>> | The name of the first person who is signing on behalf of the company. Only required for agreements that involves the company's signature. |
<<Carta:ApprovalStamp>> | It populates the first and last name of the grant approver as well as the company name and the approval date. Only required for signatureless agreements. |
Signature Placeholders
Some signature placeholders may be optional or not. For example, if a company chooses to use a grant agreement signed by the grantholder and the issuer, then their placeholders will be required. On the other hand, if a company decides to adopt a signatureless grant agreement, none of the signature placeholders will be a requirement. These placeholders will be flagged in the table below.
Placeholder | What it populates |
<<Carta:GrantholderSignatory1:Signature>> | The grantholder's signature via DocuSign. Required in agreements signed by the grantholder. |
<<Carta:GrantholderSignatory1:SignatureDate>> | The date of the grantholder's signature. Required in agreements signed by the grantholder. |
<<Carta:GrantholderWitness:Signature>> | The grantholder's witness' signature via DocuSign. |
<<Carta:GrantholderWitness:SignatureDate>> | The grantholder's witness' signature date. |
<<Carta:GrantholderWitness:SignatureDateHmrc>> |
The witness' signature date in an HMRC accepted format. |
<<Carta:IssuerSignatory1:Signature>> | The company's first signatory's signature via DocuSign. Required in agreements signed by the company. |
<<Carta:IssuerSignatory1:SignatureDate>> | The company's first signatory's signature date. Required in agreements signed by the company. |
<<Carta:IssuerSignatory1:SignatureDateHmrc>> |
The first signatory' signature date in an HMRC accepted format. |
<<Carta:IssuerSignatory2:Signature>> | The company's second signatory's signature via DocuSign. |
<<Carta:IssuerSignatory2:SignatureDate>> | The company's second signatory's signature date. |
<<Carta:IssuerSignatory2:SignatureDateHmrc>> |
The second signatory' signature date in an HMRC accepted format. |
<<Carta:IssuerSignatory3:Signature>> | The company's third signatory's signature via DocuSign. |
<<Carta:IssuerSignatory3:SignatureDate>> | The company's third signatory's signature date. |
<<Carta:IssuerSignatory3:SignatureDateHmrc>> |
The third signatory' signature date in an HMRC accepted format. |
<<Carta:IssuerWitness:Signature>> | The company's witness' signature via DocuSign. |
<<Carta:IssuerWitness:SignatureDate>> | The company's witness' signature date. |
<<Carta:IssuerWitness:SignatureDateHmrc>> |
The company's witness' signature date in an HMRC accepted format. |
Optional Placeholders
Placeholder | What it populates |
<<Carta:SharesWords>> |
The number of options granted to the grantholder written in words |
<<Carta:Company:Name>> | The company's name. |
<<Carta:ConsiderationCost>> | The consideration cost. Used for share grants. |
<<Carta:ConsiderationPrice>> |
The consideration price per share. Used for share grants. |
<<Carta:ConsiderationPriceCurrency>> |
The consideration price currency e.g. GBP. |
<<Carta:ExerciseCost>> | The total cost of the grant if you were to exercise the entire grant |
<<Carta:HurdlePrice>> | The hurdle price for share grants or phantom (virtual) shares |
<<Carta:HurdlePriceCurrency>> | The currency of the hurdle price |
<<Carta:ExpirationDate>> |
The date of when the grant expires |
<<Carta:Grant:BoardApprovalDate>> |
It populates the board approval date. |
<<Carta:Grant:Note>> |
Any additional information you want included, you can add as a note |
<<Carta:Grant:IssuanceDate>> |
This placeholder is required when a fixed grant date is selected to pull through the grant date. |
<<Carta:Grant:Granted>> |
The date of grant date. It will populate date in which the agreement is fully executed in DocuSign. |
<<Carta:ShareClass:Name>> | The share class' name of the underlying shares connected to the grant. |
