The talks come as Carta is firing employees, making it the latest technology startup to shrink its workforce during the coronavirus pandemic.
Startups have been hit particularly hard during the crisis. An estimated 23,000 employees were let go at 241 startups since March 11, when the the coronavirus was declared a pandemic. That figure comes from Layoffs.fyi, a tracker that measures publicly announced job cuts. The actual total is likely far higher because not all companies have made public announcements. San Francisco-based Carta counts Marc Andreessen, a co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz as a backer and board member. Carta, previously known as EShares, declined to comment further.