Make managing your employee equity child's play!
Whether ESOP, VSOP or real equity – with Finshare you manage your equity models effectively, create transparency and keep your cap table under control at all times.
With Finshare, employee equity becomes transparent, motivating and easy to understand
Full transparency
Employees get their own access and can view all information about their equity at any time.
Motivated teams
The ongoing development of the equity is visible via the employee portal – building trust and boosting motivation.
Effective management
Equity, cap tables and contracts are managed in one place – no more Excel chaos.
Perfectly prepared
Thanks to cleanly documented data, you're always ready for financing rounds or due-diligence reviews.
Scalability
Finshare grows with your company – whether you have 5 or 500 employees.
Data security
Finshare runs GDPR-compliant with an ISO 27001-certified cloud provider. Hosted in Germany.
Automation
Vesting, cliff, leaver events & allocations run automatically – without Excel formulas or manual upkeep.
Everything in one place
Instead of scattered Excel sheets, emails and PDF contracts: one central system for founders, HR and employees.
These features keep everything clear and simple to use
From the cap table to equity models to the employee portal – combined in one platform.
Dashboard
On your intuitive dashboard you can see at any time who holds equity in your company – separated by voting and economic rights. Simulate how the cap table develops as of a chosen date, or see how it looks once all equity instruments are issued.
- Real-time cap table
- Simulation as of a chosen date
- Separate view: voting & economic rights
- Drill down straight into shareholders
Company
Master data, issued & treasury shares, capital measures and equity pools at a glance – plus the valuation history from your financing rounds.
- Master data & capital, centralised
- Create capital increases & pools
- Treasury shares
- Multiple entities in parallel
Shareholders
All mandatory details plus passport numbers and bank details – important for exit proceeds or distributions. Ownership share, holdings, options and documents at a glance.
- Master data & required fields
- Bank details for exit proceeds
- Documents per shareholder
- GDPR-compliant anonymisation
Valuations
Document your company's value development and share it with your employees. You decide which value is visible – e.g. taking liquidation preferences into account.
- Market values from financing rounds
- Appraisals & own valuations
- Control what employees see
- All evidence documented centrally
Equity models
Real equity (common & preferred shares, GmbH, KG and GbR interests) and virtual models such as ESOP, VSOP and phantom stocks – all in one platform. Convertible loans coming soon.
- ESOP & VSOP incl. vesting, cliff, leaver
- Phantom shares
- GmbH, KG & GbR interests
- Flexibly extendable on request
Employee portal
Every employee sees their holdings in a clear dashboard. Whether shares, GmbH interests or options – all master data and documents in one place.
- Self-service for employees
- Number & current value of the holding
- Vesting progress in real time
- Documents (grant letter, contracts)
How does Finshare differ from other solutions?
Finshare combines in one platform what used to be spread across several tools – finally making equity programmes as simple as they should be.
- All-in-one: employee equity & share register in the same system
- For every legal form: GmbH, UG, KG and AG – real and virtual models
- Employee portal included: self-service instead of email chaos
- Hosting & development in Germany: full data sovereignty
- Intuitive to use: set up in a few hours
Build trust with employees and investors
„Finshare creates transparency, structure and a modern equity culture. We deliberately chose Finshare to give our VSOP holders maximum transparency on value development and easy self-service information. No Excel lists, no opacity – all documents and records are available centrally and traceably. An innovative tool that makes VSOP and ESOP programmes simple and professional for everyone involved."
Choose your FINSHARE plan
START-UP
30-day free trial Introductory price- Access to Finshare
- ESOP/VSOP option models with monthly or one-off allocation
- Company valuation
- Includes 5 employee-portal seats
- Optional: individual setup (on request, from € 1,250.00)
SCALE-UP
30-day free trial Introductory price- All START-UP features
- Document management
- Includes 10 employee-portal seats
- Multiple administrators
- Optional: individual setup (on request, from € 1,250.00)
CORPORATE
- All SCALE-UP features
- Own logo & corporate identity
- Coming soon: Microsoft Single Sign-On (SSO)
- Discounted employee-portal seats from 100 employees
Why employees should get their own portal access
Every employee gets a secure, personalised space – for their holdings, value development, vesting progress and documents. It takes the load off HR and founders, keeps your cap-table data clean and makes the equity noticeably more transparent.
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Transparency without back-and-forth
Employees can view their holding, current value, vesting status and documents themselves at any time – no Excel lists by email.
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Motivation & retention
When employees see what their equity is worth, it builds trust and strengthens their commitment to the company.
The most important questions about employee equity
From ESOP and VSOP to vesting and cliff to tax aspects and leaver events – here you'll find answers to the most common questions.
See all FAQs →Employee equity means the economic participation of employees in the company's success – either through real equity (e.g. shares or GmbH interests) or through virtual models such as ESOP, VSOP or phantom stocks.
It is used above all by startups and scale-ups to attract, retain and motivate talent – without additionally straining the available salary budget.
An ESOP (Employee Stock Option Plan) grants employees the right to acquire real equity at a later date at a pre-agreed price. A VSOP (Virtual Stock Option Plan) is purely virtual – in an exit or liquidity event, employees are treated as if they held real equity, without actually becoming shareholders.
VSOPs are especially popular in Germany because they are simpler to implement: no notary costs, no commercial-register entry, no voting rights. Finshare supports both models.
Vesting describes the period over which employees actually "earn" their promised shares or options. A common setup is 4 years with monthly allocation.
The cliff is an initial waiting period (typically 12 months) during which nothing is vested yet. If the employee leaves within the cliff, all shares are forfeited. In Finshare, vesting & cliff run automatically – without manual Excel calculations.
Phantom stocks are purely virtual holdings that behave like real equity in value terms but trigger no corporate-law consequences. Employees participate in the company's value development without becoming shareholders.
Typical payout triggers are an exit, IPO or a defined reference date. Finshare manages phantom stocks with the same logic as ESOP/VSOP, including vesting, cliff and leaver rules.
A leaver event describes an employee leaving the company. A common distinction is between good leaver (e.g. termination by the employer without fault) and bad leaver (e.g. summary dismissal, breach of contract).
The leaver rule determines what happens to already-vested and not-yet-vested shares. Finshare reflects the rules from your equity agreement and calculates the remaining entitlements automatically.
The models differ considerably for tax purposes: with real equity there is the so-called "dry income" problem – tax is due on allocation without any cash inflow. Section 19a of the German Income Tax Act (§19a EStG, significantly expanded since 2024) defers taxation for startups until the actual exit under certain conditions.
VSOPs and phantom stocks, by contrast, are only taxed on payout – as employment income subject to wage tax. Finshare documents all allocation and value-development data in an audit-proof way for your tax advisor. The software does not, of course, replace tax advice.
Get started now and turn employee equity into your competitive advantage!
Inspire your team with transparency, save valuable time on administration and impress investors in your next financing round. Book your personal demo now and see how easy success can be!
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