EquityBee Inc., a company that helps startup employees raise money to exercise their stock options, said today it has raised $20 million in new funding to accelerate growth and expand product offerings.

The Series A round was led by Group 11 and included Oren Zeev Ventures, Battery Ventures and ICON Continuity Fund.

Founded in 2018, EquityBee offers a platform that links employees with investors to provide option holders the funding they need to exercise their options and unlock the value of their equity. A startup employee starts by accessing EquityBee’s secure dashboard and providing option details. Once approved, the opportunity to fund the exercise of their stock options is offered anonymously to the entire EquityBee investor community.

Investors in the EquityBee community compete to participate in funding employee options. Although the employee maintains ownership of the excised shares, upon an exit event both the employee and investors who funded the options share from the gains.

With offices in Tel Aviv, Israel and Palo Alto, California, EquityBee has seen strong growth over the last year. Capital raised to fund employee stock options increase by more than 560% in 2020 and the number employees funded through the platform by more than 360%. EquityBee’s investor community, which is exclusive to sophisticated and accredited investors such as family offices, funds and high net-worth individuals, grew by 700% over the same period, though the company didn’t provide absolute numbers.

EquityBee says it has funded employees from hundreds of companies, including recently companies that have gone public including Airbnb Inc., Palantir Technologies Inc., Quantumscape Corp., Unity Software Inc. and jFrog Ltd., among others.

“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,” Oren Barzilai, chief executive officer of EquityBee, said in a statement. “EquityBee is removing this barrier and helping startup builders access the equity they have earned.”

Including the new funding, EquityBee has raised $28.3 million to date.

Image: EquityBee