Easop launches out of stealth with $2.5m seed funding to unleash full power of equity

Easop launches out of stealth with $2.5m seed funding to unleash full power of equity

Published: 18-10-2022 14:35:00 | By: Pie Kamau | hits: 3592 | Tags:
Human Resources
October 2022
Recruitment
USA
Venture Capital & Private Equity
Easop announced it has officially launched and raised $2.5 million in seed funding to pursue its mission of making team ownership plans accessible to every private company in the world.
 
The round was co-led by Partech and boldstart ventures, with participation from Kima Ventures and eFounders partners Thibaud Elzière and Quentin Nickmans. The funding will be used to hire, expand into new markets and further invest in product development so that more companies can unlock the power of equity to attract, motivate and retain talent.
 
Easop’s launch comes at a time when remote work is becoming firmly planted in our culture, and more and more companies are looking beyond their own borders to hire remote workers. In fact, a recent study found that between 2020 and 2021 there was a sixfold increase in the number of firms that have expanded their international hiring. However, along with the shift to global remote work comes the massive complexity that is associated with offering equity to international employees.
 
Often, this means that only employees based in the US or in a country where the company has a local subsidiary receive equity packages that benefit from favorable tax treatment and sufficient explanation regarding equity. Everyone else gets a one-size-fits-all equity compensation that can have myriad problems, including failing to comply with local laws or having little or no value to the employee because of regulatory hurdles when it comes time to sell.
 
Valentin Haarscher, CEO and Co-founder, Easop: “In my previous role, I saw firsthand the scope of the problems associated with employee equity and it lit a spark in me. With Easop, my goal is to help companies unlock the true power of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOP) to attract, motivate and retain a global, remote workforce, something that will be increasingly important as the competition for international talent heats up.” 
 
Through its subscription-based platform, Easop is helping both employers and employees make informed decisions when offering or accepting equity as part of a job package, regardless of the employee’s physical location or employment status. The company has been operating in stealth mode for the last several months, and fast-growing startups like Maze, Payflow and Slite have been using the platform to compliantly offer nearly $5 million in equity stock options to employees, contractors and advisors in 50 countries and counting. 
 
Alison Imbert, Principal, Partech. “The rapid shift to remote work is one of the most exciting developments of the last few years. We have seen the exponential growth of remote hiring contract and payroll management solutions like Deel and cap table management like Carta, but there was a white space for stock option management. We think Easop is perfectly positioned to help the millions of remote and hybrid companies to incentive their international employees with equity.”
 
Shomik Ghosh, Partner, Boldstart Ventures: "Every one of our companies is hiring employees remotely and we continue to see this trend accelerate. A huge pain point all of our founders have in common is granting equity to international employees, as the tax laws and legal docs required across borders vary drastically. When we met Valentin and the rest of the team, we knew immediately that they were building a product that People teams needed, allowing for more efficient and cost-effective hiring globally."
 
When layered on top of an existing cap table management solution like Carta or Pulley – which remains the single source of truth – Easop helps company admins confidently navigate the regulatory challenges of granting equity incentives to team members located outside the US. Easop enriches the data provided by these platforms, making it more digestible and easier to understand. Easop also syncs automatically with HR information systems like Deel, Oyster and Remote in just a few clicks, sharing information about an employee’s country of residence, work relationship and start date so that withholdings and other tax information are accurate and up to date.