EquityBee accelerates growth with $20m Series A funding

EquityBee, the startup employees' stock options funding solution, announces its Series A financing round, raising $20 million to accelerate growth, make additional hires across all departments, and expand product offerings. The round is led by Group 11 with participation from Oren Zeev Ventures, Battery Ventures, and ICON Continuity Fund. The round brings EquityBee's total funding to more than $28 million.

Founded in 2018, EquityBee saw high triple-digit growth in 2020, growing capital raised to fund employee stock options by over 560%, and number employees funded through the platform by over 360%. EquityBee's Investor Community, which comprises of family offices, funds, and high net-worth individuals, grew by 700%.

After launching in Israel in 2018, EquityBee has grown quickly, expanding to the US market in 2020. To date, EquityBee has funded employees from hundreds of companies, including recently IPOed companies such as Airbnb, Palantir, QuantumScape, Unity, and jFrog among others.

EquityBee provides funding to startup employees who have helped build successful pre-IPO companies by leveraging its Investor Community. The employees receive 100% of the needed capital to cover the cost of exercising their stock options and taxes, and in return the investors and employees share future gains in liquidity events.

Oren Barzilai, CEO, EquityBee: "As a serial entrepreneur who has been part of the startup ecosystem for the last 15 years and experienced it from all levels, from employee to founder, I have witnessed countless colleagues and friends lose out on a significant portion of their compensation because they didn't understand the convoluted stock options system, and couldn't afford to exercise the options they worked so hard to earn. EquityBee is removing this barrier and helping startup builders access the equity they have earned." 

Dovi Frances, Founding Partner, Group 11: "After leading EquityBee's Seed round, we have witnessed the company's remarkable triple-digit growth over the past year. We are now convinced that EquityBee not only has the perfect product-market fit, but that the strong founding team also has what it takes to become the uncontested market leader. EquityBee's scalable tech solution has the potential to help millions of tech employees gain access to liquidity in a market otherwise set up against them. Our decision to double down on EquityBee is an easy one and we are pleased to continue supporting the company."

equitybee.com