The Employee Stock Option Fund (ESO Fund) announced the closing of ESO Venture Fund V (Fund V) which provides funding to employees of venture-backed startups to exercise their stock options. Fund V exceeded its target and raised an oversubscribed $200 million fund of a limited partner committed capital with strong support from ESO’s longstanding investors as well as notable new investors.
ESO pioneered the stock option financing space with its first fund in 2012 and has helped thousands of employees of venture-backed companies. ESO plans to use this new fund to continue investing in the next generation of innovative private companies by partnering with their employees to finance stock option exercises and provide liquidity for shares already purchased.
In today’s market, ESO’s ability to eliminate risk for startup option holders is more important than ever.
“Given the uncertainty in today’s market, ESO’s ability to eliminate risk for startup option holders is more important than ever. By working with ESO, employees are able to purchase the equity they’ve worked so hard for without having to face the heightened risk or worry about uncertain liquidity timelines. For ESO, the options finance strategy allows us to create a robust, diversified portfolio at pre-IPO prices that is well-positioned to generate long-term appreciation.” Scott Chou, co-founder of ESO Fund noted
About ESO Fund
ESO is based in San Mateo, California, and was founded in 2012 by Scott Chou, Stephen Roberts, and Jimmy Lackie to partner with employees of venture-backed companies to exercise their stock options with minimal risk and capture the value they worked to create.
ESO has previously raised 4 Funds: Fund I (2012), Fund II (2014), Fund III (2017), and Fund IV (2020). Since originating the space in 2012, ESO has helped employees at more than 600 companies and created more than one billion dollars in wealth through exits at notable companies like Robinhood, Snowflake, GitLab, Squarespace, Roblox, Coinbase, and many others.
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