Equitee

Share Options financing and AI-led tax advisory for scaleup employees

Author

Quick Pitch
November 07, 2024

Hello and welcome to Quick Pitch - the place to meet and learn about the hottest early stage startups in the European ecosystem.

If you’re a startup founder and want your startup to be featured in a Quick Pitch in front of hundreds of VCs and angels - fill out this form and we’ll get back to you!

Today’s feature of Quick Pitch is a very early-stage start up (only launched a month ago!) enabling scaleup employees to exercise their stock options.

The Market

  • Scaleups employ over 1 million employees in the UK, lots of which have shares in these businesses.

  • These shares are locked up however, and employees are unable to realise any value from them until the company gets acquired or goes public.

  • The UK IPO market is yet to pick up, meaning there are billions of pounds of employee-owned shares that are completely inaccessible.

This week's business solves two major problems: 

  • Removing golden handcuffs from employees by helping them to exercise their options.

  • Providing liquidity to employees while helping investors get access to the top scaleups.

One Liner

Unicorn Employees are trapped. Equitee enables them to finance their option exercise cost in exchange for a % of the upside. They only pay the money back in a liquidity event. Investors get pre IPO deals at Series A entry points; employees get partial liquidity without a secondary. We also provide AI-led tax advice on options scheme.

Quickfire

  • Headquarters: London

  • Employee count: 1

  • Investors: 0

  • Funding amount: £0

  • Business model: Share Option Financing. Equitee enables them to finance their option exercise cost in exchange for a % of the upside.

  • Traction metrics: They’re speaking to employees from Deel, Multiverse, Zopa, Intercom and Spendesk, while they get regulated.

Due Diligence

APPEALS

  • Proven Model: Equitee is seeking to replicate a model that already exists in the US, where companies have seen huge success providing this exact service.

  • Large Market: There are thousands and thousands of UK employees who are either trapped by Golden Handcuffs or who want liquidity.

  • First Mover: Despite being common in the US, there is no-one in the UK doing this yet.

POTENTIAL RISKS

  • Regulatory Compliance: The UK is quicker to regulate than the US, and stricter when it comes to buying and selling private shares. Getting approval may be challenging.

  • Inherently Risky: For Equitee to get paid there needs to be an exit. This is never guaranteed and could see Equitee out of pocket on certain deals.

  • Complex Topic: The rules surrounding what employees are allowed to do with their shares often varies from startup to startup and can be limiting.

Competition

  • None in the UK.

  • There are several leading players in the US such as Secfi, ESO Fund, Quid, EquityBee and Liquid Stock.

Founders

  • Tal Feingold - Experienced startup operator with stints across Vauban, Disruption Banking and Startup Coalition.

Share to any investor, founder or friend that would find Quick Pitch interesting!

If you’re a startup founder and want your startup to be featured in a Quick Pitch in front of hundreds of VCs and angels - fill out this form and we’ll get back to you!

Reach out to us via LinkedIn here: Luke & Seb.

This newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Quick Pitch is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The information provided should not be considered as a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any investment. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own research and seek independent financial advice when required. Investing carries risks, and the value of investments can fall as well as rise. Quick Pitch assumes no liability for any decisions made based on the information provided in this newsletter.