EquityBee snaps up $55M for a marketplace that connects employees with capital to help them exercise their stock options

Stock options can hold a#nbsp;lot of#nbsp;potential reward for employees when their company is#nbsp;doing well, but not every person will have the funds to#nbsp;fully exercise#nbsp;— that is, buy up#nbsp;— the options they have available to#nbsp;them. Enter EquityBee, a#nbsp;marketplace for employees to#nbsp;connect with capital from a#nbsp;network of#nbsp;some 12,000 investors to#nbsp;finance the process. The startup has been on#nbsp;a#nbsp;growth tear this year, and to#nbsp;continue building out features on#nbsp;its platform, and expanding its reach, the company today is#nbsp;announcing $#nbsp;55 million in#nbsp;equity funding of#nbsp;its own.

The Series B#nbsp;is#nbsp;being led by#nbsp;Group 11, with Battery Ventures, Latitude, Local Globe, Greenfield Partners and ICON also participating. Exact valuation is#nbsp;not being disclosed, but Oren Barzilai, EquityBee’s co-founder and CEO, said it#nbsp;was in#nbsp;the hundreds of#nbsp;millions of#nbsp;dollars.

The funding is#nbsp;coming amid a#nbsp;lot of#nbsp;investor buzz (pun intended) around the Tel Aviv/Palo Alto-based startup: EquityBee raised $#nbsp;20 million only seven months ago. And in#nbsp;the process of#nbsp;working on#nbsp;this story, this latest round was bumped up#nbsp;by $#nbsp;7 million.

EquityBee is#nbsp;filling an#nbsp;interesting, often under-the-radar gap in#nbsp;the world of#nbsp;stock options. Many tech employees#nbsp;— especially those at#nbsp;startups#nbsp;— calculate options as#nbsp;part of#nbsp;their remuneration packages (and indeed, when options are not an#nbsp;option, that can be#nbsp;controversial). Indeed, in#nbsp;the U.S. alone there are some 6 million startup employees today that have some form of#nbsp;equity.

But in#nbsp;a#nbsp;lot of#nbsp;cases, employees aren’t fully able to#nbsp;take advantage of#nbsp;what they can on#nbsp;the options front, because buying them up#nbsp;can be#nbsp;costly.

Published by Techcrunch#nbsp;— on#nbsp;September 29, 2021