About Withings

About François

After starting his career at Philips, François Regnier joined Withings in 2014 as Head of Controlling and became CFO in 2018. He has supported the company through three major phases: startup-mode growth, integration into the Nokia group in 2016, and the return to independence in 2018. His work has focused on structuring the finance function, implementing data-driven processes and tools, and managing complex hardware operations, including inventory and procurement. He is committed to ensuring the reliability of financial information and making data accessible internally, while supporting teams in a shifting macroeconomic environment.

Autonomous management

Withings adopted Equify in 2020, following a major BSPCE grant program in 2019 and a significant fundraising the following year. At this pivotal moment, the company saw a sharp increase in employees holding equity instruments, but had limited visibility into how they were managed.

"Before Equify, BSPCE management was fully outsourced to our lawyers, which made information harder to access and slowed down internal processes,” explains François Regnier, CFO of Withings. “We needed to regain control of our cap table and provide more transparency to our teams.” — François Regnier, CFO of Withings

This move to Equify was part of a broader effort to digitize and bring a critical process in-house. By managing employee equity with Equify, Withings eliminated the repeated back-and-forth previously required to update the share transfer register and cap table, significantly improving efficiency and responsiveness. Direct access to reliable information also made collaboration with legal counsel smoother.

Up-to-the-minute information

For François, Equify's major strength lies in its ability to centralize all capital-related data and make it easy to update in real time. "I like the 'live' aspect that Equify offers, being able to process all exit or exercise requests quickly and thus have information that is always up to date."

Having a centralized platform also simplifies the finance team's day-to-day interactions with shareholders.

"Having all documents centralized in Equify saves us a considerable amount of time. When someone asks me a question about BSPCEs, employee rights or the cap table, I can answer it immediately, without having to search through different files or contact our lawyers. It's a major efficiency booster on a daily basis." François, Withings CFO

Easier governance

Governance is another key area where François relies on Equify. The platform makes it easier to manage communications related to General Meetings—a process that becomes increasingly complex as the shareholder base grows.

“With the growing number of employees and shareholders, Equify helps ensure we don’t forget anyone when convening our General Meetings,” explains François. “It removes a major risk and gives me real peace of mind—everything is in one place, and I know no one will be left out.” — François Regnier, CFO of Withings

Equify also provides a complete history of past General Meetings, with precise tracking of responses to meeting notices.

"Thanks to Equify, we can easily find out who responded to our AGM notices, who gave proxy and retrieve all associated documentation. This traceability enables us to optimize the organization of our next meetings by better anticipating attendance." François, Withings CFO

An employee portal

One of Equify’s key benefits, according to François, is broader access to information. Employees now have direct access to their BSPCE-related documents, without having to go through the finance team.

“We grant employees direct access to this information. From now on, it’s not only the CFO who holds this data. If an employee needs to check a document, they can access it themselves, without an intermediary.” — François Regnier, CFO of Withings

This approach delivers a double benefit: it empowers employees to consult their information whenever they need to, and it frees up the finance team from handling individual requests. As a result, finance can respond faster and more accurately to more complex BSPCE questions—focusing on higher-value work rather than simply sharing documents.

Thanks to this system, finance teams can respond quickly and accurately to more complex questions concerning BSPCEs, concentrating on adding value rather than simply transmitting documents.

The future with Equify

In the future, Withings aims to deepen its use of Equify, particularly to strengthen collaboration with lawyers and investors.

“Equify can significantly accelerate our daily work. By onboarding our lawyers and investors, we’ll be able to make full use of the platform’s collaboration and sharing features.” — François, CFO of Withings