<<Carta:ShareClass:NominalValue>> | The nominal value of the share class of the underlying shares connected to the grant. |
<<Carta:ShareClass:NominalValueCurrency>> | The nominal value currency of the share class of the underlying shares connected to the grant. |
<<Carta:VestingStart>> |
It populates the vesting start date. |
<<Carta:Options>> |
The quantity of options being granted. |
<<Carta:Cost>> |
The cost paid for the grant. |
<<Carta:Grantholder:Email>> | The grantholder's email. |
<<Carta:Grantholder:DateOfBirth>> | The grantholder's date of birth. |
<<Carta:Grantholder:Initials>> | The grantholder's initials (first name and last name) |
<<Carta:Grantholder:NationalIdentificationNumber>> | The grantholder's national identification number. |
<<Carta:GrantholderSignatory1:Capacity>> | The grantholder's occupation. |
<<Carta:Grantholder:Address>> |
The grantholder's address. |
<<Carta:GrantholderWitness:Name>> | The grantholder's witness' name. |
<<Carta:IssuerSignatory1:Name>> | The company's first signatory's name. |
<<Carta:IssuerSignatory1:Title>> | The title of the first company signatory e.g. Mr, Miss, Mrs, etc. |
<<Carta:IssuerSignatory1:Capacity>> | The occupation of the first company signatory. |
<<Carta:IssuerSignatory2:Name>> | The company's second signatory's name. |
<<Carta:IssuerSignatory2:Title>> | The title of the second company signatory e.g. Mr, Miss, Mrs, etc. |
<<Carta:IssuerSignatory2:Capacity>> | The occupation of the second company signatory. |
<<Carta:IssuerSignatory3:Name>> | The company's third signatory's name. |
<<Carta:IssuerSignatory3:Title>> | The title of the third company signatory e.g. Mr, Miss, Mrs, etc. |
<<Carta:IssuerSignatory3:Capacity>> | The occupation of the third company signatory. |
<<Carta:IssuerWitness:Name>> |
The company's witness' name. |
<<Carta:Company:ShareCapitalInEuros>> | Reference to the company's share capital, in Euros as default. |
Placeholders Used for Tabular Vesting
Some grant agreements will have a tabular vesting reflected.
<<Carta:VestingTranches:Date>> | The date that the tranche will vest |
<<Carta:VestingTranches:Percentage>> | The percentage of the grant that will vest |
<<Carta:VestingTranches:Quantity>> | The number of shares that will vest |
<<Carta:VestingTranches:Condition> | The condition that will make a tranche of options vest. |
Please see the example below for how this may be laid out in the agreement document.
Placeholders Used for The Power of Attorney (PoA)
Along with the grant agreement, administrators can also send the Power Of Attorney (PoA) for the grantholders to sign upon receiving a new grant.
Required placeholders
Carta placeholder | What does it mean |
<<Carta:GrantholderSignatory1:Signature>> | The signature required by the grantholder |
<<Carta:GrantholderSignatory1:SignatureDate>> | The date of when the grantholder signed their agreement |
<<Carta:Grantholder:Address>> | The grantholders' address |
<<Carta:Grantholder:Name>> | The grantholders' name |
Optional placeholders
Carta placeholder | What does it mean |
<<Carta:GrantholderWitness:Name>> | The grantholders witness' name |
<<Carta:GrantholderWitness:Signature>> | The grantholders witness' signature |
<<Carta:GrantholderWitness:SignatureDate>> | The date of when the grantholders witness' signed the agreement |
<<Carta:Grantholder:PersonalId>> | The grantholders personal ID number (often this will be the National Insurance number in the UK) |
<<Carta:ShareClass:Name>> | Name of the share class |
<<Carta:ShareClass:NominalValue>> | The nominal value of the share class |
<<Carta:ShareClass:NominalValueCurrency>> | The currency of the nominal value of the share class |
<<Carta:Shares>> | The number of options granted to the grantholder |
<<Carta:Grant:Note>> | Any additional information you want included you can add as a note |
<<Carta:Currency>> | The currency of the exercise price |
<<Carta:Cost>> | The cost paid for the grant e.g. consideration cost |
<<Carta:Price>> | The price paid per share |