EquityBee raises $6.6 million
After enabling “hundreds” of Israeli startup employees to exercise their stock options, EquityBee is announcing its launch in the United States and a $6.6 million funding round led by Group11, with participation from Battery Ventures and LocalGlobe.
Founded in 2017, EquityBee connects startup employees with its investor community to give employees the capital they need to exercise their stock options, pay the taxes and become shareholders of the company, and in return, investors get a portion of any future exit gains.
According to EquityBee, startup employees in the US are losing $30 billion every year in unexercised stock options as 50% do not exercise their stock options. This is due to the limited amount of time to exercise their stock and the cost, which can reach “hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of dollars” as employees are required to purchase their stock as well as potentially pay taxes on the theoretical profit at the time of exercising the options.
“As a serial entrepreneur and being part of the startup sphere for the last 15 years, I have witnessed countless employees, colleagues, and friends lose out on a significant part of their compensation because they couldn’t afford to exercise the options they worked so hard to earn. EquityBee is changing the situation and helping startup builders. We have successfully solved this problem for Israeli employees, and now EquityBee is ready to support every startup builder in the US. Our mission is to enable all startup builders to own their hard-earned equity and their share from the company they helped build.” – Oren Barzilai, CEO of EquityBee.
“The US is home to over 525,000 tech companies employing over 11.2 million tech workers of whom 6 million work for private tech companies. While inconceivable, as it stands today, a vast amount of these workers do not get to exercise or finance their stock options thus lose annually about $30 Billion. This is why we invested in EquityBee. EquityBee aims to solve this massive market failure and help millions of employees realize what is rightfully theirs. The solution the company offers is a no brainer for all parties involved: the employees, the startup companies employing them and the investors using EquityBee. After witnessing their success in Israel, Group 11 is excited to be a leading backer of EquityBee in their important mission to help U.S. employees. The sky’s the limit for EquityBee and we’re excited to be on their team and Board of Directors.” – Dovi Frances, Founding Partner at Group 11.
Bottom Line: In the space of Secfi .
