Startup employees often walk away from their equity simply because exercising is expensive and risky. Next Insurance employees didn't. With Equitybee covering the full cost of exercising - no cash, no loans, no debt - 10 employees became shareholders and walked away with $634K in proceeds when the company was acquired for $2.6B. Real ownership, without the risk.
Next acquired by the ERGO Group 2025
$820,000
$634,000
52.3%
Employees at Next Insurance earned meaningful stock option grants. But like most startup employees, deciding how and when to exercise stock options isn’t always straightforward.For some, the upfront exercise cost was significant. For others, it wasn’t about affordability at all, but about managing personal financial risk, preserving liquidity, or avoiding tying up savings while the company’s future valuation was still uncertain.
Common considerations employees faced:
• Exercising can require tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars upfront
• Taxes, particularly AMT on ISOs, often create unexpected additional liabilities
• Employees may not want to lock up personal savings in a single illiquid, high-risk asset
• According to Carta, nearly 70% of employees ultimately walk away from their equity
Next Insurance employees faced a mix of these realities. They wanted to participate in the company’s upside, but in a way that fit their financial strategy.So they turned to Equitybee.
Between September 2021 and December 2023, 10 employees used Equitybee to fund the full cost of exercising their stock options. With Equitybee, they secured a total of $802K in funding, which covered each employee's exercise price and associated taxes, enabling them to convert into full shareholders.
For some, Equitybee solved an affordability challenge. For others, it was a risk-management choice, allowing them to hold onto their equity without tying up personal liquidity.
In March 2025, Next Insurance was acquired by Ergo Group (part of Munich Re) in a $2.6B cash-only transaction.
Because they exercised earlier using Equitybee funding, all 10 employees received liquidity at exit. Without exercising, they would not have been shareholders at the time of acquisition and would have forfeited their upside.
Even though Next Insurance exited below its prior $4B valuation peak, employees still walked away with meaningful proceeds. Equitybee helped ensure they didn’t miss the opportunity.
$820,000
$2,043,000
$634,000
52.3%
Next Insurance is a clear example of a broader trend among startup employees: Exercising stock options is not just about affordability. It’s about timing, risk exposure, liquidity preference, and long-term financial strategy. Equitybee helps employees:
Thousands of startup employees have already used Equitybee to fund the exercise of their stock options, including employees at Reddit, SpaceX, Databricks, Klarna, Stripe, Monday.com, Affirm, Rippling, Discord, Wiz, and many others. As of the date this case study was published, Equitybee has facilitated $271M+ in total capital, created 2,800+ new shareholders, and funded employees across 870+ pre-IPO companies.
Frequently asked questions
12 Reddit employees used Equitybee's non-recourse funding model to cover the full cost of exercising their stock options between 2021 and 2023. Equitybee connected them with investors who provided $1.3M+ in capital, covering exercise prices and associated taxes. The employees retained their shares and repaid only after Reddit's IPO in March 2024.
eToro employees who exercised their stock options through Equitybee collectively retained $1,335,924 in proceeds from the company's Nasdaq IPO. On average, employees kept 58.50% of the upside from their exercised options. Through Equitybee, these employees participated in eToro's IPO upside without risking any of their own capital
Non-recourse stock option funding is a financing model where an investor covers the cost of exercising an employee's stock options. The employee retains their shares and only repays from the proceeds if there is a liquidity event that results in the shares becoming liquid, such as an IPO, acquisition, tender offer, or secondary sale. If no such event occurs, the employee owes nothing. As of the date this case study was published, Equitybee has facilitated this model for employees at over 870 pre-IPO companies.
No. Equitybee uses a non-recourse funding structure, meaning the employee's repayment obligation is tied to a liquidity event that results in the shares becoming liquid - such as an IPO, acquisition, tender offer, or secondary sale. If no such event occurs, the employee does not owe anything. The financial risk of the exercise is borne by the investor, not the employee.
Equitybee can help employees who are still employed as well as those who have left and are within their post-termination exercise window. Many employees face a 90-day deadline to exercise options after leaving a company, and the cost of exercising - often tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars - makes Equitybee's non-recourse model especially valuable in these situations.
As of the date this case study was published, Equitybee's average funding timeline is approximately 14 days from application to capital delivery. In fast-track situations, funding can be completed in as few as 2-3 days. The process is designed to meet time-sensitive deadlines, such as post-termination exercise windows or pending liquidity events.